{"id":8364,"date":"2021-06-16T09:15:45","date_gmt":"2021-06-16T13:15:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/natureforall.global\/es\/?p=8364"},"modified":"2021-06-16T09:15:45","modified_gmt":"2021-06-16T13:15:45","slug":"reflections-roundtables-and-royalty-thoughts-from-attending-the-iucn-global-youth-summit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/natureforall.global\/es\/reflections-roundtables-and-royalty-thoughts-from-attending-the-iucn-global-youth-summit\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflections, roundtables and royalty: Thoughts from attending the IUCN Global Youth Summit"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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REFLECTIONS, ROUNDTABLES AND ROYALTY:
Thoughts from attending the IUCN Global Youth Summit\n<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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By Megan Quinn<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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This post was previously published on the Nature Conservancy of Canada.<\/a> It is reposted here with permission. \u200b<\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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There are not many\u00a0reasons I will\u00a0willingly\u00a0get out of bed\u00a0at 5:30 a.m., but the opportunity to make a\u00a0real\u00a0difference in the world is one of them.<\/p>

Recently, I gathered with 13,000\u00a0fellow\u00a0young people from across the globe at the\u00a0International Union for Conservation of Nature\u2019s (IUCN\u2019s)\u00a0One Nature, One Future,\u00a0Global Youth Summit<\/a>. This 10-day event,\u00a0unlike anything the conservation community had\u00a0seen before, was\u00a0a\u00a0virtual\u00a0summit\u00a0organized by\u00a0youth,\u00a0for\u00a0youth, to talk about\u00a0issues affecting youth.<\/p>

The IUCN<\/a> defines youth as\u00a0people\u00a018\u201335 years old, which puts me almost exactly at the midpoint of this movement.\u00a0Halfway through my youth journey is a good time\u00a0to pause and reflect.\u00a0I\u00a0want to be\u00a0a driver\u00a0for positive\u00a0change in the conservation community.<\/p>

At the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC)<\/a>,\u00a0I lead eastern Ontario\u2019s stewardship\u00a0team\u00a0as the coordinator of conservation biology.\u00a0In my job, I contribute meaningfully\u00a0and tangibly\u00a0to the\u00a0protection\u00a0of some of Canada\u2019s most at-risk species and habitats.\u00a0Recently, I was\u00a0honoured\u00a0to be invited to sit on the\u00a0Young Professionals Committee of the\u00a0Canadian Committee for the IUCN (CCIUCN)<\/a>.\u00a0This national role allows me to engage and empower fellow youth across Canada in their conservation journeys.\u00a0NCC\u00a0also\u00a0has deep connections\u00a0to the IUCN. We are a member organization, and our own vice-president of conservation policy and planning,\u00a0Lisa McLaughlin,\u00a0is\u00a0the past\u00a0chair of the CCIUCN board.<\/p>

It\u2019s\u00a0impossible to sum up the sheer magnitude of the Global Youth Summit in\u00a0one blog post, but as I reflect on my\u00a010-day\u00a0journey, I\u00a0can group\u00a0my experience into three pillars: learn, speak and act.<\/p>

Learn<\/h2>

The most\u00a0electrifying\u00a0part of the Global Youth Summit was\u00a0connecting\u00a0with my peers from all walks of life and corners of the world. The summit offered hundreds of sessions. They took place\u00a0at all times of the day, in 13 languages, and on a variety of\u00a0environmentally themed\u00a0topics.\u00a0It was\u00a0impossible to attend everything, as there was always something going on, but I packed my schedule\u00a0starting at\u00a05:30 a.m. to make sure I could learn as much as possible.<\/p>

There were\u00a0topics I directly live and experience every day (like\u00a0the role of immigrants\u00a0and women); there were topics I\u2019m fiercely passionate about (like\u00a0storytelling and Indigenous rights); and there were topics I\u2019ve never fully considered (like\u00a0sweatshops\u00a0and fashion). Through\u00a0plenary and\u00a0round-table\u00a0networking sessions, I learned from a variety of experts, youth leaders and policy makers. There was space for intergenerational dialogue, uncomfortable realization and inspirational storytelling as we celebrated the role\u00a0youth\u00a0play in the environmental movement.<\/p>

Speak<\/h2>

The conference encouraged youth to speak up and have their voices\u00a0heard. I took full\u00a0advantage of\u00a0this and\u00a0dived\u00a0passionately\u00a0into every session I\u00a0attended.<\/p>

