If you thought that all young people cared about were gadgets, fashion trends and Facebook, think again.

Three South African students have embarked on a journey to change the world. Zaid Philander, Zanelle van Zyl and Jonathan George recently represented South Africa in London as International Climate Champions.

The trio met UK Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Hillary Benn as well as several climate change scientists. Philander, Van Zyl and George will be attending the environmental leg of the 34th G8 summit in Kobe, Japan in May, and hope to lobby environmental ministers on climate change. The trip to London was partially in preparation for their attendance at this conference.

Asanda Dode, a mentor on the programme, says it is a British Council initiative that was launched in 2007. “It’s currently running as a pilot project in Cape Town and is aimed at helping young people engage with each other and take action against climate change. Its other aim is to inspire, empower and educate people about how to tackle the issue of climate change.”

The project is also running in Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, France, Canada, China, Brazil, Russia, the USA and the UK.

“The project has been great. Young people participating here want to be involved, they are enthusiastic and they want to see change in their communities,” says Dode.

Young people between the ages of 16 and 18 from 13 countries across the world were invited to enter a competition and spread the word about climate change while recruiting others as well. Twenty-one people were chosen in each country. Out of the 21, three were selected to represent each country at meetings in London in April and in Japan in May.

At the meeting in London, these 39 young climate champions discussed a climate change agenda and formulated three climate change challenges, called the “Kobe Challenges”. Young people globally have been invited to vote on the International Climate Champions website for the one “Kobe Challenge” they would like to see presented to senior ministers in Japan. The three challenges are: “Climate change is the problem and our generation is changing to become the solution; this generation will empower individuals to act on climate change for a sustainable future and; to tackle climate change, we must recognise the challenge, accept responsibility and respond with integrity.”

The website writes: “Each challenge is a statement which tried to capture the main concerns and hopes which young people hold in regard to climate change.”

The British Council’s director of science projects in South Africa, Rohini Naidoo, says: “Climate change is a topic high on the global agenda today and through such programmes we aim to make meaningful connections between science, young people and society as a whole, stimulating debate about the impact of science on people’s lives.”

Naidoo says one of the most important lessons learnt by the champions during their visit to London was communication strategy. “The champions were trained in communication skills and coached on how to talk to the media, because in order to be champions, they will have to communicate at different levels through the media to get greater outreach and be able to interact with their peers, leaders, people at home and politicians.

“They established their role as youth and learnt about the impact of climate change,” says Naidoo. “Because climate change affects their future, they realised that they need to take ownership and focus on behavioural change. They also found possible solutions for saving energy and ways of changing the views of their peers, because at the end of it all their target market is the youth.”

Naidoo says the feedback received from the champions after their London trip was excellent. “They got a lot of exposure to different things; they met global players, interacted with youth, politicians and leaders, and learnt where other countries are in terms of climate change.

“In Japan the champions will meet scientists and leaders,” says Naidoo.

Philander is grateful to the British Council for awarding him the opportunity to be part of such a programme. “It made me realise that I can do so much more. The British Council has given me the capability of sharing what I know and made me realise that I wasn’t sharing enough. Thank you.”

Asked what he learnt from the trip to London, Philander says: “It’s not about how much you have learnt but how much you share, about being proactive. I’ve also learnt that conveying a message in a language that people understand makes it more effective. Proficiency in languages is a star on your forehead. It’s easier to convince people to be active by speaking a few words they understand. I’m just a medium and I’m conveying the message … a powerful message.”

Van Zyl adds: “From the London trip I realised that the youth are passionate about climate change. We have to be the generation that acts on it and make people aware so that they can take control and see a better balance between the economy and the environment.”

She says one of the things that stood out for her during their visit to London was that different countries, especially developing countries like Mexico and India, share similar climate change problems. “That made me realise that climate change really does affect us all and we need to find ways of taking care of the environment.”

George quoted Mahatma Gandhi: ‘You must be the change you want to see in the world’ – that was the biggest lesson I learnt from the trip to London. I realised that in order to change the people around you, your ideas and perceptions must first change,” he says.

“It was great seeing 39 passionate young people representing their countries, and it made me realise that it’s important for us to become leaders of change in our countries.”

Dependent on the pilot programme in Cape Town, the climate change champions programme will be launched in South Africa later in 2008 for implementation during 2009.

Visit the climate champions’ videos on YouTube. Young people, aged 16 to18 years of age can vote for which “Kobe Challenge” they would like to be presented to ministers and scientists at the environmental leg of the G8 by visiting the following link: www.britishcouncil.org/lcf-kobechallenge. Click here for more information about the British Council in Africa, or learn more about the British Council in Africa’s work on climate security.