I attended the international climate change conference in Cancun, and just before I left the conference to return to the U.S. last week, I sat down with three youth activists from the Public Health Institute's  youth training and leadership program, known as GoJoven. GoJoven fellows act as catalysts for social change in Sexual and Reproductive Health across Central America. This year, fellows participated in the international climate change conference for the first time, and were enthusiastic about their ideas for taking knowledge and experiences gained at the conference, and integrating it into their advocacy work. See what they had to say below:

Lemuel (Cozumel):

What Conference events have you attended so far?
In the first two days of the Conference, I attended 7 side events, including meetings on gender and climate leadership, engaging children and youth, decision making in the context of climate uncertainty, and also the official YOUNGO (youth NGO delegates) meetings.

Which sessions were most interesting to you, and why?
I found the gender and climate change meeting particularly interesting because this is a new topic for me. There’s not much info on the subject, but in my opinion, a lot of people should care about this. I think it empowered me to be at this meeting, because I think a lot about climate change, and gender is something I’m learning more about, and I need to understand the connections more clearly so that I can understand how to apply the connections in my own work.

What are your plans for the rest of the week?
I plan to be more active with YOUNGO, as well as attend more side events. I have also visited a number of booths, talked with youth about what we do at GoJoven, and distributing GoJoven project brochures to people.

What has attending this conference meant to you?
Attending this conference is giving me a global vision of the problem of climate change. Being active on the topic lets me know that the problem is not just here in Mexico; interacting with others from around the world gives me more skills for addressing the issue in my work. When I talk to people about sexual and reproductive health (SRH), they first ask whether there is really a connection. We respond by saying that there is also a connection between population and consumption. These connections are not clear and easily understandable, but I am learning how to make them more understandable for people.  My vision is international and collaborative, and I hope that those I’ve spoken with can implement some of the work we’re doing at GoJoven, or I can implement some of the work they’re doing. Making those connections has been very important for me!


Wilma (Carillo Puerto):

What Conference events have you attended so far?
I’ve attended meetings and side events addressing gender, changing precipitation patterns, and engaging children and youth in relation to climate change.

Which sessions were most interesting to you, and why?
One of the sessions talked about traditional practices that indigenous people engage in to adapt to the impacts of climate change, like changing the plants that they grow, and coming up with new farming methods that are friendly to the environment. Various examples of adaptation efforts have been really interesting to me. In my work, I started some activities on the environment last year and also SRH lessons in schools. Since I’ve been here at the conference, I’ve gotten access to a lot of information and materials that will help with those activities; I now have a lot of materials to work with.

How will your experience here impact the work you do on SRH projects?
We are dependent on the environment first for life. And, the more we advance and develop around the world, the more resources we need. I think that family planning can help mitigate climate change. Also, I work a lot with women’s rights, youth rights, and indigenous rights on SRH issues.  They value their knowledge, and I think it’s important for the world to value their knowledge of things like traditional farming and other practices. When they move to cities, they lose their traditions and knowledge and develop a more consumer based culture. There are many good ideas here at the conference about what can be done in communities that will positively affect the climate, like biking, walking more. I think SRH is a part of that. I’d also like to use this experience to draw more attention to climate change among youth. My goal is to raise young people’s awareness about the environment, their reproductive health, and the impacts of their reproductive decisions.

What are your plans for the rest of the week?
I need to look for creative ideas and strategies here for raising awareness of climate change and the importance of activism among youth. As part of this strategy, I plan to look for international youth organizations working on this issue and make contact with them. During the rest of the conference, I will also seek out Mexican organizations to see how we can work together on cross-cutting issues. Specifically, I’m looking to make contact with 3 types of organizations: those working on health, youth, and environment. There is a clear relationship between these three elements, and I’d like to find ways to more formally bring them together.

What has attending this conference meant to you?
I gained so many new ideas here that are very important! How the environment can benefit from the positive actions of communities. Also, I look at all of the international organizations that are here- I didn’t know these activities and organizations existed, and now I have so many new ideas, contacts and materials. There are many Mexican youth who don’t think climate change is important; many don’t believe it exists. Or they think it’s something that’s natural. A very small group sees it as important. I think I can use the strategies and activities I’ve seen here to effect change among young people. I’m really happy to have had the opportunity to be here!


Javier (Cozumel):

What Conference events have you attended so far?
So far, I have attended three side events and meetings. One was on sustainable housing and building in Mexico; another one was the new implementation of sustainable cities, including what could contribute to effective public policies on this issue. Today, I attended a session led by youth delegates from Thailand, Bolivia, Mexico and Haiti. They were talking about who can improve our future on climate change (the answer was young people!), and what they are doing now in their countries.

Which sessions were most interesting to you, and why?
So far, my favorite session was the one on sustainable business and technology in cities. I’ve also visited numerous booths, and picked up literature on sustainable development and tourism, as well as sustainable enterprise. It’s really important that we incorporate these issues as we think about how development will impact climate change.

What are your plans for the rest of the week?
Well, I really hope that the negotiations end up with a big decision that gets us toward an agreement on a climate change policy. It would be great to be able to observe the negotiations in one of the plenary sessions, to see how it happens. I’ve already accomplished what I wanted to learn here yesterday, regarding sustainable building, tourism and development in Mexico. I didn’t know these strategies were even an option, and I live here! I’m also hoping to learn anything I possibly can about health and youth, as well as finding new strategies for working with adolescents. This could also help me develop new ideas for how to incorporate strategies for youth leadership on sustainable development and tourism with my work on the GoJoven project.

What has attending this conference meant to you?
I’m very happy to have to have come to this conference- I got so many new ideas, and learned new things about development in Mexico, things that are happening in my own backyard! I really hope to go to the next COP in South Africa as well!