The feeling of being an imposter\u00a0is something many\u00a0youth\u00a0relate to. We are all\u00a0at the beginning of\u00a0our\u00a0conservation\u00a0journeys\u00a0and, unfortunately,\u00a0there are people out there who don\u2019t\u00a0believe our opinions hold value.\u00a0So, how do you step up and voice your\u00a0truth\u00a0when you feel like an outsider? It\u2019s a question I\u2019ve wondered for a while, so while on a panel with the Chairs of the IUCN Commissions, I asked\u00a0them.<\/p>

The irony of being nervous to ask a question about being nervous to ask questions wasn\u2019t lost on me, but I received nothing but supportive, encouraging remarks about being proud of what I contribute.\u00a0The summit did an excellent job of making space for diverse voices. There was space to celebrate\u00a0achievements\u00a0but also room to\u00a0admit fault and work through challenges.<\/p>

Throughout the\u00a010 days, my confidence grew, and\u00a0people from previous sessions\u00a0started to notice me and reach out.\u00a0In the panel discussion on empowering women, I asked for advice about navigating\u00a0the discrimination that often comes with being a young woman\u00a0who isn\u2019t\u00a0invited\u00a0to sit\u00a0at the table. The answer I got was \u201ccome back in through the\u00a0window, and\u00a0bring your own chair.\u201d<\/p>

I spoke with\u00a0Indigenous knowledge holders, IUCN\u00a0Commission Chairs, supermodels, youth activists, high school students and politicians. Every voice brought something new to the table. I even had a run-in with royalty.\u00a0If\u00a0I think back to where I thought the Global Youth Summit would take me,\u00a0I can safely say the Princess of Belgium\u00a0calling out my\u00a0name and\u00a0giving me personal\u00a0life\u00a0advice\u00a0wasn\u2019t anywhere on the list. This is what the Global Youth Summit gave me, and youth around the world:\u00a0the opportunity to own our voices\u00a0and take up space.<\/p>

Act<\/h2>

Summarizing\u00a0the Global Youth Summit feels\u00a0daunting. I could write a novel about each individual session and the reflections I\u2019ve had, but that\u2019s\u00a0why\u00a0this movement is so great. I don\u2019t have to do everything, because there are thousands of other young environmental leaders just like me speaking up across the world.<\/p>

If you are a young professional,\u00a0take action!\u00a0Join the\u00a0YouthCCNetwork,\u00a0or a relevant\u00a0Commission of the IUCN, and have your say in\u00a0the\u00a0global conservation community.\u00a0A great place to start is\u00a0the\u00a0Young Canadian Professional Network for Conservation. You can find more information\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>

If you don\u2019t fall into the\u00a0youth\u00a0demographic, there is still a lot you can do, including becoming a member of CCIUCN.\u00a0The leaders of tomorrow need mentors. We need guidance\u00a0and the\u00a0space for our voices to be heard. We want to collaborate with you and have an equal\u00a0seat at the table.\u00a0Ask\u00a0yourself, what are you doing to make sure the youth in your life feel their voice is important?<\/p>

For me, the biggest revelation from the Global Youth Summit is\u00a0that my opinion matters. To have my voice sit on\u00a0equal ground\u00a0with industry experts, royalty\u00a0and decision makers\u00a0was powerful.\u00a0But there is still a lot of work to\u00a0do\u00a0to\u00a0authentically\u00a0give youth a voice.\u00a0The Global Youth Summit closed with an important message: This is only the beginning.<\/p>

Watch\u00a0for more information on the exciting work NCC and\u00a0the CCIUCN are doing to advocate for youth.\u00a0I truly believe that my generation can push the world in a positive direction, and from what I\u2019ve seen over the last 10 days, the future is in good hands.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Megan Quinn, the Nature Conservancy of Canada’s coordinator of conservation biology in Eastern Ontario, reflects on her experience at IUCN’s Global Youth Summit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8368,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"default","_kad_post_title":"default","_kad_post_layout":"default","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"default","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"default","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/natureforall.global\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/natureforall.global\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/natureforall.global\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/natureforall.global\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/natureforall.global\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8364"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/natureforall.global\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8364\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8369,"href":"https:\/\/natureforall.global\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8364\/revisions\/8369"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/natureforall.global\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/natureforall.global\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/natureforall.global\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/natureforall.global\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}