Youth from various groups and cooperatives met yesterday in Kigali to discuss their contribution to ensure a green environment.Their meeting is part of a regional campaign organized by the Kenya Youth Climate Network (KYCN), sponsored by the United Nations Millennium Campaign.“Climate change is the main challenge to our economies and as the youth, we have the task of contributing the best ways we can, so that our economies progressively adopt changes that come along,” said David Wainaina, the KYCN representative.The campaign that was started from Burundi will cover the five East Africa Community partner states, aims at building capacity for the youth to play a lead role in ensuring a green economy for sustainable development.“This is in preparation to have voices of the EAC youth heard in the coming Rio+20, the UN Conference on Sustainable Development that will take place in Janeiro, Brazil this month,” he said.He said that recommendations from each meeting will be forwarded to the government representatives to attend the meeting.The meeting will attract government representatives from various countries across the world.It aims at checking on political commitment for sustainable development through assessing progress attained from the previous summits on sustainable development as well as addressing challenges identified.Speaking to The New Times, the Executive Secretary of the National Youth Council (NYC), Alphonse Nkuranga, explained that through Rwanda Environment Management Authority (REMA), government has successfully involved the youth in environment conservation activities.“In their respective cooperatives, the youth have not only been engaged in keeping Kigali clean and green, but have also been employed to plant bamboo trees on river banks to safeguard water bodies from human activities,” Nkuranga said.
