The cheers echoed loudly throughout the halls of Nairobi’s 680 Hotel, witnessing the birth of an exceptional new network in the global fight against the climate crisis – the African Youth Initiative on Climate Change (AYICC). This past weekend, over 100 youth from across Africa and from around the world united at the Second International Conference of Youth to articulate a uniquely African perspective on solutions and responses to climate change and sustainable development.

The AYICC was conceived, like many youth climate movements, at the late-night meetings of COP/MOP 1 in Montreal.

“I was really shocked by how world leaders were playing with our future like children play games and I said to myself the time has come to do something,” says Sena Alouka of Togo. “These people do not know what climate change means to us. They don’t realise how critical climate change can be to our future, so we are going to let them know.”

The AYICC is the culmination of the frustration felt by many African youth who believe politicians and negotiators are missing the bigger picture. It seeks to overcome this barrier locally and internationally by empowering African youth to unite, learn and proactively participate in the decisions and solutions that are critical to their future.

The inclusion of this newly-articulated perspective should have a significant effect on future negotiations beginning right here in Nairobi, on issues such as Adaptation, improvements to the Clean Development Mechanism and an acceleration of the post-2012 process. By taking their message to delegates and communities here and abroad, the youth seek to lay the foundations for political will to push negotiations forward and to leave Nairobi with concrete outcomes.

The AYICC is an important new voice in the emergent global youth  climate network, integrating its wisdom with the experience of groups  such as Greenpeace's Solar Generation - which played a key  facilitating role in its creation - the Canadian Youth Climate  Coalition and the American youth initiative, SustainUS.

Watch for the AYICC’s public debut today at the Climate Kiosk at 4pm. The Initiative will be formally launched at a side event on November 16. More information can be found at www.ayicc.org.