Diana is one of 17 inaugural members of the IUCN Youth Advisory Committee (YAC). The first of its kind, the YAC was launched in April 2024 to support the implementation of the IUCN Youth Strategy across the Union. The YAC is comprised of youth from across the globe, each bringing their own diverse experiences to support meaningful youth engagement in IUCN’s policies, processes and programmes. Get to know Diana and other YAC members as we introduce them.
Hi everyone, my name is Diana Garlytska! I have been a member of the IUCN Commission on Education and Communication (CEC) since 2018, and the IUCN CEC West Europe Regional Vice Chair since 2022. With over nine years of experience within academia, I have taught as a visiting lecturer in over a dozen countries across Europe and Asia and have written several workbooks for BA level students while authoring my own course on “Sustainable Business Development”. I currently sit on the Advisory Board for CoalitionWILD but have been involved in global environmental youth movements for a number of years.
From 2018-2022 I was Steering Committee Co-Chair, and a member of the CoalitionWILD steering committee from 2019-2022. I have also been a member of the youth workgroup for the IUCN Global Youth Summit and had the opportunity to co-author and present the summit’s Outcome Statement at the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Marseille, France. In 2022, I was a Youth Task Force member for Stockholm+50 and contributed to youth work in environmental policy development. That same year I had the chance to participate and speak at COY17 and COP27, while also attending SB58, COP28, the NATO Public Forum and co-organised RCOY East Europe under YOUNGO to encourage youth in my part of the world to meet, network, and cooperate. Near the end of 2022 I decided to proceed PhD research in environmental finance.
Having started my journey as a Commission member, I take great pride in being a part of the YAC. Through all the positions I have taken on, events I have attended and helped organise, I would say my greatest passions are youth engagement in nature conservation, storytelling and academia. With the recent launch of the YAC, I am confident the implementation of the IUCN Youth Strategy will lead to even greater empowerment of young professionals everywhere.