91�鶹������Ʒ����

Taking place over 5 days, these summits bring together young changemakers from the same region, to facilitate connections and amplify the work and voices of young advocates and innovators addressing the climate crisis. This year, two young UNESCO Green Citizens project owners were selected to take part in summits: Thaiane Maciel, from , joined the Latin American cohort, and Alain Mukiranya, from the , joined the cohort in Sub-Saharan Africa. We spoke to them to learn about how these experiences helped their goals and projects. 

Tell us about yourself and your project.  

Thaiane: “I’m Thaiane Maciel, from Brazil, and the President of Canal Novo Mundo. Canal Novo Mundo shares fun and accessible environmental education content and raises awareness about clean-up actions on the beaches and public spaces of Rio de Janeiro, involving young people and adults.” 

Alain: “I’m Alain Mukiranya and I’m from the Democratic Republic of Congo. I took part on behalf of the Gorilla Ambassadors Programme, an environmental education programme created in 2019 in Virunga National Park, with a particular focus on young people in schools, through diverse activities and training on the conservation of the gorilla and its habitat.” 

Can you tell us about some of the activities that you took part in? 

Thaiane: “This summit was really different from any others I took part in because it was really focused on the individual and helping us develop tools to communicate better. They focused not just on our projects, but our challenges, pathways and actions to getting there, and who was important along the way – that was special for me. Especially in the position that I’m in now as president of Canal Novo Mundo, I often focus on current actions and results, and not reflecting on how I've gotten there or what I've achieved. It was also powerful to connect with other people from Latin America. We have a lot of things common, similarities in our history, environment, culture, and because it’s so big, we often forget this. We are facing many similar challenges and can support each other. 

The activities were really centred around dynamics. One example was that we had to focus on two people in the room at the same time without them knowing. To form this triangle the whole time, we had to remain very concentrated, especially considering all the other people in the room, which was a good exercise in opening our peripheral vision. Many other activities focused on self-care, which was precious to me, as I'm often very busy and forget about taking care of myself. In the end, it was all about making connections, not just between the projects but between ourselves as individuals.” 

Alain: “We had some great activities in pairs, discussing the biggest problems facing the planet and the main reasons why it was necessary to develop our projects. There was an activity called Open Space Technology, involving several sessions in the form of parallel panels, in which everyone presented what they were doing in their respective countries and debated together. We decided that we could implement this kind of action together in all Sub-Saharan countries, to respond to the environmental issues.” 

One of the main axes of these summits is peer-to-peer learning. What was something you learnt from another participant? 

Thaiane: “I met Adriel Menezes, who is also from Brazil and an engineer. She’s created menstrual products made from natural fibres, and her organisation EcoCiclo is made up of mainly women. It was powerful for me to meet and work with another woman from Brazil, and especially to listen to her experience as a black woman. I also met José Gudino, who is from an indigenous community in Venezuela, and he trains young people in the Venezuelan amazon about protecting biodiversity, with his project empoderan á jovenes. Exchanging with these two people emphasized an important question for me about who we are bringing to the conversation when it comes to climate change. This is something I've recently focused on in my own work also, especially when working with quilombola communities in Brazil, many of whom are directly impacted by the effects of climate change in their everyday lives. We need to help elevate the voices of those most vulnerable to and affected by the effects of the climate crisis.”  

Alain: “I found other young people who share the same passion, and the same struggle, but we each have our own way of doing things in our countries, so I learnt a lot from them. The experience enabled us to collaborate with similar programmes that already exist in other countries, like Rwanda, Kenya, and even in West Africa, and exchange ideas, which was a great way to build our capacities. It was also important for me to develop my skills on a personal level, to learn the experiences of other participants, how they do things and how they achieve results. We started in 2019, but some of these projects have been around for ten years or so, so it was great to learn from them. I also learned some technological and communication skills from colleagues which I’m going to put into practice. Above all, the collaboration and experience sharing aspects were crucial. Learning from other participants went very quickly and easily, because we’re all from the same generation and have similar obstacles. Learning about how others overcome challenges was very useful, and together we came up with solutions to the problems we all face. This was very important during the summit.” 

Would you say that this experience has helped you in the development of your project? 

