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The Road to Doha: On World Environment Day, Youth Ambassadors Begin Environmental Training

Posted on 2012-06-05

WASHINGTON, June 5th: It is estimated that within three and a half decades, there will be more than nine billion people living on this Earth; people who are eating more, consuming more water, and using more energy. The Earth will require twice the amount of food, energy, and water over the course of these next three and half decades.

On the occasion of World Environment Day, Qatar Foundation International (QFI) focuses its energy on increasing environmental awareness and engaging youth as it prepares its Youth Ambassadors for Science and the Environment (YASE) for their participation in the Rio+20 Conference and eventually the UN Conference of the Parties (COP) 18. Yesterday marked the first of many trainings conducted by Conservation International for the youth ambassadors as they embark on a worldwide journey to better understand critical environmental issues and to more effectively advocate on behalf of sustainable practices in their own communities.

The youth ambassadors, hailing from Qatar, the United States and Brazil, will travel to Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Caravelas and the Abrohlos National Marine Park before and during the Rio+20 Earth Summit from June 14 – 23rd. They will participate in a variety of environmental and cultural activities, organized in collaboration with Conservation International and BibliASPA, that will equip them with the skills necessary to face global environmental challenges and work towards sustainability within their own communities.

From the 14th to the 18th, the students will travel to Caravelas, a small fishing village in southern Bahia where they will explore and map the local mangroves, learn about how the local fishermen operate their economic activities, venture to the surrounding rainforest and visit the Abrohlos National Park. Furthermore, every evening the students will present different aspects of their own culture and practices to their peers.

On the 19th of June the students will travel to Rio de Janeiro to participate in Rio+Social, a gathering of technology, social media and global leaders who will begin a global conversation on topics related to #SocialGood and how new media can help foster positive solutions to the world’s biggest problems.

During the Rio+20 Conference, the students will conduct several presentations in the Qatar pavilion. They will take the knowledge gained during this global event back with them to more effectively raise environmental awareness in their own communities and ultimately to COP18 in Doha, Qatar.

About World Environment Day
World Environment Day is an annual event that is aimed at being the biggest and most widely celebrated global day for positive environmental action. World Environment Day activities take place all year round but climax on 5 June every year, involving everyone from everywhere. Through World Environment Day, the UN Environment Programme is able to personalize environmental issues and enable everyone to realize not only their responsibility, but also their power to become agents for change in support of sustainable and equitable development. The 2012 theme for World Environment Day is Green Economy.

About Rio+20
At the Rio+20 Conference, world leaders, along with thousands of participants from governments, the private sector, NGOs and other groups, will come together to shape how we can reduce poverty, advance social equity and ensure environmental protection on an ever more crowded planet to get to the future we want.

The Conference will focus on two themes: a green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication; and the institutional framework for sustainable development.

About the YASE Program
Launched in partnership with Qatar Shell, Qatar National Research Fund, Conservation International and the Secondary School Research Experience Program, the YASE Programme helps train youth from Qatar, the United States, and Brazil to better understand critical and global environmental issues and to more effectively raise environmental awareness in their own communities. YASE aims to expose students to the two key elements of environmental education in the 21st century: conservation and innovation.

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