Larissa Tuayo is a Youth UN Volunteer Greening Office Assistant with the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in Cameroon. She contributes to reducing the ecological footprint of UNDP offices, through the operationalization of a strategy she prepared with the guidance of her supervisors. On the occasion of World Environment Day, Larissa shares her reflections.
Since we can't reduce what we don't know, my first activity was to identify the different sources of emissions and then to calculate the quantity of greenhouse gases that UNDP emits."
Larissa identified electricity as the main source of emissions and developed a prioritized and concrete action plan. She organized awareness sessions for the staff to adopt environmentally-responsible practices to reverse the trend.
She also had all the incandescent light bulbs in the office replaced with energy-saving LEDs and facilitated the use of solar panels for outdoor lighting.
The next step of her plan is to use photovoltaics for the UNDP machine room. To this end, Larissa is currently working closely with the Information and Technology Management (ITM) office team based in Copenhagen.
For World Environment Day, Larissa coordinated the organization of a regional panel discussion as well as tree planting activities in Yaoundé and other locations where UN Volunteers are serving.
"As a Youth UN Volunteer, I will capitalize on all the experience I have gained during my assignment to find another position as an international volunteer or even as a climate change expert in the UN system," Larissa shares. She sees this volunteer assignment as one step in her quest for sustainable and responsible consumption.
I would like to show young people that we can continue to do what we're passionate about through volunteering.