In a mission to save the planet.. UNESCO hosts Youth leaders

SEE - July 9: 70 selected young leaders from over 60 countries including Egypt gathered recently for the “Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Youth Conference ‘Youth Saves the Planet’ organized by UNESCO in Paris. The conference which was attended by two participants from Egypt, aims at developing networking, capacity building and communication scheme to facilitate collaboration on a global scale for the planet.

The "Education for Sustainable Development Leadership Training" is a project of the Global Action Program (GAP) on ESD with the support of Japan. As a follow-up to the UN Decade on ESD (2005-2014), UNESCO launched the GAP on ESD which focuses on generating and scaling up ESD action at all levels and in all areas of education and in all sustainable development sectors. The GAP has five Action Areas, one of which is dedicated to mobilizing and engaging youth who are recognized as key to the success of the GAP. The ESD Youth Conference took place with the participation of 20 young journalists who work to promote ESD principles and contribute to the discussion.

The participants have asserted that with sites at risk, there is much more that can be done, for example through the virtual mapping of sites, so that they are preserved digitally, as well as working on the relationship between populations and their cultural heritage. They conclude their meeting by calling on preserving the intangible heritage even while the conflict is raging.