Two of the most promising Environmentalists Youths in Africa

Two of the most promising Environmentalists Youths in Africa

We have heard drastic change in our weather pattern . times that we expect rain we are shocked with the high solar radiation. This drastic weather change need to be addressed due to the effect they have on the economy. Unpredictable weather changes has adverse effects on our agriculture sector and we all know the support offered by agricultural on our economy. Tourism is a key supporter to our economy . most of the wildlife rely on a conducive environment for them them to thrive.air pollution is responsible for 3 to 4 million death yearly in Africa.

From the above discussion what can be derived is that there is need for inclusion of environment in all our development and when we talk about the  economy we can't ignore the environment if we ignore the environment in our development it will unwind all what we have ever worked for. Do you Remember the recent flooding that we experienced, which led to loss of life, destruction of property just to mention but a few. Do you Remember the recent outbreak of pests and diseases that had an adverse effect on our crops.i can continue on and on just to give illustration on how we environment,  economy and health are interlinked. 

This post was to appreciate those who are doing something regarding the environmental menace that we are facing . those visionary  leader who have stood in the gap and said enough is enough  it is time for action.
Those who have decided it is the high time we take the environmental  conversation to another stage.

Today I was privileged to attend a summit on environmental conservation. In the summit they also talked about top 3 most promising environmentalists. 
The criteria for selection was.

1. What are the activities/projects they are undertaking.
2. What is their sphere of influence regarding the environmental  project that they are taking.
3. What is the extent they are will to go for the sake of environmental Conservation
4.Must be under 25 years

Starting from the top we had

1.Antony Ngure Gacheru

Antony has acquired lots of environmental award for his efforts to conserve the environment. As young as he is,he has a BSc in water and environment Engineering.
He was on top of the list due to how creative he is and also  how practical his activities are.
He served as the Tunza-Eco Genration (Partnership between UNEP and Samsung engineering ) Ambassador in Kenya , served as the secretary General of  Kenya inter University Environmental Students Association and later resigned, current he is the ambassador coordinator at Environment 254.

Project that he is involved in are -

Currently working on a smart waste collection system,the project is expected to improve the waste menace in Kenya and specifically the major cities.
PANDA mti initiative(plant a tree initiative)-An initiative that combines fun(hiking) and tree planting . this initiative was launched in December 2015 and so far he has planted close to 350,000trees.

Art and environment Exhibition -involve the use of art for environmental awareness. Through his art exhibition he managed to bring an international artist who has specialized in Art and environment to come and train youth on how they can tap onto the power of art.The profits generated from art exhibition are normally directed to conservation purposes.
Click here to see the interview of Antony Ngure and the international Artist Yootab.

He also runs an environmental open space where after 2 weeks people come and discuss environmental challenge and offer solution.The environmental open space has been able to influence a lot of policies, has also attracted international environmentalists and also various politicians.

Antony works has also featured in both international and local TV stations. Currently he will be running a show on TV know as green evolution.

Click here to see the interview

As an environment 254 ambassador coordinator he has been conducting free lessons on how we can use GIS for environmental conservation and how we can tap onto the power of social media from environment awareness . Recently he was selected to participate in COP 21 which took place in Paris and also in a summit about youth and SDG in  Morocco.

2.Jennifer Uchendu

 Jennifer Uchendu is a 24 year old Nigerian woman on a mission to change the way Nigerians and Africans at large understand and practice sustainability.

 

Through her organisation - SustyVibes; she presents brilliant and innovative concepts both offline and online to capture the interests of both young and old people towards the environment.

Her website provides top news on African Sustainability, covers events happening in the field, shares sustainability and women development focused articles. She also showcases African sustainability champions on a weekly feature called Susty Person of The Week.
Her website provides top news on African Sustainability, covers events happening in the field, shares sustainability and women development focused articles. She also showcases African sustainability champions on a weekly feature called Susty Person of The Week.

Her website provides top news on African Sustainability, covers events happening in the field, shares sustainability and women development focused articles. She also showcases African sustainability champions on a weekly feature called Susty Person of The Week.
Via her SustyPlaces project for Nigerian Ecotourism, she highlights the top nature based tourist centers in Nigeria and has also co-organized an ecotour that took 50 youths to a zoological park in Lagos where they discussed wildlife conservation, climate action and even planted a tree!

One can easily tell that Jennifer is an ecofeminist as she boldly advocates for women empowerment and development. She believes that African women are the key to Sustainable Development and through her Women unCrushed series on her website, she helps to promote african women who have survived devastating times and situations in their lifetimes and are still able to give back to society.

Her latest event tagged Susty Party boasted of bringing top youth environmentalists, sustainability actors and other young Nigerians together in a nature themed place to talk about critical environmental issues, watch a climate change movie, showcase upcoming green musicians and exhibit local fashion.  The creative games, good music and healthy food presented an enabling environment for youths to be inspired and network with fellow champions. At the end of the program, there was an increased motivation to practice sustainability.

Jennifer is also very big on the Sustainable Development Goals as she has taken up the task to teach as many Nigerian school children on the 17 global goals through her Susty Schools project, she has taught over 500 students till date. She currently works with some academicians on a research paper to include climate change into the Nigerian School Curriculum.

A popular category on her website is the SustyBiz series where she co-writes with Adiya Atuluku on Business Sustainability in Nigeria using her experience from sustainability practice in the corporate and government sectors in Nigeria; together, they help demistify the concept of sustainability for businesses and help large and small companies think and go green. The aim of the series is to help young professionals especially to become advocates for sustainability and initiate these changes within their organisations as she had done previously..


As a top climate change activist, Jennifer has been able to use social media to promote sustainable living for climate action, through stories, art and music. She constantly reminds people of how knowledge and mitigation of climate change is very crucial for Africans as we are most vulnerable.