Thaiane: “Yes, definitely, particularly when meeting other young people with education initiatives. For example, I met Zé Carlos Honorato from Peru, who is building a robot to help clean up beaches. We came up with the idea of collaborating on this together. So, the summit gave us the space and incentive to collaborate and develop our projects. I got inspired by others’ technology, innovation and tools, and excited to bring the same things to Brazil. It was not only the connections that were important, but the diversity of all the participants. I also offered to translate some of the materials of other participants’ projects into Portuguese – this could be great as there’s lots of things happening in Latin America, but with the language difference, Brazil often gets forgotten from the conversation. The whole place felt like a safe space to express and challenge ourselves, and I have no doubt that it was the best. I’m really happy to be part of this network.” 

Alain: “I really think this summit will help the programme to broaden its scope. Not just in the National Park, but in other places too, wherever there are gorillas or there’s a need to inspire and inform young people to develop a passion for nature. There are already requests from neighbouring countries such as Rwanda and Uganda to start pairing up, so we can do exchanges with different countries to share, exchange, and build capacities.” 

What would you say your favourite memory was? 

Thaiane: “I had many, even the food and the surroundings were very special. It was based in this old convent, surrounded by nature, and it was great to take the time to just be in nature and reflect. I also appreciate the moments we had together as a group, like singing and sharing poems, or sharing small gifts. I brought some things from the Brazilian quilombola community to a woman from Peru, and she gave me a pan de yema, a sweet bread traditionally prepared for Mexican celebrations such as Day of the Dead. These little moments, and the time that we had to just be in nature, were my favourites.” 

Alain: “I have lot of memories. At the start, I had no idea how it was going to go. I thought it would be like other summits which are often like a lecture, and it’s the speakers who always have the floor, but that wasn’t the case here. We were able to share and exchange ideas, and we got to know what the others were doing, what they’re all about. What made the biggest impression on me was talking with the other participants and coming up with solutions to the big planetary problems together, especially during the Open Space Technologies part. These are the moments that will remain remembered for me.” 

Why is citizen and community-led action key in the fight against climate change? 

Thaiane: I feel that everybody needs to unite together in this conversation, and we shouldn’t always move the responsibility to someone else. Although we often shift the blame to big companies, inside big companies, there are individuals making decisions, we can still work on changing their minds as they could be the ones who lead the path to creating change. No matter what position we’re in, I think it’s important to start doing something, as our individuality and the decisions that we make are attached to us, not the functions we hold. Let’s bring attention to the impact that advocacy and individual initiatives can have.” 

Alain: “Community is one of the main actors in the fight against climate change. Communities are often the biggest victims, especially here in rural areas, when the fields are flooded, and production is destroyed. That's why it is very important to involve communities and teach them the facts. The destruction of the o-zone through agricultural practices that burn fields and contribute to global warming, for example. The best way to target this is to engage communities, to talk about issues and to show them good practices and ways of helping the planet deal with the problems it faces.”  

What advice would you give to young people who want to do something for the planet but don't know where to start? 

Thaiane: “Sometimes, I still don’t know where I’m going. I don’t have a target, anything. I just have this feeling that we need to do something, to choose something we identify with and bring our strengths to it. If you focus on a skill or passion you have, this will motivate you. For example, I feel I’m good at communicating, so if you’re good at writing, you can start writing about what is happening. There are many ways we can get involved, such as providing people with information. The tools that the internet has given us are powerful, but we also need to start movements outside of our bubbles. A lot of the time, people only have the information that their communities or companies are sharing with them, so bringing important and valid information about the climate crisis, outside of what people might see in their bubbles, is helpful. This is also an important way of bringing youth to action, as they can act in their communities, within their families, or amongst their friends. So, I would say just go out there and start.” 

Alain: “Start something first, no matter how small, just do something, influence others, then get them to join you in what you've initiated. Once it reaches people, the impact will grow and be felt throughout the community. For example, I just started the programme with young people, but now the whole community are involved and helping to grow it. The second piece of advice I would give is to learn how to communicate about what you’re doing. Because if it’s not being communicated, it’s going to remain as if nothing happened. Knowing how to communicate will help you continue to influence the community and increase the impact.”