Check out some of our COP27 activities below:
Youth4Nature is heading to COP27!
COP27, happening in Sharm El Sheik, Egypt in November 2022, marks the 30th anniversary since the adoption of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Our movement has simultaneously come very far in those 30 years as well as not seen nearly enough action and implementation from global leaders.
UNFCCC COPs remain massively influential annual moments for pushing the environmental needle away from climate catastrophe and towards ambition and justice. Not only is it a moment when heads of state and decision makers and policy makers come together, but is is also a moment for civil society to show up, speak up, and bring the heat.
We truly are at a tipping point, and we are truly surrounded by solutions
With continually increasing media coverage and attention each year, it presents an crucial opportunity for youth and under-resourced communities to amplify their messages and impact - directly with decision makers and with the public more broadly. We stand ahead of a unique moment for radical and ambitious change. We are surrounded by community with the knowledge, connections, and worldviews that could carry us to where we need to be. We are presented with a keystone event that could be a huge step forward.
Meet our delegation:
Ibrahim Inusa
Pronouns: He/Him
Role at Y4N delegation: Outreach and Engagement
Country: Nigeria
Born to an indigenous people of Yalauwa, a remote village situated on the degraded and unproductive colonial border between Nigeria and Niger Republic. Ibrahim is a graduate of chemical engineering from the department of chemical engineering at University of Maiduguri, he is also a postgraduate candidate at the same university, studying for a post-graduate diploma in disaster risk management and development. He is working in the nature, climate change, and environmental sustainability space, with young people and children at schools and vulnerable communities.
At COP27 you will find him working together around the conversations that cares for youth/nature actions and stories on the ground at COP to elevate their voice.
Rachel Boere
Pronouns: she/her
Role at Y4N delegation: Delegation Lead
Country: Canada
Rachel, a settler currently living and working in Tkaronto (Toronto) on the Dish with One Spoon territories, is the Finance Director at Youth4Nature. She is a collaborator, a connector, and a community builder.
After almost a decade of work with community organizations, international ENGOs, universities and government, she brings extensive experience in meaningful youth engagement and a robust background in by youth, for youth experience building. Rachel is looking forward to being on the ground at a UNFCCC COP after having supported numerous youth delegations in previous years. She is keen to follow themes like climate finance, food systems and youth, to connect with and uplift the the work and stories of fellow youth from around the world, and to support the unique experiences of each member of the Y4N team.
Sagar Koirala
Pronouns: he/him
Role at Y4N delegation: Youth Pavilion
Country: Nepal
Sagar Koirala is a youth activist, climate advocate, SDG trainer and agriculture researcher from Eastern Nepal. Currently, he is pursuing his Masters in Agribusiness and loves to explore new places.
Sagar is working currently to narrow down gap between farmers and agriculture scientists in Nepal where most of the people depend upon agriculture. Sagar has multiple expertise and has a big network of youth activist all across the globe.
Sagar has worked with youths from diverse perspectives and can handle communication works easily. Sagar also has deep passion for nature and has engaged himself in few conservation campaigns.
Javier Valdivia Navarro
Pronouns: He/Him
Role at Y4N delegation: Fundraising
Country: Mexico
Javier is an enthusiastic environmentalist and climate activist. He graduated from the Universidad Autónoma Chapingo (Mexico) with a degree in natural resource engineering. Javier studied environmental sciences at Universidad de Extremadura (Spain). He is studying for a master's degree in forestry sciences; his research focuses on understanding the links between tropical landscape fragmentation and livelihoods. In recent years, he worked on climate change adaptation projects in Central America.
At COP27, you will find him among the Y4N fellows working on capacity building. And giving detailed follow-up to the climate action sessions related to Latin America and the Caribbean. He has a deep interest in climate action and forestry.
Rayan Kassem
Pronouns: He/Him
Role at Y4N delegation: Co-coordinator and Logistics
Country: Lebanon
Rayan has been supporting the global climate and food systems youth movement for over 2 years. He has been doing this by advocating for policy reforms with policy-makers and stakeholders at relevant events and by building the capacity of other youth to take action.
Rayan’s current mission is to reduce the barriers to young people preventing them from making a meaningful impact.
Rayan has experience with media and press, podcast hosting, summit speeches, high-level UN events, publishing scientific literature, and reviewing journal articles. He has spoken to audiences from different backgrounds with groups ranging up to 5000 people.
Rayan is fluent in Arabic and English with beginner levels in French and German.
Stephanny Ulivieri
Pronouns: she/her
Role at Y4N delegation: Communications
Country: Brazil/Italy
Steph holds a bilingual bachelor’s degree in International Studies, obtained between the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Sophia University (Tokyo) and the National University of Singapore. She is interested in migration flows and trends and its connections to human rights, gender, the environment, and climate change.
She is currently a master’s degree student of Development and International Cooperation Sciences at the Sapienza University of Rome and a Global Ambassador at Youth4Nature, which helps her to canalize her fighting towards climate justice, sustainability, environmental awareness and more. At COP27 you’ll find her alongside her Y4N fellows and other youth present on the ground attending and hosting events, and trying to learn the most out of this experience.
Odhiambo Otieno
Pronouns: He/Him
Role at Y4N delegation: Storytelling representative
Country: Kenya
Odhiambo is a humanitarian and a nature enthusiast. He is a finalist student at the University of Nairobi pursuing project management
At Youth4nature Odhiambo is a program Intern serving under the amazing Storytelling unit. He enjoys planning and running campaigns. Over the years , he has gathered a wide range of experience through voluntarism, practicums and internships with various organisations.
Odhiambo has deep interests in Food, Children and sustainability. He believes that the future is in our hands and through relentless efforts, our children's children will live in a better world.
Outside work, he enjoys hiking, cycling and photography
Raysa França
Pronouns: she/her
Role at Y4N delegation: Fundraising & Capacity Building
Country: Brazil / Finland
Raysa has a bachelor’s in Social Sciences, and a master’s in Administrative Sciences, she has more than seven years of professional and volunteering experience in the sustainability sector, from gender equality projects, to climate and nature. Raysa has been especially curious about the links between cultural diversity and biodiversity, Raysa is an expert in areas such as animal rights, policy, new economic thinking, feminism, justice and social inclusion.
Raysa is a dog lover, passionate about growing communities, solving the climate and biodiversity crises, and public speaking. Friends and co-workers have described her as kind, sociable and creative. At COP27, you will find Raysa meeting new friends, connecting to the global youth community and growing relationships and partnerships on behalf of Y4N.
Zakira Bakhshi
Pronouns: she/her
Role at Y4N delegation: Communications
Country: Afghanistan
Zakira is a recent freshman at Yale University planning to major in Political science with a minor in environmental studies. She has an experience of working as social and climate advocate for two years in Afghanistan, where she actively participated in the of conduction numerous environmental projects. Zakira has founded a non-profit organization "Act for nature" in Balkh, Afghanistan to promote climate awareness in schools and universities, encourage climate friendly alternatives, and enable youths to take ambitious climate actions.
Therefore, she is also highly interested in learning how various international organizations affect the environment and how big trade-offs in governments result from environmental developments.
She loves reading, designing, singing, biking, traveling the world, and getting fully engrossed in her surroundings.