A. Awareness building

1. Establishing the Tunza Network

The Tunza concept will aim to include all schools, children and youth-related organizations working with UNEP in a revamped umbrella network for young people and the environment. It will strengthen current activities such as the annual international painting and essay competitions for children, as well as information sharing through the networks and electronic list servers. It will forge new partnerships with schools and community organizations to enlist more groups and partners in the network. It will also promote the creation of regional and national youth environmental networks and establish close working relationships with those networks.

2. Organizing Tunza global campaigns

UNEP will organize global campaigns for children and youth on topical environmental issues to promote awareness and global actions by young people on specific environmental issues. The first global campaign for children, on tree planting, entitled “Plant for the Planet” will be launched in 2003 to promote a culture of caring for trees among children. Campaigns on other key UNEP priorities will also be initiated for children and youth. UNEP will also continue to mobilize young people globally for the annual “clean-up the world” campaign.

3. Developing a Tunza award scheme

UNEP will introduce incentives for young people to participate in environmental activities. UNEP will work with partners from headquarters and regional offices, and through United Nations organizations, to appropriately recognize young people who participate in UNEP's campaigns and activities. A Tunza bronze certificate will be awarded to young people who succeed in mobilizing their peers to take environmental actions. A Tunza silver certificate will be awarded to young people who make a significant impact in addressing environmental problems in their communities. A Tunza gold certificate will be awarded to schools, organizations and young people who make significant contributions to efforts in solving environmental problems in their countries or regions. Those who receive the gold certificate will qualify to be considered for membership on the Tunza Advisory Council.

4. Using sport to promote environmental awareness

The Tunza Network will aim to strengthen UNEP’s ties with international sports bodies, such as the International Olympic Committee, the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and regional sports bodies in an effort to use their events to promote environmental awareness. UNEP will also use recreational sports associations, such as those involved in mountaineering and cycling, to promote environmental awareness and will engage young people in soccer and tennis forums to achieve the same goal.

5. Organizing Tunza conferences

Until now, UNEP has had separate conferences for children and youth . the International Children’s Conference on the Environment and the UNEP Global Youth Forum. This strategy proposes to consolidate both conferences into an annual Tunza Conference; each year will focus on one of the two groups (children one year and youth the next). The Tunza Conference will be used to promote awareness, networking and the sharing of experiences and good practices among young people. UNEP regional offices will also be requested to organize regular Tunza regional conferences and seminars, and UNEP will encourage and facilitate children and youth involvement in non-UNEP conferences.

B. Participation in decision-making

1. Participating in the Governing Council

UNEP will continue to involve youth in the Governing Council sessions. This will ensure that Governments can benefit from inputs from youth leaders on decisions being made at the Council. UNEP will also organize the Tunza youth retreat in conjunction with each regular session of the Council to ensure coordinated and concrete youth inputs.

2. Organizing the Tunza youth retreat

The Tunza youth retreat will be held a few days prior to the Governing Council regular sessions for about 50 youth leaders to review issues being discussed at the Council and to agree on youth inputs. It will also provide the youth leaders with an opportunity to have consultations with UNEP divisions and regional offices, to review implementation of any youth-related decisions by the Council and advise on ways to strengthen UNEP’s work with youth.

3. Facilitating youth participation in global and regional environmental negotiations

UNEP will facilitate and promote the participation of children and youth representatives in global and regional environmental processes. These processes will include the Commission on Sustainable Development, conferences of parties for multilateral environmental agreements and regional conferences of environment ministers.

4. Recommending youth inclusion in national delegations

Consistent with relevant General Assembly resolutions and Agenda 21, UNEP, through this new programme, will encourage and recommend the inclusion of young people in government delegations to Governing Council sessions and in international and regional environmental negotiations.

5. Organizing the Tunza Advisory Council

UNEP will continue to provide a forum for youth from all regions to elect representatives to the Tunza Advisory Council. Twelve Tunza advisors (2 for each UNEP region), to be elected at the Tunza Conference, will represent youth at the Governing Council and at international and regional environmental negotiations to provide coordinated inputs on behalf of youth to these processes.
The Tunza advisors will advise UNEP divisions and regional offices on ways to strengthen youth involvement in programme development and implementation and will assist in promoting UNEP’s activities in their countries and regions. The Tunza advisors will also be involved in the consultative process for the global and regional environmental assessment and reporting (the Global Environment Outlook process).

C. Capacity-building

1. Promoting environmental education

In response to common needs and requests by countries, UNEP will promote environmental education within formal and non-formal education systems through the development of educational materials based on assessment findings, in order to build environmental awareness, knowledge, skills and attitudes of children and youth at the global, regional and national levels. UNEP will also support activities aimed at enabling teachers and relevant civil society organizations to better facilitate learning about conservation of natural resources, entrench sustainable consumption and production lifestyles in young people, and promote programmes using proven environmental education and training models.

