SUSTAINABLE WORLD Young Innovators Forgotten Diversity Carbon Farming Building Bridges Sharing Is Caring
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The UNEP Magazine for Youth for young people · by young people · about young people SUSTAINABLE WORLD Young innovators Forgotten diversity Carbon farming Building bridges Sharing is caring Travel and transport 1 TUNZA the UNEP magazine CONTENTS for youth. To view current and past issues of this Editorial 3 publication online, please visit www.unep.org “We will never forget …” 4 Young leaders 5 United Nations Environment Programme Sustainability = common sense 6 (UNEP) Waste to treasure 7 PO Box 30552, Nairobi, Kenya Tel (254 20) 7621 234 Sharing is caring: the new economics? 8 Fax (254 20) 7623 927 What a waste! 10 Telex 22068 UNEP KE Fake meat – friend or foe? 11 E-mail [email protected] www.unep.org We all need bees 12 Quinoa – that’s kiːnwɑː 14 Director of Publications Naysán Sahba Founding Editor Geoffrey Lean Carbon farming? 15 Special Contributor Wondwosen Asnake The Earth system: the good news 16 Youth Editor Karen Eng Microbes: forgotten diversity 17 Nairobi Coordinator Naomi Poulton UNEP’s Children and Youth Unit Joyce Sang, Bugs, they’re good for you! 18 Karishma Thethy A frog’s life 19 Circulation Manager Mohamed Atani Wildlife superhighways 20 Design Edward Cooper, Ecuador Building bridges 21 Production Banson Cover image Dan Bergeron/fauxreel/ Can cities help the globe go green? 22 http://lemoinejardinier.blogspot.co.uk/ One voice for clean air 23 Fighting malaria 24 Youth contributors Florencia Goldstein, Santiago Lopes, Argentina; Felipe dos Santos Machado, Jeanne Martins, Daniel Ribeiro, Maiara Palmeira da Silva, Brazil; Oscar Contreras-Villarroel, Chile; Da Keep up with TUNZA on your mobile Fang, Heng Feng, Qian Wang, Qing Huang, China; http://tunza.mobi Fabrizio González, Pablo Calderón Tobón, Colombia; Claudia Escobar Prado, Irene Sánchez Villalobos, Costa Rica; Bruno Carlo Borro, Gustavo Altamirano or on Facebook Briones, Ecuador; Soumyajit Paul, Vaibhav Singh, www.facebook.com/TUNZAmagazine India; Atika Astrini, Saiful Syadir, Indonesia; Wallace Chwala, Jessica Mukiri, Kenya; Loh Hong Khai, Chia Wen Shin, Malaysia; Henry Bonilla Bruno, Arturo Salazar Toledo, Peru; Justine Cañete, Glykie Cañete, Ma-an Jane Diamos, Philippines; SaeIn Lee, SeonHyang Byeon, YoungBeom Kim, Republic of Korea; Gim Hsiang, Daniel Tan Shi Jie, Kevin Lee, Adrian Kho Jia Wei, Singapore; Thabisile Kamtshe, Eliot Mojapelo, South Africa; Yosapol Harnvanichvech, Wannita Sae-Tang, Sarocha UNEP and Bayer, the German- Competition on the Environment, Thenga, Thailand; Sanga Moses, Uganda; Rita based multinational involved in the UNEP Tunza International Youth Fereira Hung, Miguel Sánchez Vezega, Venezuela; health care, crop protection and and Children’s Conferences, youth Do Thien, Trong Luu Quan, Viet Nam. high-tech materials, have worked environmental networks in Africa, to geth er to strengthen young Asia Pacifi c, Europe, Latin America Other contributors Michael Preuss, Roland Keiper, people’s environmental awareness and the Caribbean, North America Dirk Frenzel, Julia Hoppenau and Ruoqi Wang, Bayer; Alexandra Graham, St Karol School of Nursing, and engage children and youth in and West Asia, the Bayer Young Ghana; Jessica Green, Biology and Built Environment environ mental issues worldwide. Environmental Envoy Program and Center, USA. a photo competition, ‘Ecology in The partnership, originally signed Focus’, in Eastern Europe. The contents of this magazine do not necessarily refl ect in 2004 and renewed in 2007 and the views or policies of UNEP or the editors, nor are they 2010, ran for 10 years. During the The long-standing partnership an offi cial record. The designations employed and the course of the partnership, UNEP and between UNEP and Bayer be- presentation do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of UNEP concerning the legal Bayer implemented a wide variety of came a public-private partnership status of any country, territory or city or its authority, or projects including TUNZA Magazine, that served as a model for both concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. the International Children’s Painting organizations. 2 TUNZA Vol 11 No 32 Times are changing his is TUNZA magazine’s first totally electronic focuses on research, some is about raising awareness issue – coming out on http://tunza.mobi and and provoking change, while other efforts explore www.ourplanet.com, where we’re publishing using waste as a resource. new stories two or three times a week. T We have a saying here: “ideas have legs”. Many of Then, we’ll produce a compilation volume – like this these innovations are replicable where you are. Some one – for reference, which will also appear on www. are potential business ideas that you could take up. unep.org/publications. Or perhaps the research interests you. So could you contribute or help in some way? Whatever you can do, TUNZA magazine is for youth, by youth and about