Message to 100 Young Leaders: Data can be fun and powerful

27 August 2018, Nairobi: Unlike most other weeks, this Monday, I couldn't wait to wake up. I was excited to be part of the Youth Workshop of the Global Landscape Forum as a speaker on the topic "The Policy Perspective". Organized by the Center for International Forestry Research in collaboration with UN Environment's Africa Office, the 2-day event attracted 100 young leaders - women and men - from across Africa in the field of ecosystem restoration. They came to learn new skills and share their entrepreneurial ideas.

Do you agree? Data can be dynamic, fun and powerful! That was the key message of my presentation at this workshop. With the assistance of my colleague Camille Proulx, I started my 10-minute talk (TED Talk?) with a 200-year history data show on the change in carbon emission (per person) and income (gross national income per person), from the Industrial Revolution, through the two world wars, all the way to the year 2014. The relationship is clear. The more (carbon emissions) a country had, the richer it was.

Presentation showcasing a 25-year trend of how forest coverage had changed among African countries

Apart from the economic lens, we can also look at climate change from a social perspective. When I showed the link between babies per woman with carbon emissions per person, it was received very well by the audience. While it's wrong to say that one causes the other, it happens that higher carbon-emitting countries have fewer babies per woman. The explanation was simple: when countries emit more and get rich, women tend to be more educated, economically empowered, have more access to contraceptives and control over their own lives. 

When the discussion was brought back to ecosystem restoration, I could see increased interest (eyes opened wider) from the young women and men. I showed a 25-year trend (1990 to 2015) of how forest coverage (Sustainable Development Goal indicator 15.1.1) had changed among African countries. Again, the fact that lower-income countries (such as Uganda) tend to export charcoal (forest products) to richer neighbors (such as Kenya, a middle-income country) was applauded by the audience, as it pointed to the need to address both the demand and supply sides of ecosystem restoration. 

My colleague Camille Proulx and I were challenging the young leaders on their worldview

During two 45-minute interactive sessions with these young leaders, Camille and I challenged their worldview, tested their logical thinking and had heated discussions with them on various topics. We were impressed by their curiosity and aspirations for the work of the United Nations, as well as their open-minded attitude in learning new things. For instance, they embraced our message with enthusiasm when we challenged them not to divide the world into the binary of "developed West" and "developing rest", but to pay attention to the fact that 50% African countries belong either high- or middle-income categories, as per the World Bank's country classification by income. Interestingly enough, in Africa, income and forest area have a strong negative relationship. Low-income countries have the highest average forest size, followed by lower-middle, higher-middle and high-income countries.

Everyone picked their favorite Sustainable Development Goal and posed for photos

The highlight was our photo and selfie time at the end, when these young women and men picked their favorite Sustainable Development Goal and posed for pictures. A few of them were "fighting" for Goal 5, it seems our new generation have high aspirations to gender equality! Yes let's make it happen!

From MDGs to SDGs: The story of Richard Munang

Left: Richard studied hard in harsh conditions back in his country in 2000; 

Right: Richard became Dr. Munang as he gained his PhD in the University of Nottingham in 2008

In 2000, the year when world leaders met in the UN headquarters in New York to agree on a 15-year vision called the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), our dear friend and colleague Dr. Richard Munang had just finished high school in Bamenda, Cameroon, and was about to start university in his country’s capital city Yaoundé. Richard’s excitement to go to university was no less than the world leaders on the MDGs, especially because of his burning desire for knowledge, and the difficult days he went through to complete his high school education. “Times were hard. I remember once when I had to trek part of the journey to school from the holidays – a total of 70km – due to lack of fare,” recalls Richard. If you think that this is a single incident, you’re wrong. During his three years in university, Richard had to trek 70km every day to the campus. Yes, 70km every day.

Half way through the MDGs, in 2008, Richard completed his PhD in environmental change and policy from the University of Nottingham. The following year, he was recruited by Jian Liu (Science Division Director a.i.; the then Head of Climate Change Adaptation) into our UN Environment family. This was also the time when our world had nearly halved its population living in extreme poverty (MDG Target 1A), from 35.5% in 1990 to 18.1% in 2008 (World Bank Data Portal). The poverty rate further dropped to 10.9% in 2013, the year when Richard became UN Environment’s Climate Change Coordinator for Africa.

Changes in a 15-year time frame can be huge, Richard knows it well. From walking barefoot to school to earning a PhD and working for the United Nations is not only a dream come true, but also the best living evidence in human progress. Definitely worth celebrating. However, during the same period, our world has also increased carbon dioxide emissions by more than 50% (from 24 million kt in 2000 to 36.1 million kt in 2014, World Bank Data Portal), or nearly 25% per capita (from 4.033 in 2000 to 4.97 metric tons per capita in 2014, same data source).

Unfortunately, as per current trajectory, there is a strong positive correlation between income (per capita) and CO2 emissions (per capita) (The above chart was created with the online tool of the Gap Minder Foundation.)

To Richard, climate change is not just a scientific or political topic, it’s real, and it’s taking a toll in his own village in Cameroon. Back in 2000, during his semester break, he went back to his village. When herding his family goats, recalls Richard, “This is the first time when I saw the devastating effects the erratic weather – climate change – was having on farming in our village. It really frustrated me to witness my mother’s tireless efforts in tilling our farmland, only met by failing rains and much diminished harvest”. This is why when Richard joined UN Environment, he’s particularly passionate about linking the work on climate change with food security. His innovative initiative in establishing the Ecosystem-based Adaptation for Food Security in Africa Assembly is a celebrated success. In 2016, Richard was presented the UN Environment Baobab Award in programme innovation, and the African Environmental Hero Award by the International Environmental Roundtable for Africa. 

Dr. Munang in 2018, with a big smile: I was privileged to attend his book launch in Nairobi, July 2018

In 2015, when world leaders gathered again at the UN headquarters to celebrate success of the MDGs, and to commit to the global vision of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for the next 15 years, Richard was watching the news with a big smile. During the MDG era, Richard has experienced first-hand the plights of poverty and climate change, the power of education, and the innovation in linking climate change with food security. Now, moving to the SDGs, Richard has no hesitation to embrace all the goals, and he is clear what he wants to do until 2030.

Dr. Munang at his book launch in Nairobi in July 2018; it was well attended by youth, UN Environment colleagues as well as diplomatic ambassadors

Interested to learn more about Richard’s vision? Check out his new book “Making Africa Work Through the Power of Innovative Volunteerism”!

SDGs are fun, let’s play!

3 August 2018, Nairobi: Something does not seem right, when a group of serious young professionals sat together in a meeting room and threw a dice for a board game. This is the Sustainable Development Goals board game, and they are Giada Congiu, Sandor Madar, Nadine Souto, Thomas Grupp, Huri Oyan and Camille Proulx. Coming from six different countries and three different continents, they work on a diverse range of issues such as faith, extractives, programme support, environment security and safeguards in the Policy Division of UN Environment.

According to Camille, Intern for the Faith for Earth Initiative, what they are trying to do is a series of actions to market the Sustainable Development Goals, to make it exciting and relevant to everyone. For this very purpose, they are working on a really cool project. What is their project about? Not to be disclosed now, so please stay tuned!