DIMAPUR — The US Consulate General, Kolkata, in collaboration with Prodigals’ Home, Dimapur, and in partnership with BRIDGE, Bhutan Ecological Society (BES), Bangladesh Youth Environment Initiative (BYEI) and PlaceMaking Foundation, Manipur, hosted a conclave titled ‘YUVA (Young Unheard Voices for Action) on climate change at USA Pavilion, Salt Lake in Kolkata on Tuesday.
The event began with welcome and introductory notes delivered by Juan Clar, deputy director of American Center in Kolkata, in the presence of Imliben Lemtur, project director of Yuva; Prithviraj Nath, director of Bridge; and Urmi Buragohain, founding director at PlaceMaking Foundation, Manipur.
An update from American Consulate, Kolkata, stated that selected youth from India, Bangladesh and Bhutan, pitched their ideas on climate action to a panel jury-mentors comprising of experts, climate activists, development partners and private sector entities.
The aim of the conclave was to help them connect with other like-minded youth for coalition building, get support and further mentorship opportunities for their ideas, to ultimately lead to concrete on-grounds implementation and scaling-up of those climate action ideas.
Ideas shared at the conclave included e-waste recycling, plastics management and recycling, developing plastics alternatives at the local levels, water conservation and management, sustainable agri-horticulture, ecotourism etc.
The jury mentors included Amrita Basu, educator and president of Rotary Club of Calcutta Metro City; Ochintya Sharma, co-founder of Oxome consulting and Chevening Rolls-Royce Science and Innovation Leadership Fellow, University of Oxford; Rakhi Das Sinha, climate activist and member of Warrior Moms; Sahana Ghosh, associate editor of Nature India; Saikat Biswas, associate director of Cognizant Technology Solutions; Koushik Chattaopadhyay, associate director of Cognizant Technology Solutions; and Quazi Rumman Dastgir, consul for political and economic affairs at the US Consulate General in Kolkata.
