Kenya Lawrence Nzuve, Un Volunteer Communications and Outreach Officer, UN Environment (UNEP)

It is often said that experience is the best teacher. As a UN Volunteer helping communicate complex environmental issues, my everyday challenge is to make nature relevant to people’s everyday experiences and needs. Our experiences and immediate needs shape our outlook on life. However, biodiversity and environmental issues are often too complex and difficult to relate to. Most people, in their daily routines, live and work in cities, spending the bulk of their time indoors, surrounded by concrete walls and engulfed in a world that seems largely man-made.

For almost five decades, advocates in civil society and the United Nations have been raising awareness and advocating for the protection of our environment on World Environment Day. The theme for 2018 is beating plastic pollution, and the host country for is India, where UN Environment this year is helping to highlight the environmental challenges the country faces, and support the efforts to address them.

Bosnia and Herzegovina, a country that is among the richest in biological diversity in Europe, prides itself in being home to dozens of endemic species of flora and fauna. However, due to socio-economic pressures and a low level of public awareness, this richness of life if often not recognized nor protected properly.

Biological diversity, meaning the variety of plants, animals, and microorganisms, is under threat: according to estimates of the World Wildlife Fund, we are losing at least 10,000 species every year – and 99 percent of them are at risk from human activities. In 2016, we reached a record of global tree cover loss with 29.7 million hectares vanishing signifying a 51 percent increase from 2015.

The training is a way to inform and prepare the youth volunteers to better understand the role of UN Youth Volunteers in the context of the United Nations. The Governments of Korea, Ireland, Luxembourg and China are funding the volunteer assignments of these UN Youth Volunteers. After their training, they will serve in Myanmar, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ethiopia, Fiji, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Kosovo, Mongolia, State of Palestine, Panama, Sri Lanka, Timor Leste, Zimbabwe, Viet Nam, Senegal, Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Thailand.

Volunteerism has been a key driver of the global environmental movement, mobilizing communities all over the world to help them to respond to, withstand, and recover from adverse environmental situations. When well facilitated, volunteerism can help communities use their own resources to maintain core structures under extreme climate events or changing environmental conditions without requiring significant external aid.

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: As a UN Youth Volunteer, I have been assigned to the United Nations Environment Programme's (UNEP) liaison office in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and my assignment here is slowly coming to an end. My role as an Environmental Outreach Specialist includes increasing UNEP's visibility, environmental awareness and communication, as well as acting as a liaison with the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Forestry.

Inspired by millions of volunteers acting for sustainable development around the world, UNV at Rio+20 is calling on decision-makers to recognize the importance of volunteering and civic engagement for the future of our planet. UN and other global leaders have repeatedly highlighted the need for the engagement of volunteers and communities to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and sustainable development. A strong people-centred approach to development through voluntary action is already happening in the field, integrating social, economic and environmental transformation.

UNEP, in partnership with UNV, is actively looking for the first cohort of young, passionate, and skilled talent from less represented regions of the world to join the organization and become the environmental leaders of tomorrow. Applications for 12 new international UN Volunteer specialist assignments closed on 15 May 2023.