VI FORO JÓVENES

FICMEC is committed to involving young people in the process of reflection and debate around climate change, and the Youth Forum is one of the most appropriate spaces for this.

In the 2023 edition of the Forum, interesting and encouraging conclusions were reached. To cite just two of them, the context was considered to be the ideal place to learn new skills pertaining to expressing oneself, to present projects and be heard. But its potential to amplify the reach of environmental projects, developed and implemented in an academic environment, was also valued.

In this “VI Foro de Jóvenes Canarios por el medioambiente”, several young people from the Canary Islands will gather to reopen the debate and reflect on their environmental concerns. Several thematic working tables will be created. The conclusions will be sent to the Government of the Canary Islands so that they can assess the different approaches our youth have when it comes to the defense of the Canary Islands’ environment.
Participants will be joined by two guests of great importance to the environment. One of their peers, young Canarian Carlos Shanka, has already become a leading figure worldwide in sustainability and awareness-raising. Jaime Coello Bravo, the Director of the Telesforo Bravo-Juan Coello Foundation, is a passionate defender of nature conservation and the natural spaces of the Canary Islands.

Carlos Shanka

Shanka is a young sustainability advocate, a climate campaigner, born and raised in the Canary Islands. Shortly after moving to Bristol to study Biology. During his time as a student, he served as Spain’s Coordinator in COY16 and COY17, and served as Chair of the University of Bristol Students’ Union Sustainability Network. He got an early start in sustainability consultancy on projects for Bristol City Council and Bristol’s Green Capital Partnership.

He is involved in various projects, from organizing sustainability events to contributing to the university’s policy-making process and bringing people together—especially young people—to try to positively impact the environment, our society, and the economy. After a Research and Communications internship at the United Nations Development Program, he began focusing on designing youth initiatives at various levels of involvement. Shanka has also launched a sustainability youth center in the Canary Islands and is currently creating a national umbrella group for young climate activists in Spain. He is now launching a Sustainability Champions network directed at student sustainability leaders in the United Kingdom and, on a global scale, started the World Youth Coalition during COP27 with other young climate leaders.

Jaime Coello

Coello holds a Law Degree from the University of La Laguna and a Master’s Degree in Environmental Policy and Management from the Carlos III University of Madrid. He is the Director of the Telesforo Bravo-Juan Coello Foundation.

His land management work in the Canary Islands has always been closely linked to the principles of conservation and respect for the land. His passionate advocacy of the islands’ natural spaces recently crystallized in ‘Pasa sin huella’ (Moving Without a Trace). This pursuit reaches its maximum splendor via an exploration of all the things we must take into account when visiting a protected natural area.

Coello Bravo gives us all the key insights we need in order to know how to behave and not harm the environment in which we live.