youth if you want to talk to any of these young innovators – so there’ll be lots about what YOU and other young and benefit from their experience and imagination, people are doing, what you and they have achieved, please contact us through these pages or through and ideas about what you could pick up and run with. Facebook (www.facebook.com/TUNZAmagazine) and we’ll put you in touch. We’ll also look at issues of concern to us all – from mega concerns such as climate change, resource And of course, we want to hear about what you are use and food waste, to things like green jobs, green doing too, what you are thinking and what you are opportunities and how we can move to a green concerned about. So, please, tell us – using the same economy. communications channels. This new issue is all about opportunities. We are We made a resolution this year to be positive. So majoring on young innovators – the Bayer Young don’t be weighed down by problems. We want to make Environmental Envoys, all of whom are working to TUNZA magazine a resource for ideas that, together, make our world more sustainable. Some of their work will walk us into a sustainable world. Sytrus/Farek/Dreamstime.com Sustainable worlds 3 “We will never forget …” THAT SENTIMENT was palpable at the closing party of the 2013 Bayer Young Environmental Envoys field trip to Leverkusen, Germany, in November 2013 as the 46 young people from 19 countries danced the night away. These enthusiastic young Envoys had been selected from among 1,900 applicants in a rigorous process, organized by Bayer, that included regional eco-camps. M. Rennertz/Bayer ach of the Environmental Envoys had won their place on the fi eld trip by making a diff erence. Some are Einvolved in game-changing, practical research – The Bayer Young Environmental Envoy Programme has developing concrete from wood waste, working to produce been a key element of the UNEP-Bayer Partnership for coatings for growing fruit that needs protection from encouraging youth involvement in environmental issues. direct sun-light, extracting aluminium compounds from Started as a local project in Thailand in 1998, by 2013 it wastewater sludge, or fi nding ways of using a catalyst had galvanized youth in 19 countries on three continents: synthesized from cobalt phosphate to extract hydrogen Argentina, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, from water as an energy source. Others are already making Ecuador, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, Peru, the and selling sustainable products and services – including Philippines, Republic of Korea, Singapore, South Africa, building materials made from recycled toothpaste tubes, Venezuela and Viet Nam. applying a polymer-accelerated hot compost technique to provide farming communities with soil-enhancing compost Sadly, all good things must come to an end. After 10 and hot water, or running a social enterprise making soap years of working closely together to promote young from recycled cooking oils. people’s involvement in environmental and sustainable development, the successful, supportive and dynamic During a week-long fi eld trip, Envoys were able to meet partnership between Bayer and UNEP is winding down. and learn from experts in the fi elds of recycling, water “These are truly inspiring young people whom we purifi cation, waste disposal and sustainable solutions hope will continue their great work in helping to make for managing the world’s food supplies – including sustainability a reality,” commented Michael Preuss of new packaging to minimize food waste. “It was mind- Bayer Corporate Communications. “It has been truly re- blowing,” said Wallace Chwala from the University of fresh ing for us to work with them over the years.” Nairobi, “and I found the session on how to turn a project into a business particularly useful … it’s totally expanded All that’s left to do is express thanks to Bayer on behalf my horizons.” of all of us who have been touched by their generosity in making so much available to so many for so long. 4 TUNZA Vol 11 No 3 Young leaders Win-win-win-win-win EACH YEAR, Bayer Young Environmental Envoys get Wallace Chwala, from the University the opportunity to present their projects, which vary of Nairobi, Kenya, has developed a from conceptual scientifi c research to totally practical, way of making compost in just 12 hands-on work. The most innovative, sustainable and days using his community’s organic easily replicable projects win Leadership Awards waste. He sells the compost to local that include a seed-corn cash prize and development farmers, and teaches them about support from Bayer. improving their soil. That’s three wins. The fourth? He runs water If you are interested in any of these projects, could pipes through his compost pits to help develop them, or would be interested in doing heat water for the community. And something similar where you are, please contact us the fi fth is that he provides jobs for through Facebook (www.facebook.com/tunzamagazine) local people, too.