Youth leaders from 196 nations around the world sat down on Thursday to mull over the world’s problems and find sustainable solutions at the One Young World Bangkok, a three-day youth conference.

More than 1300 delegates, aged between 18 and 30, and 28 counselors, among them well-known figures like Kofi Annan, Sir Bob Geldof, Mohammad Younus, John Simpson and Steve Waugh, have converged on the Thai capital for the conference.

In his address, Kofi Annan, the former secretary general of the United Nations, warned that the world would “sink or swim together in the long term, particularly when it comes to climate change”.

He urged developed countries to start taking more responsibility for climate change. Speaking about the coming conference in Paris on the subject, he stressed the need for a “binding agreement” so that rulers can be held accountable by the ruled.

The French capital will host the climate conference from Nov 30 to Dec 11.

The Nobel Peace Prize laureate also focused on the recent Paris attacks and the threat of the IS by urging the need to find a political solution. “I hope that regional and national powers come together and work to defeat IS, If we don’t do that, it will get much worse.”

Earlier, Sir Bob Geldof made a blunt plea to the participants to do some soul-searching. warning them that refusal to do so would have consequences. He told them that the hands of their generation were already stained in blood.

“Your age group are the killers in Syria. People your age are murdering people in Beirut; in Sharm el Sheikh. And most immediately in our minds right now are people who went to a pop concert in Paris and a football match. They are in our minds right now because they were killed by people of your generation.

“(But) you are already a failure to your name, killing other people of your age. Shame on you. “Wipe out that shame – you’ve got time. Our time is up.”

Sir Geldof said the reason he was speaking to the youth was “because we are desperate for someone to retract our failures. Our time is up. You’ve got three days to work out not just what you do in these critical days in your lives, but in the coming days and years that you’ll see, but we will not. That’s your job.

“It’s get real time for the world. I hope you will be an old man like me. I hope you get to feel proud about your country and what it did. I hope you get to feel about yourself. I’m not proud about myself and my generation.

“We gave you globalisation and that great swirl of ideas. Many were afraid and couldn’t understand it and struck back with their crude stupid weapons. After three days we will go back to our countries and let’s try and stop hurting each other.”

The musician and activist also talked about climate change, one of the key themes of One Young World, and stressed that at the coming COP21 talks in Paris, there “needs to be concerted, coordinated and collegiate action (to address climate change). We need to stop what we have accepted is already here. And if (we don’t) then the poor … will die in their tens of millions and in their panic to survive, they will strike out. And the wars of 100-200 years ago will be nothing.”

Now in its sixth year, One Young World is a global forum for young leaders from around the world who meet annually to develop solutions to some of the most pressing issues.

It was founded in 2009 by David Jones and Kate Robertson as a not-for-profit Organisation based in Britain.

Published in Dawn, November 20th, 2015