Young environmental champions from 13 countries and all walks of life recently travelled to Kobe, Japan, to exchange opinions, share ideas, and debate various topical issues at the annual G8 summit.

The British Council selected its International Climate Champions, who are between the ages of 13 and 16, out of the many young people who entered a competition. Initially, 21 of the entrants in each country were chosen as “warriors”, and from each of these groups, three were selected as “champions”.

In April, they attended a conference in London, where they interacted with champions from other countries, debated climate change and found possible solutions to implement in their countries. At the London conference they formulated three challenges, which they presented in Kobe. The challenge that South Africans voted for was this: “To tackle climate change, we must recognise the challenge, accept responsibility and respond with integrity.”  

The main objective of the three-day Kobe summit was to discuss climate change, the 3R initiative (rescue, reuse and recycle) and biodiversity. This summit is a build-up to the Hokkaido Toyako G8 summit in July, to be held in the Toyako area of Hokkaido, the second-largest island in Japan. The subject matters to be discussed this year include the world economy, terrorism, the environment and African development.

Speaking about the Kobe event, Chris Griffiths of the British Council in South Africa says, “It was a great experience. There were lots of international representatives from the 13 countries. What made it useful was sharing experiences of what young people are doing in their respective areas in terms of addressing climate change, raising awareness and changing behaviour in schools and communities.”

Griffiths says one of the lessons he learnt from the summit was to encourage young people to raise awareness about climate change. “We must encourage ordinary people to be aware of the impacts of climate change, to change behaviours like saving energy, and walk rather than using cars.”

He also stresses the need for government to support this initiative so that the message can be spread across South Africa. “We have a long way to go, but it’s not the sole responsibility of one organisation. We need a joint effort to make this more effective.”

International Climate Champion Zanelle van Zyl is thrilled to have been part of the G8 meeting. She says, “Japan was absolutely amazing; I had the best experience of my life. I had the opportunity to meet ministers and we campaigned at schools."

“We also got a chance to look at the cultural aspects of Japan. We appeared on billboards, along with other champions, we got to be creative and designed posters and told people about what we are doing about climate change in our countries,” says Van Zyl.

Asked what she had brought home from the summit, Van Zyl says, “We’re going to make people aware of climate change. We want to bring nations together to make them aware of the issue. It means we as youth can interact and share ideas about what we are doing and how we are planning to take it much further here in SA. It’s really an issue which needs to be solved.”

Van Zyl says she also built on friendships formed in London. “We clicked more in Japan. In London we had language barriers, so initially we couldn’t communicate effectively. We are now emailing and Facebooking each other. It’s been quite an experience and we learnt what their challenges are and how they tackle them."

“I also realised one thing: we are all from different countries but we are working for the same goal. We are teenagers with passion, we’re bubbling with enthusiasm and ready to motivate others,” she says.

Climate Champion Zaid Philander expresses his gratitude to the British Council for giving him a platform to raise awareness about climate change and letting his voice be heard. “Kobe has given me ways to improve myself; it’s given me credibility. I can now approach people and say ‘I’m a Climate Champion who has been to London and Japan!’”

Like Van Zyl, he also mentions the friendships that he formed during the two weeks in Japan. “We are now friends. It was sad to break up once the two weeks were up.”

Asked what he learnt in Japan, Philander says, “So many things, even a little Japanese! I love languages and I learnt better communication skills. I also learnt that you don’t only need to talk to communicate verbally, you can use body language to express yourself.

“I also learnt a lot on a climate change level. I am at a point where I know everything I need to know about my country and the impacts of climate change.”

To find out more about the International Climate Champions, you can visit the official website. You can also find out about the Climate Champion’s trip to London, or learn about the British Council in sub-Saharan Africa’s climate change strategy. The British Council has several projects for young people, including Dreams +Teams and Connecting Classrooms.

If you are a professional looking to release your leadership potential, visit our leadership programme, InterAction.  We also have several other resources for professional development services.