Flying into the tourist destination of Cancún for the International Climate Change Conference (COP 16) last Friday, the intense humidity, flashy sexualized billboards and too-close proximity to the white sandy beaches reminded me of how this city represents a microcosm of the intersections between global health challenges like population growth, gender inequity, globalization and climate change. For the past four years as a Sierra Club Global Population and Environment Program National Youth Organizer, I’ve partnered with the GoJoven Program in Youth Leadership in Sexual and Reproductive Health, run by International Health Programs of the Public Health Institute funded by the Summit Foundation. Since 2004, GoJoven has trained youth leaders in Guatemala, Belize, Honduras and Quintana Roo Mexico—the four countries that border the Mesoamerican Reef System—to complete Leadership Action Plans that address high rates of unintended teen pregnancy and STIs in their communities. Here in Quintana Roo where tourism highly impacts local livelihoods, culture and natural resources, they also have one of the highest annual growth rates of 5.5% (mainly due to migration), and Mexico’s highest fertility rate of 2.3 children per woman. That’s why GoJoven youth leaders are selected from environmental, reproductive health, journalist, NGO and political fields to advance sexual and reproductive health and protect the environment in a synergistic, integrated way.

Over the summer, I interned with GoJoven in Playa del Carmen, Mexico for two months to strategize their involvement in COP 16 from November 29-December 10 in Cancún, Mexico. GoJoven leaders and I discussed the connections among sexual and reproductive health, gender and climate change here in Cancún, for example by advancing women’s status and rights and ensuring that all people have complete freedom to choose the number of their children, couples tend to choose smaller and healthier families. Together with promoting eco-friendly tourism and protecting the globally significant Mesoamerican reef and Sian Kaan biosphere reserve, this has a smaller impact on the environment. Considering Quintana Roo’s high vulnerability to climate change impacts such as lack of mangroves to protect their coasts from more intense and frequent hurricanes and sea level rise, coral reef bleaching which degrades their marine biodiversity and threatens their dependence on tourism for their livelihoods, and health problems like malaria and dengue fever which will be exacerbated by climate change, integrated development solutions are crucial for ensuring the region’s long-term sustainability.



At COP 16 we accredited six GoJoven youth leaders (some of whom are pictured here) to officially attend the conference and more than ten to attend and speak at unofficial side-events like the Conference of Youth and Kilmaforum, to advocate for integrated sexual and reproductive health and rights and climate change solutions using our Policy Statement. Even though I’m now back in the U.S., I’m proud to be a lifelong friend of GoJoven and part of this movement that is working toward a more just and sustainable future!