Impression of Youth Events At IUCN Congress

Day 3: Tuesday October 7, 2008

Today we attended two Youth Forums. The first was regarding Intergenerational Partnerships fostering Ethical Leadership for a Just, Sustainable and Peaceful World. This event was about bringing the IUCN family together: the Secretariat, The Commissions. And the Members together to discuss how to better integrate intergenerational issues as it was recommended in Bangkok, at the previous IUCN Congress in 2004 and inline with the Earth Charter principles.

 The Second Youth Forum dealt with shaping the European Youth Perspective for Sustaining the Future.  A European Youth Group called AEGEE, who are made up of different European University Students from all over Europe, organized this session. This forum discussed how these students are integrating sustainability issues facing Europe into their work plans. They stated that they are doing this in two ways: first, by creating Environmental Working groups within their local universities, the second aspect is that they are involved in two-year projects regarding sustainable issues.

 Day 4: Wednesday October 8, 2008

Today we attended two other Youth Events. First we attended a session organized by The Pacific Youth Forum, made up of students from the different Islands in the South Pacific such as Fuji and the Cook Islands. This event focused on bringing awareness to the Sustainable issues facing the islands and how the Youth can better get involved in finding solutions together with traditional elders and political leaders on their respective Islands. These Youth work to bring change in their region through the use of song and dance. We were luckily enough to be able to watch several traditional performances which they gave.

The second session we attended was one that highlighted the wonderful achievements of Youth around the world as they work to improve the current state of conservation of natural resources and wildlife on Earth.  These Youth, who were from Nepal, Canada, Russia and Rwanda, shared with us their experiences. One of the Youth participants of this event from Rwanda, Edwin Sabuhoro, had won the WCPA scholarship for his accomplishments in protecting and conserving Mountain Gorillas in Rwanda, which were highly endangered.

The Sustainable Leaders workshop is tomorrow. We have been preparing for it, working hard to get the word out at other events to increase youth and other interested participant numbers.

Day 5: Thursday October 9, 2008

The Workshop went superb. We had an amazing turn out. It was an alliance workshop sponsored by IISD along with IUCN:WWCP, IUCN:CEC, World Wildlife Fund, LEAD International, RAMSAR, IIED and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. A key highlight was the signing of the MOU.  This was signed between IUCN, LEAD International, WWF, and IISD. This is an agreement that signifies that collaborative work that will be done together between these organizations in training the New Generation of Sustainable Leaders. The signing of this agreement will hopefully move the process forward at a faster pace. Julia Morten-Lefevre, the Secretary-General of IUCN, pledged her commitment to this agreement and expressed her enthusiasm.

The high number of interest participants who attended was an overwhelming response. We did not have enough seats for everyone, so we had many participants who were standing in the back and seating on the floor. We were so happy to see that so many people had so much interest in the workshop and for working towards creating training opportunities for the New Generation of Sustainable Leaders. We thank Carolee Buckler, Heather Creech, Elise Rusingizandekwe, Kristy Faccer, Laura de Kreji, Bernard Coetzee, Edward Kellow, Catherine Mutambirwa, Moia Hartop, Robert Soutter, Dominic Stucker, Gillian Martin Mehers, Djinn Pourkiani, Marion Oliver,  Laura Normand, to everyone else for all their hard work and involvement in putting together this event and a special thanks to Julia Morten-Lefevre.

The closing ceremony was insightful and entertaining. There was a presentation given on Biomimicry: Innovations Inspired by Nature, a representative for the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and a beautiful performance from musicians from around the world.

Now the congress is over. It has been an exciting time for many of us. This congress has taught us a great deal and has given many of us an insight to what and where we would like to go from here. We have had many networking opportunities and chances to develop and build our capacities.

We look forward to the Next IUCN Congress.

Faiza Farah