More Young Climate Ambassadors in Cameroon

We were so happy to partner with Meg Wah again, this time to support a joint project with another Cameroonian non-profit, Voice of Nature (VoNat). Together, Meg Wah and VoNat led a six-month youth program, with over 120 participants from the Mount Cameroon Area and the Bamenda Highlands. Through the program, participants gained a better understanding of the climate crisis in general, and of how they might help address specific climate-related challenges in their communities. 

The program aimed to pass on historical Indigenous climate change mitigation practices and conservation knowledge, enhance climate change information sharing amongst community youths, advocate for the inclusion of Indigenous knowledge in all climate-related projects and school curricula through Eco-Clubs, and mobilize the knowledge gained by the participants by planting and maintaining a community orchard of indigenous fruit trees. In addition to tree-planting, activities included sessions on folktales and storytelling, media and arts, and experiential climate information gathering and dissemination.

Articles, short stories, and other work produced by the participants over the course of the program were broadcast on community radio and television stations, reaching a wide audience and emphasizing the need for all to be engaged in the fight against climate change. Furthermore, educational materials, including 100 copies of Voice of Nature Magazine, were distributed physically and electronically to various stakeholders, such as schools and churches, to educate more community members about climate change as well as the program.

Many of the participants are mobilizing what they learned in the program to continue to push for climate justice and sustainability by raising awareness in their communities. Listen to what one of the participants and a parent had to say during the program’s closing ceremony:

Meg Wah and VoNat hope to continue to leverage the growing climate consciousness among the youth in these communities in order to sustain and expand these climate-change mitigation, adaptation, and advocacy efforts throughout Cameroon. We look forward to seeing what comes next!