The country should be recognised worldwide as an open, accessible learning space, a sort of "whole nation-university" on climate and biodiversity
After more than six months of preparation, a tiny group of young professionals have accomplished the design and delivery of a capacity building course for younger peers interested in the field of climate action. It was a big effort because these professionals had to build on their passion and insights on climate change and reach a new level of expertise in the same area. Furthermore, they had to gain that level of confidence that would allow them to share complex contents with others.
The group was one of the Communities of Practitioners ideated by The Good Leadership, and this particular exercise was in collaboration with Youth Action for Sustainable and Eco Nepal. The overall goal of this Community of Practitioners was to bring together a small number of youths with some strong interest in climate and try to bring their knowledge to the next level.
For all of us, this is really what good leadership is about: on the one hand, having good values, embed them in our daily lives and also, on the other hand, build knowledge on one of the most consequential issues of our time. The stakes are so high that it is imperative that young people step up and really take a leading role in the fight against planet warming and biodiversity devastation.
Indeed, we are dealing with a double-edged sword: while a lot of focus and attention have correctly been on the impact a warmer climate is having on our lives, the issue of biodiversity loss has not been adequately highlighted. The Community of Practitioners has been trying to garner an understanding on both issues of climate change and biodiversity losses with a big focus on the key underlying issues that make both topics so complex and daunting. Its members also managed to delve into other technical areas properly linked to climate, especially climate finance, climate governance and gaining a good grasp of the different aspects of the Paris Agreement.
Over the course of the months, the Community of Practitioners was turned into an autonomous campaigning group, Planet Pulse, that aims to continue creating knowledge on climate action. Planet Pulse designed the whole curriculum of the course and they invited two exceptionals guests, the indigenous climate activists Tashi Lhazom and Pema Wangmo who shared their experiences and insights on climate action.
Lhazom is the director of an internationally acclaimed documentary, "No Monastery, No Village" that recounts the story of her village in Humla with its ancient monastery around which the whole village has been dependent on but whose existence is now at risk due to the deteriorating "health" of a nearby glacier. Wangmo instead explained the complexities of climate 'governance, the hard-to-understand galaxy of entities behind the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
We need citizens like them, we need young people to elevate themselves and campaign, create knowledge and new insights. Yet this is also a multi-speed, multi- layer work that can unfold in different but complementary ways. First at the grassroots level: we need to create tons and tons of awareness in the schools on sustainable development with climate and biodiversity action.
Then it is paramount to get deeper for those interested to know more. From creating awareness in the simplest terms, slowly you add more information, more details and technicalities to the issues. According to one of the course's guests, Pema Wangmo, there is a big need to create learning opportunities on the technicalities of climate change-related negotiations.
Indeed, while it is relatively easy to get the basic terminology and key issues around climate and biodiversity, there is a myriad of details, including extremely complex working procedures, around the most important elements of implementing the Paris Agreement.
Nepal, one of the most climate vulnerable places on earth and also one of the richest in terms of its ecosystem and biodiversity, counts with an increasing number of great climate activists. But we need more of them.
This is a truly leadership challenge: increasing the number of youth climate activists by making it easier to join the cause. How can we involve more youngsters, how can we create a real level playing field so that it is much easier for youths from vulnerable groups to step up?
Nepal should become one of the best places on earth to learn and practise climate and biodiversity action. The country should be recognised worldwide as an open, accessible learning space, a sort of "whole nation-university" on climate and biodiversity where subjects focused on formal degrees matter up to only a certain point.
I do realise that capacity building-centered activities are not very "cool" for engaging youths, but we need to find creative, brilliant ways to involve the millions of youths of the country. That's why we need to start from the simplest and most basic ways.
Moreover, learning and expertise building should not be a goal itself: we need real advocacy and pressure for Nepal to take a global leadership position like tiny Vanuatu, the Pacific island nation that is a truly trailblazer in the field of climate action.
Pressuring policy makers, engaging them with new insights and research remains essential but not enough. Climate and biodiversity actions should bring a new wave of civic engagement through bottom-up deliberations. That's why local governments should be supported to experiment and promote the concept of climate assemblies.
These are the spaces where the insights of local experts, especially those from young leaders, are at the disposal of local people to help them understand the indispensable actions that must be taken to fight climate change and biodiversity loss.
Galimberti is one of the co-founders of The Good Leadership
