Lara Jean Salaysay

Lara is a professional teacher who specializes in education for sustainable development particularly climate change education. Over the past 6 years, she supported learners and teachers for their meaningful engagement in sustainable development and climate action by serving as a private high school teacher and as a Climate Change Program Manager at the Philippine Department of Education’s Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Service. Lara commits herself to a sustainable lifestyle and assisting young people to take their space in climate action.

Youth for Climate Action: How young people are influencing climate policy and resilience in the region

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Young people have taken to the streets ringing the alarm about the impacts of the climate change emergency. While the protests showcase youth’s frustration in current socio-political systems of managing the climate emergency, they are increasingly also engaging in climate policy and building community resilience.

Webinar Video: Health and Wellness

Health is an area where youth-led activities have the potential to significantly affect outcomes for young people, and in turn, have whole life-cycle implications. For instance, in the area of diet, harmful habits (drugs/alcohol), and exercise, positive behavior change can reduce non-communicable diseases stretching into adulthood. In addition, the pandemic has shown that decisions taken to avert one health crisis can have significant effects on other health outcomes, especially on young people.

Webinar Video: Climate Change

From Nepal to the Marshall Islands, hundreds of thousands of young volunteers have taken to streets ringing alarm bells around the climate change crisis and are participating in global campaigns like ‘Fridays for Future’ and ‘Climate Action Now’. While the protests showcase youth’s frustration in current socio-political systems of managing the climate emergency, they are increasingly bringing youth in the limelight of ‘taking action’ and several governmental and non-governmental actors are now reinforcing this rhetoric particularly at the upcoming UNFCCC COP26.