Youth
Supporting the next generation of environmental leaders
Lasting conservation solutions depend on meaningful youth engagement and leadership, especially in regions where high biodiversity overlaps with large youth populations. Yet the global youth biodiversity movement remains underfunded and overlooked. We are working to change that.
Synchronicity Earth Engagement Manager, Isha Tickoo, at the March to end fossil fuels, New York, 2023. Image © Lisa Weatherbee and WECAN International
A child born in 2020 is twice as likely to experience wildfires, 2.6 times more prone to droughts, 2.8 times more exposed to river floods, and a staggering 6.8 times more susceptible to heat waves than someone born in 1960.
– Stockholm Environment Institute, 2022
Our commitment to young people
At Synchronicity Earth, we have long supported young people working to protect the planet. Many of our partners engage youth through education and training programmes with local schools and universities, have youth in leadership positions, and support emerging young conservationists, helping to nurture the next generation of environmental stewards.
But we needed to do more. Through our relationships with youth-led organisations like the Global Youth Biodiversity Network and our engagement with young people in biodiversity dialogues and spaces, we recognised a need to deepen our commitment. Aiming to address serious gaps in funding and support for the youth biodiversity movement, since 2022, we have:
- Formed an internal Youth Working Group to help guide our approach;
- Appointed a Youth Affiliate;
- Created the Chrysalis Youth Fund, a pooled fund to boost flexible, long-term support for youth-led biodiversity action;
- Established a global Youth Committee; and
- Launched a collaborative research project
This work is helping elevate youth voices, unlock funding, and build a more inclusive, effective conservation movement.
Image © Tesoro Escondido
Many Synchronicity Earth partners work with young people through education, training, and other initiatives, while we are also increasing the number of partners we support with youth in leadership positions.
The youth biodiversity movement cannot just run on passion. If you can see that young people are doing great work, know that this has all been achieved on minimum support. There is so much potential that can only be truly realised if we are funded.
– Swetha Stotra Bhashyam, Synchronicity Earth Youth Affiliate
Backing youth leadership for nature
Young people are leading the charge for environmental and social justice, creating powerful campaigns and shaping visions for a more liveable future. But many face major hurdles, from limited funding to unequal access to resources, especially Indigenous youth, women, and those from underrepresented communities.
To unlock their full potential and avoid burnout, youth-led efforts need meaningful support. This is why Synchronicity Earth created the Chrysalis Youth Fund – a flexible, youth-informed funding channel that reduces admin burdens, pools donor resources, and responds directly to youth priorities. We have also established a global Youth Committee to convene inspiring young leaders to guide funding to grassroots initiatives protecting and restoring biodiversity worldwide.
Frankly, there are no other funders currently supporting youth-led biodiversity work in the way that Synchronicity Earth does in the biodiversity space.
– Marina Melanidis, University of Cambridge
Taily Terena, Indigenous Terena Youth Collective, presents a letter to Marina Silva, Brazil’s current Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, at the COP27 Climate Conference in Egypt, 2022.
The Chrysalis Youth Fund
The Chrysalis Youth Fund is a collaborative ‘pooled’ fund. The goals of the Fund are to:
1. Catalyse grassroots action
2. Strengthen alliances and advocacy
With the right backing, we can help provide young people with the tools and resources they need to shape the future and the systems that govern it.
Our Youth Affiliate
Swetha Stotra Bhashyam joined Synchronicity Earth as its Youth Affiliate in the summer of 2023, bringing with her over a decade of experience building a powerful youth movement for biodiversity across the globe. Serving as the Global South Focal Point for the Global Youth Biodiversity Network (GYBN) from 2018 to 2023, Swetha Stotra Bhashyam has played a pivotal role in representing and amplifying the voices of youth in the Global South.
With over a decade of experience collaborating with grassroots and international organisations, she has been instrumental in building a powerful youth movement for biodiversity and she is a valuable member of the Synchronicity Earth team.
You can read more about Swetha’s journey in this recent interview.
