An Intergenerational Exploration of Participation, Power and Praxis in Re-Imaging Children’s Right to a Clean, Healthy and Sustainable Environment

Abstract Recent years have seen determined efforts to bring children and young people into decision-making on the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment – most visibly in uncrc General Comment No. 26, which records their voices. Yet what follows once these contributions are on paper? Was the process meaningful to them, and does it expand their power to claim this right in practice? This article, co-created with child and youth climate activists from Asia and Africa, follows their stories, experiences and reflections to address these questions. Using the “living rights” lens and engaging postpaternalism and decolonial thought, we trace how intersecting power relations – ageism, authoritarianism, gender discrimination – shape activism on the ground. The snapshots reveal everyday acts of resistance that complicate dominant images of youth protest and point to intergenerational, transformative praxis centred on epistemic justice. We conclude by proposing research pathways that deepen understanding of Global South perspectives.