Information for the Media
With its collaborative platform UNESCO GREEN CITIZENS, UNESCO is highlighting 109 citizen-led projects around the world that are committed to Biodiversity, Education for Sustainable Development, Hydrology, Ocean Preservation and Local and Indigenous knowledge. After COP 26, and as the jubilee celebration of its Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme draws to a close, UNESCO is launching a mobilization campaign on social networks to make all citizens aware of these individual initiatives and to remind everyone that each of us, at our own level and in our own way, can get concretely involved with other citizens around the world.
This year, UNESCO is celebrating the 50th anniversary of MAB, its Man and the Biosphere Programme. Born in 1971, MAB has led to the creation of “biosphere reserves”, living laboratories that promote nature-based solutions for sustainable development. The international organization plays a key role in incubating local projects in nearly 1,000 natural sites and has become the focal point for information on the state of the planet through scientific research, educational work, data collection and site protection.
While the conclusions of COP 26 have established some of the commitments of states for the next decade in terms of climate change, more locally, concrete citizen-led projects are multiplying. Witnessing these initiatives carried out by ordinary people – women, men, young adults and children, all over the world – UNESCO launched the ambitious UNESCO GREEN CITIZENS project in early 2021, to give a voice to local actors of change.
Thanks to its financial partner, the Klorane Botanical Foundation, which has invested over 25 years in the preservation of plant heritage, and with the collaboration of a network of partners committed to actions for change and environmental protection throughout the world, UNESCO GREEN CITIZENS identifies local citizen-led projects. Whether it is biodiversity, education for sustainable development, hydrology, ocean preservation or local and indigenous knowledge, these initiatives share in common that they are innovative, replicable and have an impact on their community. A collaborative platform accessible to everyone, UNESCO GREEN CITIZENS offers unparalleled visibility to the teams of projects around the world, and allows anyone to volunteer in their field of expertise to help a group of citizens anywhere in the world. This function of meeting and facilitating citizen to citizen collaboration is unique today.
Over 100 innovative projects from 56 countries have joined the UNESCO GREEN CITIZENS movement and are committed to Biodiversity, Education for Sustainable Development, Hydrology, Ocean Preservation and Local and Indigenous knowledge. In addition to introducing them, the page dedicated to each of them on the platform details the needs of the project owners. To mobilize all efforts on their side, UNESCO is launching a campaign on social networks with a video that will be broadcast in January.
The aim is to remind people that everyone can do something at their own level and to explain simply that whatever our means, time, or expertise, we can all get involved and make a contribution to Green Citizens somewhere in the world or close to home.
“Our UNESCO GREEN CITIZENS campaign demonstrates that every citizen can be an actor in the world we want for tomorrow. Whether it is the project owners that inspire us with their humanity, creativity, or their determination, or all the contributors who, thanks to their commitment, will support the projects. Our video invites them to discover all these initiatives and, for those closest to their hearts, give support. The message we want to convey to everyone is that we can get involved and take action”, says Matthieu Guevel, Director of Communications and Public Information.
109 projects in 56 covered countries with:
- • 45% of projects led by women #Women
- • 71% of projects created by young people #Youth
- • 26 % of projects initiated on the African continent #Africa
- • 25% of projects involving #Youth and #Women
- • 13% of projects involving #Youth, #Women, #Africa