From youth voices to action: Six calls for transforming climate education in Central Asia

The recently launched Turn It Around! Central Asia climate cards present an urgent message from a generation living on the front lines of environmental change.

Created by 935 children and young people from over 150 locations across the region, these artworks and texts are more than creative expressions; they are a powerful, collective call for change. This unprecedented youth evidence base has now been translated into a clear set of demands for what young people need from education in order to face an uncertain future.

These demands form the basis of a new regional policy position on climate and ecology education, which will inform upcoming national policy briefs across Central Asia.

The Six Calls from Central Asia’s Youth

1. Show us how everything is connected

Young people experience climate change as a single, interconnected crisis, where water shortages lead to crop failure, which in turn affects family livelihoods and health. They are asking for an education that reflects this reality, teaching the links between water, food, energy, and ecosystems in an integrated way, rather than as isolated topics spread across separate subjects and textbooks.

2. Give us tools to handle our fear, and let us fix things

The cards reveal deep eco-anxiety and grief, but also a strong desire for agency. Young people want learning environments where difficult emotions are acknowledged and supported. Crucially, they want this emotional literacy paired with practical, hands-on projects, from tree planting to local clean-ups, that turn worry into meaningful, hope-building action.

3. Empower our teachers to guide us

Students consistently identify teachers as essential guides through the climate crisis. To fulfil this role, educators need dedicated training, updated resources, and the professional autonomy to respond to the environmental realities students are already living with. Teachers must be supported to move beyond standardised curricula and become facilitators of critical thinking, dialogue, and community-based problem-solving.

4. Turn our schools into community action centres

The solutions young people imagine are local and collective. They envision schools as active hubs of resilience, places with learning gardens, renewable energy projects, and shared spaces where students, parents, and elders exchange knowledge. This transforms education from a passive classroom activity into a living centre of community care and regeneration.

5. Prepare us for tomorrow’s work, not yesterday’s

There is deep concern about building secure futures in economies already strained by climate impacts. Young people are calling for education that prepares them for emerging forms of work linked to sustainability, including renewable energy, sustainable agriculture, ecosystem restoration, and environmental care – offering livelihoods that respect both people and nature.

6. Make sure our government is working together

A recurring frustration in the cards is learning one thing in school while seeing contradictory decisions in the wider world. Young people are calling for joined-up governance, where ministries of education, environment, water, agriculture, and labour work together. When public policy reinforces what is taught in classrooms, education gains credibility and real-world power.

The path forward

Together, these six calls form the core of a new regional policy position that treats education as a foundation for climate resilience, social cooperation, and long-term wellbeing. At a moment when countries are reassessing climate priorities and future development pathways, youth voices offer a grounded and practical starting point.

The message from Central Asia’s young people is clear. They are not passive victims of a growing polycrisis, but observant, caring, and motivated agents of change. The question for policymakers, educators, and leaders is whether they are prepared to listen and to build education systems worthy of this generation’s clarity and courage.