At 9.30am on 23^rd June 2012 while the world was still contemplating the next steps at the conclusion of the Earth Summit , we the youth at Rio+20 , gathered at Flamengo Park , the site of the People?s Summit . There were 40 of us who gathered at Flamengo Park and each of us , mostly MGCY members , had spent hours daily lobbying delegates and governments to have our voice heard . I was the only person from the Middle East and TUNZA Ecogeneration ambassador present at this meeting . I was also representing Green The Gene as its Rio+20 spokesperson in my capacity as UAE country coordinator.

UNCSD MGCY had chosen me to be the voice of the children at the People?s Summit debate on Rio Legacy – Beyond 2015 on 21^st June,2012.

Rather than join the clamour and bemoan Rio+20 as an epic failure and wait for someone else to show the way , we decided , in the true spirit of UNCSD MGCY , to continue our work and struggle for SDG and green economy implementation. We formed  3 working groups and each group had the job of  essentially reporting back on :

-        Local summits / assemblies

-        UN processes ---- civil society is a major group outside of the UN process

-        Communications platform

Since then , I have been working tirelessly , lobbying youth from around the region and also through the TUNZA Ecogeneration member network . Green The Gene founder Madhav Datt is an active TUNZA Ecogeneration ambassador from India and together we decided to pledge the support of Green The Gene?s 10,000 strong member force spread across 35 countries to the Rio legacy campaign which I have been working on through TUNZA Ecogeneration.

We welcome your thoughts and efforts on the three working groups mentioned above which we will then summarise and present at a global level. You can respond in the following ways :

-        Choose a group out of the 3 mentioned above

-        Select what you want to work on and mention how you think you can make a difference

-        Mention details of how many youth you can influence in your locality / community ? remember that even one person?s support is important.

-        Give details of any projects you intend working on.

-        Share what obstacles you have faced especially from the establishment.

-        In short , how do you want to carry forward the Rio legacy of SDG.

It is heartening to know that there are now 10,000+ of us who are already committed to the movement and we invite all TUNZA Ecogeneration members to express interest by writing in to :

kehkashanbasu@gmail.com

or

Madhav.Datt@hotmail.com

As posted earlier in the Ambassador report , Green The Gene will soon launch the First Asia Pacific Youth Water Summit details of which you can also check on the website.

Our future is in our hands – act before its too late!