A friend of the trees from Alexandria

A few weeks before the start of the school year, Jihan took her son Mohammed, 11, to the Nasr Youth Center in Alexandria to attend a special event taking place in the city for the first time: a visit of the EGYouth4Climate Caravan.

This was the caravan’s first stop at the north of the country few weeks after its visit to Aswan and  Fayoum. It was launched at Cairo on 4 September 2022 by the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the Ministry of Environment with the support of UNICEF, the United Nations in Egypt, USAID and the Embassy of Switzerland in Egypt.

In Egypt, too little is known about climate change. The Caravan aims to raise awareness of children and young people about climate change issues and the importance of climate action, and to provide them with an opportunity to express their opinion and suggestions on that issue.

After their arrival, the youth of the caravan carried out several activities in which Mohmed and many other children participated. In this photo essay, we highlight one of the activities through which Mohamed explored his interest in plants and the environment.

Mohammed, 11 year old, welcomed the caravan upon its arrival in his distinctive scouting uniform. He is a member of the Egyptian Scouts and has a special interest in plants. His mother recounts: "He and his father love to take care of plants at home, especially fruit plants and trees."

After welcoming the caravan, Mohammed changed his clothes to join his friends who were enthusiastically planting a small seedling. This was part of the caravan's forestation activities in all its stations to educate children about the importance of trees and planting them.

At the youth center, there were several banners that children could carry to express their support for environmental issues. Mohammed carried that sign with his friend to express his love for trees, because as he explained: “they are the core of the environment, and less trees mean more climate change.”

Throughout the day, Mohammed and his colleagues split into groups to do various activities and learn more about environmental and climate issues in Egypt and the world.

Among these activities was a scientific experiment carried out by the children themselves to simulate melting icebergs and its impact on soil and the environment in general.

Jihan is happy that Mohammed has learned about climate change, its causes and how he can contribute to saving the environment through his participation in today's activities.