August 2016, Kubuqi Desert - A group of 76 teenagers from seven countries spent over two weeks in July and August 2016 in the Kubuqi Desert in China’s Inner Mongolia region at a camp organized by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Elion Foundation to prepare tomorrow’s generation to make sustainable use of the planet’s finite resources.
Camp participants from the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, Republic of Korea and China at the 2016 UNEP GEO Youth Summer Camp, organized annually in the Kubuqi Desert since 2014, said they learned a lot about the environment and why the world has to change its consumption habits.
“I learnt how science and technology is making clean and renewable energy available affordable for the poor person. I believe this is exactly what the UN Sustainable Development Goals want to achieve – a better life for everyone, everywhere equally,” one 12-year-old camper said.
The UNEP Global Environment Outlook (GEO) Youth Summer Camps aim to expose young people to environmental problems, explain their causes and discuss solutions. Campers attend environmental classes and take part in field activities in the desert, designed to give young people first-hand experience and knowledge of desert ecosystems and motivate them to adopt sustainable lifestyles.
The 2016 Camp focused on the environment-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including sustainable consumption and production (SCP), clean energy and climate change. Students learned why a change in consumption habits is essential for achieving the SDGs and how SCP can support efforts to eradicate poverty.
Camp participants say the experience has changed their attitude towards the environment. Twelve-year-old GuoYintong, for example, said he wants to become an energy expert when he grows up and make it his life mission to ensure that cheaper and eco-friendly energy is easily available to the poor.
The young people who participated said they would share what they learned with their peers on social media and websites and start their own environmental group to involve more young people in environmental awareness promotion activities.
About 200 students aged 9-16 years from 7 countries have attended the UNEP GEO Youth Summer Camp so far.
For more information, please contact: Ms. Satwant Kaur, Regional Information Officer, UNEP Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, Tel: + (66 2) 2882127; Mobile: +(66 8) 17001376, Email: satwant.kaur@unep.org