Our Youth Committee
The Youth Committee brings in new expertise, perspectives, and contextual understanding of risks, challenges, and opportunities from the communities and movement that the Chrysalis Youth Fund seeks to support. This participatory grant making process strengthens the effectiveness and equity of funding by shifting decision-making power to those with lived experience and local knowledge, ensuring that the people the Chrysalis Youth Fund seeks to support have an active say in funding allocations.
Ramson Kamurshu, pictured, is a young Indigenous Maasai from Kenya with a keen interest in documenting traditional knowledge that supports coexistence with nature and biodiversity conservation.
Our research focus
Youth – particularly in the Global South – are driving biodiversity action on minimal budgets, with limited access to the core funding needed to grow a strong, resilient movement. Yet little is known about funding for youth in this space. While just 0.76% of climate funding supports youth-led climate justice efforts, funding for youth work on biodiversity is likely even lower. Synchronicity Earth – in collaboration with The Iris Project, The Hour is Late, Global Youth Biodiversity Network, the Global Fund for Children, and the Youth Climate Justice Fund – is funding a collaborative research project to help build a clearer picture of the funding environment for youth-led biodiversity initiatives.
Why youth?
While in the Global North, many countries have ageing populations, the median age in the countries where our partners work – mostly in the Global South – is below 35, and in many cases, far lower. Yet these young people are inheriting systems that have prioritised profit and short-term political gain over collective wellbeing and a healthy environment.
Decisions taken by past and present generations have led to environmental damage, deepened inequality, and eroded cultural diversity, benefitting a few while leaving today’s youth and future generations to deal with the consequences. If we want to build a more just and sustainable world, we need to break these harmful cycles and centre the voices of those who will live with the outcomes the longest.
Funding and support from Synchronicity Earth is providing young people with resources and network-building opportunities, helping to protect and restore nature in some of the most biodiverse regions on the planet and building a stronger movement to put young people at the heart of decisions about their future.
* We use a broad definition of youth (35 years and younger), in line with the Global Youth Biodiversity Network. In many countries where there are fewer opportunities, it can take young people longer to overcome barriers to participating in and being recognised for their environmental work.
Human rights and climate defender Ayisha Siddiqa and Synchronicity Earth Youth Affiliate Swetha Stotra Bhashyam at the COP15 Conference in Montreal, Canada, 2022.
Case Study: Unlocking youth potential
Alexis speaking at the launch of the Chrysalis Youth Fund at New York Climate Week, 2023. © Leandro Justen
“In 2018 we created Piatua Resiste, a group of young people fighting on a daily basis for our river. We mobilised our community to demand the removal of a hydropower plant which was planned without the necessary permits or an environmental assessment, claiming that there would be no consequences to Indigenous Peoples or biodiversity.
Starting a legal process, we gathered the knowledge of our leaders to wage a powerful war. By combining the wisdom of our territories and our ancestors with scientific knowledge, we have named new species to science – species unique to our lands which have been living here for many years, but had no official record. But if we’re not protected – if we can’t defend our territory – we cannot protect them.
We support communities legalising their territories because many are threatened by large companies joining the carbon market. In doing this, we have collected toys, clothes, and cave paintings which prove that our families have been here for many, many years.
We’ve won cases, but the government has not complied with the terms of these victories. However, by communicating our efforts, we can convey the messages we need the international community and decision-makers to hear.”
– Alexis Joel Grefa
We are here because we need to be heard but we also need for our decisions to be respected and understood. We have been defending our territories for hundreds of years. We defend the legacy that our elders and our parents have left us.
The Piatua river, Ecuador. Image © Alexis Grefa/Piatua Resiste
Youth News
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Young people are emerging as powerful agents of change, mobilising at local, national, and international levels to advocate for and drive urgent action. Their energy, innovation, and boldness position them as key drivers of transformative solutions, calling for policies and implementing practices that prioritise ecological restoration and the protection of biodiversity. They are taking their place as rights holders, asserting their agency and leadership in shaping a sustainable, just and equitable future.
If you are interested in supporting our youth work, please get in touch: programmes@synchronicityearth.org