2. Organizing exchange programmes

UNEP will organize exchange programmes at the global and regional levels for youth leaders to travel to and work with other organizations where they can share and gain experience in environmental activities.

3. Supporting nature and sport camps

UNEP will continue to establish and support nature and sport training camps in selected cities in developing countries for children from underprivileged communities to receive leadership training in sport and the environment. Through continuous training and workshops, the camps will build the capacity of children to cope with environmental problems in their communities as well as create awareness on the link between sport and the environment.

4. Facilitating internships

UNEP will continue to promote and facilitate internship programmes for young people to gain experience and to provide support to the UNEP Children and Youth/Sport and the Environment Unit and to divisions and regional offices. UNEP will also encourage Governments to support youth interns and junior professional officers to gain experience with UNEP.

5. Training youth leaders

UNEP will organize regional and global training workshops and seminars to strengthen the capacity of young leaders, particularly members of the Tunza Advisory Council and young journalists, and to mobilize young people to address environmental issues. In addition, environmental advocacy training will also be provided to youth leaders who have been involved in UNEP’s global and regional processes to enhance their skills in initiating community-based action programmes.
UNEP will create a mentorship programme for alumni and former interns of the Tunza Network to stay connected and serve as focal points to promote UNEP’s activities and to enlist young people in their communities and countries in environmental activities. Some of the active alumni will be appointed as external advisors to the Children and Youth Unit.

6. Strengthening the children’s environment health initiative with UNICEF and WHO

UNEP will continue working with UNICEF and WHO and governmental partners and non-governmental organizations such Physicians for Social Responsibility and the International Network on Children’s Health,
Environment and Safety on children’s environmental health issues. This cooperation will intensify action and elevate the issue of children’s environmental health on the international agenda. UNEP, through its New York Office and regional offices, will provide the necessary substantive support from the environmental dimension to activities in this area.

D. Information exchange

1. Making printed materials more readily available

In line with Governing Council decision 21/22, the Tunza Programme aims to increase the number and language versions of electronic and physical information materials freely available for young people and schools. Currently, most publications are available in English and, to a limited extent, in French and Spanish. This situation limits the readership and outreach potential of the Children and Youth Unit. The Tunza Programme intends to increase the number of publications and ensure translation into key official United Nations languages. These publications will include: Young Action for the Future; Tunza children’s magazine; Tunza: Acting for a Better World youth publication; Teen Planet; the Youth and Environment Newsletter; Tunza Best Practices publication, the children’s picture booklet, topical environmental fact sheets, Pachamama Teacher’s Guide, and Global-Environment-Outlook-for-Youth publications in Latin America and the Caribbean. UNEP will also develop illustrated story books for children from writers from around the world. The first illustrated book will be on water and will mark the International Year of Freshwater.

2. Expanding web services for young people

UNEP will expand the scope of its children and youth web service to act as a clearing house for environmental information for young people. The web site will be used for online publications, competitions and good practices for and by young people. It will provide facts on the environment in a manner that would easily be understood by young people. The Tunza Programme will continue to hold regular chat sessions with young people on emerging environmental issues.

3. Using the media to promote environmental awareness

UNEP will develop a global mailing list of specialized media for and by young people and will use the network to promote environmental awareness and actions among young people worldwide. UNEP will develop environmental stories and other forms of communication tools for use by the media to promote environmental awareness among young people. The Tunza programme will also support youth media initiatives such as Global Youth Reporters, an international media organization for young people, to ensure youth-based reports on international negotiations and mega sport and social events and competitions.

4. Compiling and distributing youth best practices on the environment

Through the Tunza Network, UNEP will compile an annual series on youth best practices on the environment. UNEP will identify four best practices through the regional offices and web-based competitions for annual publication. Tunza silver certificates will be awarded to all selected stories, while the best story will receive the Tunza gold certificate.

5. Cooperating with the school-based processes

UNEP will also work in partnership with the Foundation for Environmental Education and other organizations to promote school-based processes, such as the Eco-schools Project. Such projects will provide a basis for schools to develop joint environmental initiatives and share experiences on their activities.

6. Strengthening the YouthXchange Project of UNEP and UNESCO on sustainable consumption

UNEP will also continue its work on youth and sustainable consumption. The Youth Xchange Project with UNESCO will continue to provide young people with a platform to exchange ideas and experiences on sustainable consumption issues. Through this project, UNEP and UNESCO will develop a training kit, a guide and a web site for young people to get comprehensive information and share ideas on sustainable consumption. The project provides practical examples where consumer choices have changed the way society produces and consumes. The web site will continue to encourage interactions and networking amongst its users and will be regularly updated to facilitate dialogue among young people on sustainable consumption issues.