Dawn broke on the Bali beaches on December 1st, 2007 and the global negotiations on the fate of the post Kyoto framework started. Amidst the approximately 10,000 delegates convening from around the world a strong contingent of a growing youth movement were also making their voices heard. The significance of the conference being not only on an island but also in Asia was apparent: the future of the world lies in the hands of the one out every three citizens on the planet that resides in the rapidly industrializing nations of the East: India and China.

For the first time youth voices from Asia had been given a chance to come together and to begin to think about a common future in which their fates were so closely interwoven. Even as the International Youth Movement gained steam on the sidelines of Bali, the foundations of the Asian Youth Climate Network were being laid by the formation of an informal “Asian Youth Caucus.”  Lacking from this discussion were youth from India and South Asia at large. Would the approximately 1.5 billion people of the region be missing from this debate forever? With 48% of the global population being youth and nearly 70 crore (700 million) people in India alone under the age of 35, it becomes obvious whose future is at stake.

Born with the vision that there is an urgent need to get youth and young professionals to begin to start contemplating the implications of climate change for India and the world, the Indian Youth Climate Network (IYCN) started connecting people across the nation in March 2008. The IYCN seeks to empower the next generation for climate leaders and mobilize them into collective action to show the world that India is taking action and that the solutions exist and they are here to be utilized and replicated today.  What’s with the Climate has supported the formation of IYCN by providing the crucial platform for the voices of India on the topic of climate to be showcased.  Soon to be the hub of voices from beyond India’s borders “What’s with the Climate?” will provide a window to neighboring South Asian countries and support movements there.  The recently launched Nepal Youth for Climate Action (NYCA) gives hope and there are already whispers of the launch of a Bangladesh Youth Climate Network (BYCN) and similar movements in Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

Voices of a Subcontinent aims to unite the voices of climate change from across the subcontinent in an effort to build capacity and reveal the regional affects of climate change in a region whose climate is dependent on an increasingly erratic monsoon, rapidly retreating glaciers, decreasing forest cover, and the pressures of a boom in urban areas.  Though the subcontinent has been divided by partition, climate change will bind the region closer together as more people compete for dwindling space and dwindling resources.  This increases the importance of all South Asians to be aware of the impacts of climate change in their region.  As we are bound globally in the climate impacts, we are bound together to find the climate solutions and as a region of nearly 1.5 billion, South Asia has precisely that many reasons to address the climate challenge.