The Go Green Campaign (GGC) was initiated by the ICA-AP Committee on Youth Cooperation (ICYC) in 2018 to encourage youth (35 years of age and below) to plant trees and combat the global threat of climate change and its ever-lasting effects on future generations. Based on the cooperative values of ‘self-help and solidarity,’ and principle 7, ‘concern for the community,’ the campaign manifests that youth and cooperatives can be part of protecting, conserving, and sustaining the environment.
ICYC not only supports the UN SDG13 on Climate Action but also encourages youth to proactively participate in saving the planet for future generations by preserving and planting trees, and following the 3Rs – Reduce, Re-use, and Recycle.
The campaign is now in its fourth year and builds on previous initiatives carried out from 2018-2020. The campaign has expanded to include youth from the Americas, Africa, Europe, and Asia-Pacific regions and generated enthusiastic participation.
On 28 June 2022, ICYC in collaboration with The Malaysian National Cooperative Movement (ANGKASA), ICA-AP Committee on Consumer Cooperation and ICA-AP Committee on Forestry organised the GGC 4.0 webinar with the theme #OnlyOneEarth to commemorate World Environment Day. “Only One Earth” was the slogan for the 1972 Stockholm Conference. Fifty years later, this truth still holds – this planet is our only home.
GGC 4.0 webinar aimed to create awareness about climate action through varied activities other than planting trees. It focused on Involving Youth, Promoting Cooperative Identity, Environmental Action, and Mitigating Climate Change-#SDG13.
Guest speaker Mr. Ahsan Ali Thakur, Former Chairperson, ICYC and the one who initiated the first GGC campaign encouraged youth to plant trees. Ms. Ana Aguirre, President, ICA Global Youth Committee, through a video message, appreciated the initiative and congratulated ICYC for its collaboration with ANGKASA and other ICA-AP committees to launch GGC 4.0 campaign. Mr. Balu Iyer, ICA-AP Regional Director, in his opening remarks via video message, said that “Addressing global challenges requires us to work in collaboration and cooperation. Planting trees at a local level will have a global impact but this alone is not sufficient. We need to educate people on how we consume, and how we involve youth as they are going to inherit a fractured earth. This is what GGC is doing.”
Ms. Juhee Lee from iCOOP Korea spoke about the Plogging events - a combination of jogging and picking up litter - under the theme “Green Walking towards NO Plastic,” where 80 member coops participated. Mr. S.P. Singh, Managing Director of Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (IFFDC) gave a presentation on the Integrated Watershed Management-Soil-Water conservation methods adopted by them. Mr. Pham Trung Kien, Deputy CEO of Saigon Union of Trade Cooperatives (Saigon Coop) gave a presentation on the usage of renewable energy and reducing plastic bags. Saigon Coop located in Vietnam is the first retailer cooperative that has stopped selling plastic straws since 2019. They use banana leaves in product packaging which has positively affected the environment. Dr. Mohd Azlan Yahya, Board Member of ANGKASA cum Chair of ICEI & Vice-Chair of ICA-AP Consumer Committee gave a presentation on ANGKASA’s 100 Million Tree-Planting Campaign where they plan to plant 100 million trees within two years and achieve their target by involving youth and cooperatives.
Mr. Shree Padmanabhan, Secretary, ICYC, presented the GGC pledge website and media kit to the participants and requested them to pledge towards #SDG13-Climate Action and protecting the environment. Mr. Alireza Banaeifar, Chairperson, ICYC, moderated the webinar and thanked all the speakers for sharing interesting activities being carried out to protect the environment. The webinar was attended by 50 participants from 7 countries.
The recording can be accessed on the ICA-AP YouTube channel.
