Karuna Rana
JET VARGAS

Karuna Rana facilitated TUNZA - the children and youth program of the United Nations Environment Programme. The word “TUNZA” means “to treat with care or affection” in Kiswahili. The TUNZA Conference was the climax of TUNZA month, with a focus on youth and biodiversity.

Our two Ambassadors Karuna Runa, from Mauritius and Jet Vargas, from Venezuela, participated to the 2011 UNEP Tunza International Children and Youth Conference from 27 Sep to 01 Oct 2011 in Bandung, Indonesia. 

 

About the conference:

- Under the theme 'Reshaping our Future through a Green Economy and Sustainable Lifestyles’, the aim of the conference was to discuss the role of young people in sustainable development and to provide youth input to the upcoming Rio+20 Earth Summit in June 2012.

- It brought together around 1,200 participants aged from 10 to 25 who represented over 100 countries.

(More info./pics/videos on http://www.unep.org/tunza/conference2011/home.aspx)

 

Karuna's participation:

  • Panel Discussion on “Youth in the Green Economy: Reshaping Lives and Livelihood” (as youth representative and member of the Tunza Youth Advisory Council)

Co- panelists:

1. Mr. Achim Steiner, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UNEP

2. Michael Dorsey (Youth 92 batch), Assistant Professor, Dartmouth College’s Environmental Studies Programme

3. Vincent Jugault, Senior Environment and Decent Work Specialist, ILO

4. Wilson Ang (Johannesburg 2002 batch), Founder/President, Environmental Challenge Organization

(Moderated by Mr. Nick Nuttall, Acting Director of Communication of UNEP and Spokesperson for the UNEP Executive Director)

  • Chairing the Regional Discussion for Africa (part of my role as the Tunza Youth Advisor for African Region)
  • Facilitator (part of my role as the UNEP Youth Steering Committee)
  • Member of the UNEP Bandung Declaration Editorial Committee

 

Outcomes:

The key outcome was the Bandung Declaration which will be presented to the world leaders at the Rio+20 Earth Summit.

Link to the Declaration: http://www.tunza2011.org/index.php/agenda/bandung-declaration

Venezuelan Ambassador Jet did an equally good job participating in the panel discussion and especially with the Latin American region where he actively discussed the Bandung Declaration.

Website