Eye Witness :

The Following is a detailed Youth eye witness account of the activities and events of the 9th Special Session of the Governing Council.

Saturday 4th February
by Burhan Buçi

“ This day marks the beginning of an upcoming busy week for youth advisors. It will be a week in which UNEP’s most important meetings of 2006 will take place. Youth, for the first time, will be represented by seven youth advisors in the ninth special session of the Global Ministerial Environment Forum. While other regions have only one youth representative, West Asia, the hosting region, will have two youth representatives mainly because one of the advisors, Burhan Buçi, is based in the United Arab Emirates” Read More >>

Sunday 5th February
by Cecile Bordier
 
“ After receiving our registration, we were all impatient to go to the meeting planned with Eric Falt to see again the other members of the TYAC. After few months of virtual chat since the TUNZA Conference in Bangalore, we were overjoyed to see each other again face to face!!

Then, serious discussions started about how we could get the most out of the conference we were invited: the Global Civil Society meeting and the Ministerial Forum. This year, the discussions were focused on chemicals management, energy and tourism. ”  Read More >>

 
Monday 6th February
by Marina Mansilla Hermann
 
“ Waking up this morning was a bit of a challenge after staying late last night discussing our statement for today. However, stress helps a lot more than coffee as we worked on the document through the morning, trying to polish the language, express ideas clearly and strongly. After revising several preliminary drafts and correcting it once and again, it seemed we were finally done - just on time -, ready to print and go for some deserved lunch before our speech at the beginning of the afternoon session. But suddenly, like in Murphy's Law, the worst that could ever happen” Read More>>

Thursday 8th February
by Burhan Buçi

“ The day started with ministerial consultations on policy issues related to energy and environment. After persisting attempts, youth finally got a time slot of less than 3 minutes for a statement to higher level segment of the Governing Council session. Youth advisors unanimously chose Juan Hoffmaister to represent UNEP Tunza Youth Advisory Council (TYAC) at these consultations and deliver a youth statement on energy. According to reports, the latter was positively rated among attendees. Simultaneously, other youth advisors were participating in the Committee of the Whole where the implementation of UNEP’s programme of work and the relevant decisions of Governing Council were being discussed ” Read More >>

Friday 9th February
by Maurice odera.

“My duties today included sorting out the left over UNEP publications,taking down the UNEP posters that were stuck all over...and believe me when I say that I had so much fun.

My day starting out slowly hid me from the fact that this was the day that I was going to meet my regional director-Sekou Toure I had been trying to get a hold of him the whole time during the GC but I just couldn't. Then another meeting,with another important person that would help me with the ammo in the fight for the environment-Mr.Ratemo Michieka who is the head of NEMA (National Envionment Managament Authority,Kenya)” Read More >>

Youth Comments

“ The Global civil society was a success, and we have been particularly pleased to feel that the youth view is so welcomed and encouraged. We had the opportunity to present a youth statement to the civil society forum where we highlighted the importance of youth participation in the decision making process. People were very pleased to hear that so many youth from around the world had input in the statement through the Tunza Network. The most important thing, however, was that promised to continue our work at the local level to support our governments in our paramount task of protecting the environment. ” Read More>>

Youth Booth

“The Tunza booth was a success to say the least. It was visited by a vast number of people representing different NGO's and governments alike. One of the visible advantages of having the Tunza booth was that,we managed to make so many contacts which would prove to be helpful in the future. Networking is a major hurdle that Tunza has to overcome and having the booth has substantially reduced that. We met delegates from Australia,who were very interested in what Tunza is about and what we do particularly in Kenya. They are willing to help in raising funds back in Australia to assist us in future projects that we may be interested in starting regarding environmental awareness programmes. The rest of the TYAC members also managed to get various useful contacts. Delegates visiting the booth wanted to know why "TUNZA" UNEP youth programme is not well represented in African countries especially in the North. Quite a number of publications were distributed especially in Spanish , French and Arabic. ”

Signed TYAC Team