Samuel Fajana
Y4N Role: Global Ambassador
Location: Nigeria
Pronouns: He/him
Languages: English
My name is Samuel Fajana, a recent graduate of Forestry and Wood Technology from Nigeria. I am passionate about climate change advocacy, environmental education, ocean conservation and community development. To fuel my passion, I have been volunteering for environmental projects and campaigns since 2019 by actively involved in educating communities on climate change impacts and nature-based solutions. I am also an alumni extern for the marine and community conservation remote externship program hosted by Paragon One in collaboration with National Geographic Society and The Nature Conservancy where I carried out a research on ocean challenges and solutions at Araromi Seaside in Ondo State, Nigeria. A research that identifies prominent conservation issues and proposed solutions in coastal communities within Ondo state. This earned me an Outstanding completion certificate and was awarded $2,000 in competitive seed funding. Through the seed funding project, I educated over 600 people which included young students, youths, fishermen and community residence in Araromi Seaside on ocean conservation, trained 35 students and 17 youths on plastic waste recycling, coordinated community-led beach clean-ups and also participated in negotiation meetings with different stakeholders to implement policies that support conservation.
In 2022, I got selected for a two months internship with IUFRO Headquarters in Vienna, Austria to advance my forestry career and also earned a Top 12 finalist award for Youth Innovation Challenge from Global Environmental Education Partnership (GEEP) and North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE). A global award that recognizes creative ideas for solving the issue of marine debris. I believe in that if more people can be supported to act on environmental issues locally, we will have a community, a society and a world that doesn’t leave people behind in the fight against climate change.