The DRC Facing Climate and Health Urgency
The Democratic Republic of Congo is one of the most biodiverse countries in the world — and one of the most exposed to the consequences of climate change. Ecosystem degradation, intensifying environmental risks, and the resurgence of climate-sensitive diseases such as malaria: Congolese communities are facing challenges that worsen year after year.
In this context, one thing is clear: young people cannot remain bystanders. They are, already today, essential actors in adaptation and resilience.
The Youth Corps Against Malaria: An Organisation at the Crossroads of Climate and Health
An Integrated and Innovative Vision
Founded in the DRC, the Corps des Jeunes contre le Paludisme (CJCP ASBL) — the Youth Corps Against Malaria — is far more than a community health organisation. By recognising the deep interdependence between climate change, ecosystem conservation and vector-borne disease dynamics, the CJCP has developed a rare and valuable approach: one that connects the dots between a mosquito, a degraded forest and a national climate policy.
Youth Conservation Tutors at the Heart of the Initiative
What makes this initiative particularly meaningful for our network: more than five volunteer mentors from the Youth Conservation network are active members of the CJCP. Their expertise in environmental education, biodiversity conservation and climate adaptation directly feeds into the organisation’s field work.
This is exactly the kind of synergy Youth Conservation seeks to create — women and men who are trained, equipped, and capable of carrying an integrated vision of conservation into their communities.
The LCOY DRC: A Youth Conference to Shape Global Climate Negotiations
What Is the LCOY?
The Local Conference of Youth (LCOY) is an event organised each year in many countries, under the aegis of YOUNGO — the youth constituency of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). It enables young people to formulate recommendations grounded in their local realities, which then feed into international climate negotiations.
The DRC Hosts Its LCOY in October
The CJCP has been officially selected to organise the LCOY DRC, planned for this October in Kinshasa and Goma, with hybrid participation (in-person and online) to reach as many young people as possible across the country.
Three Concrete Ambitions
The LCOY DRC pursues clear and measurable objectives:
- Strengthen the capacities of young people on climate, health and environmental issues
- Showcase local adaptation initiatives led by Congolese youth
- Formulate recommendations rooted in field realities, aligned with national priorities and contributing to the implementation of the DRC’s National Adaptation Programme of Action (NAPA)
Conservation, Climate and Health: One and the Same Fight
What is being built in the DRC around the CJCP and the LCOY illustrates something essential: protecting nature and protecting people are not two separate battles. They are one.
When a forest is preserved, the risk of disease emergence decreases. When young people are trained in environmental education, they become ambassadors for change within their families and communities. When their voices are heard in international arenas, climate policies become fairer and more firmly grounded in reality.
Youth Conservation is proud to count among its mentors actors like Jean-Paul Kabi and his colleagues at the CJCP, who embody this integrated vision every day.
To Find Out More
Would you like to learn more about the work of the Youth Corps Against Malaria in the DRC? Visit www.cjpdrc.org.
Are you an educator, teacher or facilitator committed to the environment? Train yourself freely with the tutorial “Nature conservation education” and join the Youth Conservation volunteer mentor network: together, we are training tomorrow’s eco-citizens.
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