The 50th Anniversary of Earth Day was last week, and as many of us are physically isolating by spending more time at home what may have just been a single day of events grew to an entire week on online engagement opportunities. The Youth4Nature team had the chance to contribute to a number of these events, and even lead our own. Here is our Earth Week 2020 Recap:
Earth Day Twitter Storm: April 22
Under the unique circumstances of COVID-19 resulting in limited physical engagements for climate action, Youth4Nature partnered with the Tanzania Youth Biodiversity Network to leverage our online communities and celebrate Earth Day through a Twitter Storm. With the theme “One with Nature”, the Twitter Storm was specifically organized to celebrate individuals, organizations, and groups already leading to solve the climate and biodiversity crises. To the many organizations & individuals who participated, from all over the world, we are truly grateful. Thank you for making our inaugural twitter chat as lively as it was! Together, we celebrated each other, offered positive criticism, and suggested ways of better working with nature, among many other great things. We CELEBRATE you!
“Bluecoat Talks” with Science North: April 22
Youth4Nature's Founder and Partnerships Director, Marina, was invited as a guest on Science North’s Facebook Live Q&A on Earth Day, to speak to her experiences with youth engagement, nature-based solutions, and climate action. She shared how Youth4Nature is using knowledge-sharing, storytelling, and capacity-building to mobilize young people to steward a nature for climate movement. You can watch the recorded livestream on Science North’s Facebook page.
El Lado Social de las Soluciones basadas en la Naturaleza (The Social Side of Nature-based Solutions): April 23
Youth4Nature hosted our second webinar of the year the day after Earth Day, about the human aspects of nature-based solutions, specifically in Latin America. The panelists discussed how nature is a vehicle towards sustainability and development. They reminded us how these are solutions are traditionally practiced by Indigenous communities, and emphasised the need to centre cooperation between stakeholders contributing to governance and adaptation for the implementation of solutions. The webinar was recorded and saved to our website (note: it is in Spanish).
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Los ponentes del webinar “el lado social de las soluciones basadas en la naturaleza” expusieron como la naturaleza es un medio para transitar al desarrollo sostenible. Nos recordaron que estas soluciones son practicas ancestrales ya realizadas por poblaciones indígenas, y la importancia de mantener coaliciones entre entes involucrados en los procesos de gobernanza y adaptación en la implementación de las soluciones.
Food Without Farmers - Global Landscapes Forum Digital Event: April 23
Our Africa Regional Director, Kaluki Paul Mutuku, was invited alongside other experts to speak at the Global Landscapes Forum (GLF)’s “Food without Farmers” Digital Forum. He spoke at an intergenerational session on organic farming, joined by two other organic farmers from Uganda and the USA. As a young organic farmer from Kenya, his insights around the work that he does with Green Treasures Farms does were well echoed during the forum. The event was recorded and saved to the GLF website.
Digital Youth Forum - March for Science: April 26
On the weekend, Youth4Nature was invited to share stories about youth leadership in nature and climate action for the Digital Youth Forum organized by March for Science. Team-members Danilo, Amanda, Elujulo, and Sébastien shared stories about forest landscape restoration in the Amazon, nature-based solutions in cities, agroecology in Nigeria, and mangrove restoration in Angola, and our Partnerships Director, Marina, shared how Youth4Nature is mobilizing youth to lead on nature and climate action. You can watch the entire livestream here, or you can watch Youth4Nature’s segment below.
It was a busy week for Youth4Nature, but as we all know Earth Day (or Earth Week) doesn’t just come around once a year - it is important to recognize what the planet does for us and examine our relationship with her everyday. And while it may have been the 50th Anniversary this year, us youth will be around for the 100th Anniversary. In order for that day to truly be a celebration, all of us need to act now.