In 2019, the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) published a landmark report summarizing the state of the world’s ecosystems. Amidst worrying findings about the health of our life-supporting ecosystems, the report also suggests various ways of building better futures for people and the planet. But what do these “nature futures” look like? We currently lack visions for nature futures inspired by the lives and perspectives of young people, particularly those from the Global South. In response to this need and with support from the Norwegian Environment Agency and the USAID Resilient Waters project, teams from South Africa and Brazil engaged with youth from Southern Africa and South America to explore and capture how they see their nature futures.

A group of researchers at the Centre for Sustainability Transitions (CST) at Stellenbosch University facilitated a series of online engagements in the first half of 2021 with 20 youth organizations from eight countries in southern Africa. Youth groups produced various forms of art to express their relationship with nature, and how they think and feel about the future. Project partners from the NGO Akarui and the Brazilian Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services explored youth nature futures using an art contest and renamed the project in Portuguse as (re):pensa – criando visões artísticas de futuros desejáveis (“(re):think – creating artistic visions of desirable futures”).

In this webinar, the coordinating team from CST and Brazil will share reflections on the project, as well as showcasing the wonderful and inspiring artworks that embody youth visions for the future. You can learn more about the project here: https://youthnaturefutures.org/ and https://www.akarui.org.br/re-pensa

This webinar will take place online.
Register in advance for this webinar:
https://maties.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_D1cD5cvDTgKTpL3rEeQhjw