The environment is "borderless"!
The Conference of Youth (COY) and the Conference of Parties (COP) is currently taking place in Paris this week. Since 2009, World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM) has been actively participating in the conferences on climate change issues, represented by a delegation of Scouts as part of the Movement’s commitment to the cause of the environmental conservation, This year, six Scouts, selected from an open call to National Scout Organizations for nominees, are representing WOSM at COP21.
Farouk Bouraoui, and Rizwan Jaffar, together with Fabien Baudelet are three of six delegates representing WOSM at the event.
FAROUK BOURAOUI joined Scouting in 1992, and since then, he has learned that Scouting and nature are strongly linked. He believes that “nature is our ‘house’ in Scouting, a clean place where we (Scouts) set up our tents and breathe clean air, like at our camps and Jamborees. It is important to ensure that these places are kept as clean as possible”.
His volunteering and professional background in Scouting made him realise that the environment is “borderless” — if one place is destroyed, for sure the other places will also be affected. Therefore, as the Assistant International Commissioner and Information Services Manager at the Scout bureau in Tlemcen, Algeria, one of his priorities is to educate young people on global environmental issues.
When he was a member of the Environment Education Task Team (EETT) of the World Scout Bureau in 2008, he succeeded in implementing the World Scout Environment Programme (WSEP) in Algeria through which 100 young people earned their World Scout Environment Badges (WSEB). He also helped his National Scout Organization (NSO), Scouts Musulmans Algériens, to sign up for the Clean Up the World campaign, which they have been active participants for the past seven years. In 2009, as a recognition of his contributions to environmental causes, Farouk was selected as part of the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM) delegation to COP15 in Denmark.
As Development Support Manager at the Asia-Pacific Regional Office in Manila, environmental education was his focus. Between 2010 and 2012, he implemented many environmental seminars in the Asia-Pacific Region and encouraged many NSOs to adopt the WSEP and to set up SCENES centres.
“My garden is my environment”
Scouts across the world are working hard to keep the environment clean and being good citizens of their communities. A local Scout group named “Tadamoun” (which means “solidarity” in English) in the Nedroma region of Tlemcen, Algeria, is one of the many groups who are taking amazing actions to improve the environment.
The area around Nedroma is a sorrowful sight filled with rubbish. The Tadamoun Group Scout took the challenge to help keep the town clean. They launched a sustainable project in 2013 called “my garden is my environment”. The aim was to look for a garden that is filled with rubbish, clean and make it a better place than before. The Scouts separated the rubbish, fixed all damaged walls and benches, and planted trees, and kept returning to the place to ensure that it is clean at all times.
Most importantly is, they continue to use it for their Scouting activities and for big clean-up campaigns in the area. Every year, they join the Earth Hour effort, showcasing their commitment to combat climate change and to raise awareness on environmental conservation among the public.
RIZWAN JAFFAR
M. Rizwan Jaffar is a popular media personality who is currently the news anchorman for Pakistan’s AAJ News. In his earlier career, he had created and hosted many shows for youth, as well as social, religious and current affairs TV talk shows at the national and international level. Despite his busy schedule, Rizwan is also the Founder Chairman of Youth Parliament. He founded Youth Parliament during the 100th episode of his famous TV youth talk show “Café Vision” on Indus Vision TV Channel, on 14 August 2005 in Karachi, Pakistan.
As a Founder Chairman, Rizwan had initiated and organised numerous international, national and regional youth events, campaigns and projects throughout the years. He serves the youth of Pakistan through Youth Parliament, Scouting and TV shows for youth. Because of his services, he was accorded the National Volunteer Award 2008 and the Sindh Volunteer Award 2009.
In addition, he is the Founder Member of Youth Council, US Consulate General, Karachi (2013); Executive Director of School of Future Leaders; Head/Focal Person of CPLC Youth Help Line; Sindh Governor House, Karachi; and a Member of Arts Council of Pakistan, Karachi.
As a Scout, Rizwan has been awarded the President’s Gold Medal for the Best Scout of Pakistan (1994), and the Asia-Pacific Regional Certificate of Good Service (2015). He is Vice Chairman of the Asia-Pacific Region Programme Sub-Committee, World Organization of the Scout Movement (2015-2018), Brand Ambassador for World Organization of the Scout Movement (since October 2010), the National Commissioner Youth Affairs of Pakistan Boy Scouts Association (from October 2009), a member of the Association of Top Achiever Scouts (ATAS), and a life member of the Sindh Boy Scouts Association.
As part of his responsibility as a Scout, Rizwan has represented Pakistan at various international Scout events such as the 25th Asia-Pacific Regional Scouts Conference, the 8th Asia-Pacific Regional Scout Youth Forum, and the 5th APR Workshop on Environment Education in Scouting in 2015. He also attended the 3rd APR Workshop on Environment Education in Scouting (2013), the Asia Pacific Regional Communication Forum (2010), and was a volunteer with the media centre during the 21st World Scout Jamboree in 2007.
* The Conference of Youth (COY) and the Conference of Parties (COP) is currently taking place in Paris (26 November to 11 December). Happening for the 11th year, COY is a conference for young people involved in climate change issues. COP, meanwhile, is an annual conference of all countries that want to take action and address climate change. This year will be the 21st year this conference is being held.
The World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM) has been actively participating in the conferences since 2009. Each year a delegation of Scouts represents WOSM as part of the Movement’s commitment to the cause of the environment and climate change, and its mission to create a better world. This year, six Scouts, selected from an open call to National Scout Organizations for nominees, are representing WOSM at COP21.
