The 2007 Tunza International Youth
Conference on promotion of environmental awareness through technology was
held Leverkusen, Germany between August 26 and 30, 2007. The conference
organized by the
United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP) brought together more than 180 young
people from 85 countries.
The Tunza programme, endorsed in 2003, is a comprehensive
six-year strategy to promote the participation of children and youth in
every part of the world in environmental activities. It focuses on four
thematic areas: awareness building, capacity building, information
exchange and facilitating the involvement of young people in environmental
decision making.
Other activities of the Programme include regional and
sub-regional seminars and
workshops in Asia and the Pacific, Africa, and Latin America and the
Caribbean, plus a quarterly magazine for and by young people entitled
Tunza, an annual International Children's Painting Competition and an
environmental illustrated series for children.
The event in Leverkusen follows conferences in Dubna,
Russia, in 2003 and Bangalore, India, in 2005. It alternates every year
with the Tunza International Children's Conference which took place last
year in Putrajaya, Malaysia, and will be held in Stavanger, Norway, in
June 2008. Follow the link
Tunza
Programme for more information
At the conclusion of this year's conference, a new Youth Advisory Council
comprising of two advisors for each of the six UNEP regions (Africa, Asia
and the Pacific, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, North America,
and West Asia). The Council is a vital link between UNEP
and young people, as well as providing a strong youth representation in
environmental conferences.
During its two-year mandate, which ends at the next Tunza
International Youth Conference, the Council will advise UNEP on better
ways of engaging young people in its work, represent their peers in
international environmental fora and increase youth involvement in UNEP's
work by informing young people in their regions about UNEP's programmes
for youth.
The new Council brought together six young men and six
young women, who are heavily involved in environmental activities in their
respective countries. The gender balanced Council was elected by the
participants, aged 15 to 24, at the end of the five-day conference (August
26 to 30), which was hosted at the headquarters of Bayer, the largest
sponsor of UNEP's children and youth activities.
The new Tunza Youth Advisory Council members are: Adel
Rahmani (Algeria), Margaret Koli (Kenya), Wang Fengzhu (China), Jessie
James L. Marcellones (Philippines), Sara Svensson (Sweden), Dmitri Tasmali
(Turkey), Gabriela Almeida Monteiro (Brazil), Handy Acosta Cuellar (Cuba),
Caitlin MacLeod (Canada), Thomas Christian (USA), Zainab Humdain (Bahrain)
and Jamal Alfalasi (United Arab Emirates).
"The conference was very interesting. It gave me the
opportunity to meet people with the same interests and I learned a lot on
how to address environmental problems within my community and with my
government's help", said Gabriela Almeida Monteiro.
"In Brazil, we have problems regarding clean energy. Here,
at the conference, we visited a windmill and this will help us develop a
similar project and present it to the government for adoption," she added.
The Tunza Youth Advisory Council, launched in 1999, also
helps to supervise the implementation of the pledge and commitments made
at the conference.
At this year's conference, with the theme 'Technology in
service of the environment', the delegates expressed their concern in
their pledge with the "social impacts of environmental degradation, and
the global and regional distribution of environmental threats upon
vulnerable communities".
Adding that they were "aware of the implications of
inequality and the need for environmental reform", they pledged to
advocate "environmental justice in our work and the work of the Tunza
network, and lobbying decision makers, UNEP and its governing council to
protect, empower and support these groups."
They also asked the new Advisory Council members "to use
our pledge as a basis for their work in advising UNEP and representing
youth." The pledge of the Tunza
Conference for Environmental Justice goes as follows:
"We, the youth gathered in Leverkusen, are concerned with
the social impacts of environmental degradation, and the global and
regional distribution of environmental threats upon vulnerable
communities.
We are aware of the implications of inequality and the
need for environmental reform.
We envision a world wherein environmental benefits and
natural resources are equitably distributed, and access to information and
participation in decision making are enjoyed by all.
We call for the support of vulnerable communities,
including small island states and less developed countries, women, and
indigenous groups.
We commit ourselves to advocating Environmental Justice in
our work and the work of the Tunza network, and lobbying decision makers,
UNEP, and its governing council to protect, empower, and support these
groups.
We ask the incoming TYAC to use our pledge as a basis for
their work in advising UNEP and representing youth.
As we consider the state of the planet that we will
inherit, we stand together to address the challenges of our generation.
We wish to pass our children a fair and sustainable world;
we know the problems and we know the solutions: the time to act its now.
We want environmental justice, and we want it now."
