#NatureForAll Strategies
The seven #NatureForAll strategies offer solutions to a worldwide problem of disconnection from nature. They have been developed based on recommendations received from the 2014 IUCN World Parks Congress and the 2016 IUCN World Conservation Congress, and advice from #NatureForAll partners worldwide. They will continue to evolve over time. Not every strategy may be applicable in every situation, so our partners choose the one(s) that work best in their local context.
The Goal
Harnessing digital technology and the power of collaboration, our goal is to connect intersectional global conversations and meaningful action on climate change along with colonial and corporate power structures. Honoring traditional Indigenous knowledge, understanding hidden histories and implementing informed action to support front line communities, this global mobilization aims to engage youth in a deep understanding of power structures at play in climate change policy.
Unpacking the continued impact of colonization on environment and culture, it becomes apparent that engaging deeply with Indigenous peoples, knowledge and values are essential to just and holistic solutions to address the climate crisis. To decarbonize without decolonizing our perspectives and practices is a false solution which will lead to increased inequality and continued marginalization and exploitation of Indigenous peoples and lands.
Working across classrooms, cultures and organizations, this mobilization is collaborating with UNESCO, the UNFCCC and several NGO partners to strengthen youth voice, creativity and their critical understanding of the power dynamics within global climate negotiations, policy and framing.
What Strategies Contributed to TakingItGlobal’s Success?
Strategy 4: Embrace Technology
This project uses live video conferencing and virtual classroom technologies to connect essential international conversations about the root causes of climate change. Throughout the mobilization, students build and strengthen networks of support and action to foster comprehensive understandings of the linkages between colonial structures and climate change while comparing their local contexts through international dialogue. We harness real time digital digital connections to share solidarity, synthesize perspectives and build a coordinated network of support for bold climate action by young people.
Strategy 5: Share Cultural Roots and Ancestry in Nature
Decarbonize Decolonize aims to advance youth understanding of the power dynamics at play within Climate Change action, negotiations and policy. Fostering intercultural and intergenerational sharing, the project aims to amplify and synthesize the voices and perspectives of young people to improve their ability to advocate for environmental protection, Indigenous reconciliation and the protection of Indigenous lands and ways of life. Throughout the project, we are integrating and honoring traditional knowledge while advancing dialogue to deconstruct power structures to build holistic solutions to climate change.
Strategy 6: Seek Out Diverse Partnerships
This mobilization connects across classrooms, Indigenous stakeholders, climate focused NGOs and United Nations institutions to champion the role of youth in advocating and acting to comprehensively decarbonize and decolonize our world and our mindsets relating to our relationship with nature.
Strategy 7: Empower a New Generation of Leaders
Throughout Decarbonize, participants were mentored by university students in the fields of environmental and conservation sciences, post-colonial studies, Indigenous studies, traditional ecological knowledge and environmental chemistry. The project also provided schools with tools to develop and share local climate action initiatives. From schools that replaced plastic straws with glass reusable ones in the United States, to schools that fostered relationships with local Indigenous communities in Costa Rica, to mining schools that explored ethical and green mining practices in Indonesia.
Impact
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1700 page views in the last year
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280 participants in the TIGed Classroom
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622 blogs recorded in the classroom
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6 international action projects initiated
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257 creative artistic works collected through the project
Insider Tips
Be sure to think critically about what we have been told about the land we live on. Reflect on big questions to begin to decolonize your perspective: whose history is reflected in what we think we know about our past? Who traditionally lived in the land we currently inhabit and what has happened to them? Where are they now?
Flip the script! Ensure young people, Indigenous peoples and other stakeholders who may not have enjoyed equal status within traditional power structures are facilitated through barriers that may limit in their equal participation.
Take time to focus on relationships and sharing. We have a lot to learn from each other’s’ perspectives, and different points of view represent opportunities to increase our understanding of the world.
Decolonizing ourselves and our world is a long process; remain patient, hopeful and present despite the adversity encountered along the way.
Lean on and learn from allies, collaborators and friends from the movements. In this climate of change we must rely on each other.
Climate education is dominated by scientific approaches, but this project emphasized the need to address climate change holistically – including economic, structural, cultural components. Helping students see the complexity of climate change may in turn lead to more sophisticated means of engaging the issue through thought and action.
