There is no doubt that youth are the key to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It is amazing to see that the world leaders are recognizing, supporting and investing in youth empowerment and inclusion more than ever. In my country Nepal as well there a huge number of volunteer/not for profit organizations which are solely dedicated towards youth and interestingly many of them are governed by youth. Some famous examples of environmental organizations in Nepal includes: World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Nepal, National Trust for Nature Conservation (NTNC) Nepal, Friends of Nature (FON), International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), Green Youth of Lumbini, Nepalese Youth For Climate Action (NYCA), Clean Energy Nepal (CEN) and so on.

But in this report I would like to focus on one noble campaign The Generation Green (TGG). It is an ambitious five years campaign of World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Nepal which is solely aimed at empowering and engaging youths in sustainable environmental conservation and promote smart choices for the environment. TGG campaign seeks to involve 500000 youth, aged 16- 26 years within this time span. TGG campaign strongly believes youth are the epitome of energy and agents of change.

There are various contests and trainings organized via this campaign. One of their famous and focused program is Mentorship Program. Over a six month of time period, mentees and mentors are engaged in accomplishing some impact oriented project via the fund proposed and allocated. Mentors involved are highly influential personalities from Nepal including senior journalists, economists, conservationists, politicians and so on. Besides a lot of contests are launched by TGG campaign targeting different international conservation days. Some examples include: Global Tiger Day Art Competition, The Earth Hour Nepal?s Special Selfie contest, Short films and poem competition on Biodiversity conservation and so on.

Recently ongoing is Greenovation Startup Challenge (GSC) (deadline is 30^th September). WWF Nepal with the Nepal Entrepreneurs? Hub (NEHUB) launched GSC 2016 that seeks to nurture entrepreneurship ideas linked to an environmental cause in young and passionate entrepreneurs and startup communities. Selected youths will have the opportunity to attend a series of trainings and the top three ideas will be receiving Nrs. 150000 each ($1400) for their respective enterprise.

I am a member of TGG and was a mentee at the second batch of mentorship program. I personally found TGG as an encouraging platform for socially responsible youths which fosters leadership via wide range of opportunities. I have been spreading the opportunity it provides to youths in my network and it?s overwhelming to see their interest and queries related to the mentorship program and other contests.

Last but not the least, as a youth campaigner I would like to sincerely thank WWF Nepal and all the partners of TGG campaign for investing in youth and triggering their participation in biodiversity conservation.

More details can be found at http://tgg.org.np/

PS: Some of the pictures used are from the TGG official website and are subjected to copyright