PHL youth attended the 2013 Southeast Asian Youth Environment Network event

Press Release
March 26, 2013

MANILA – Six youth leaders represent the Philippines to the 2013 Southeast Asian Youth Environment Network (SEAYEN) Meeting-Conference in Bali, Indonesia on March 21-28, 2013.

The Philippine youth delegation is composed of the following: Ponce Ernest Samaniego of the University of the Philippines-Diliman; Iris May Ellen Caluag of Miriam College; Arnel Alipao of Caraga State University-Cabadbaran Campus; Jairus Carmela Josol, Masaki Mitsuhashi and Gerald Perry Marin of the Ateneo De Manila University.

Said youth leaders came from the different universities in the country to join with the different youth leaders from Southeast Asia to discuss environmental issues such as post Rio+20 and the post 2015 development agenda. The said event will result in a Southeast Asian youth statement on United Nations (UN) Post 2015 that can be shared with partners, youth networks in the region and to the UN community.

The SEAYEN was jointly set up by the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, Bayer and the National Youth Achievement Award Council of Singapore, as part of UNEP’s global strategy for engaging youth in environmental issues. The network unites youth leaders from its 10 member countries, namely Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, and supports them in environmental sustainable development initiatives, enhancing environmental awareness and acting as youth ambassadors for the environmental conscience of young people in Southeast Asia. The said youth environment network is one of the target objectives of the ASEAN Environmental Education Action Plan.

In the Philippines, the Philippine Youth Environment Network was launched last November 2009 as a response to the Green Generation campaign of Earth Day Network International, UNEP SEAYEN TUNZA Strategy and Republic Act No. 9512 also known as the National Environmental Awareness and Education Act of 2008 which recognizes the youth as an active stakeholder in nation-building through environmental education.