“Climate Warrior” in action in Aceh

The midday sun blazes over a schoolyard in Aceh. Dust swirls beneath the feet of students sprinting across the yard, their laughter rising together. One student kneels quietly near the school’s well, focused on a bucket of cloudy, brown water. Her name is Jamalidiana, known to her friends as Diana, and she is turning heads.

With a simple filter made of gravel, sand and charcoal, Diana patiently pours the dirty water through. Slowly, it clears. There is a gasp of disbelief and a hush falls over the group of students watching. “During the dry season this murky, dirty water is our concern,” Diana explains softly. “This clearly requires real solutions.”

Diana leads “Climate Warrior”, a youth-led initiative under the Youth4Health Impact programme led by the Ministry of Health and UNICEF, which engages youth to develop innovative solutions that protect their right to a clean, healthy environment.

Together with her team, Diana has introduced three practical, low-cost initiatives to 12 junior and senior high schools across Greater Aceh Area – a water filter using local material to remove sediment, planting of traditional herbs such as ginger and aloe vera, and recycling and compost management.

Her motivation is deeply personal. Diana has seen dirty and unsafe water endangers the health of her friends and teachers. “I am worried that if this situation continues, many students will suffer from various illnesses, from skin conditions to digestive problems. This could negatively impact both their academic and non-academic performance,” she explains.

Inspired by Diana, what began as a simple idea has evolved into a shared movement, led by young people who genuinely care about their environment and the future they shape together. Climate Warrior members regularly visit schools to demonstrate how to implement their solutions.

“We help facilitate the students’ access to learning by providing equipment, hands-on practice and everything they need to engage directly,” Diana explains. Schools are reporting one success after the other.  In one Islamic boarding school, Climate Warrior’s composting system has turned food scraps into fertilizer—now sold by the school canteen to surrounding communities. 

Diana’s school headmaster, Affilianda, has witnessed the powerful ripple effect firsthand. “Many of us still rely on well water, which can be inconsistent in quality and availability,” she says. “The water filter offers us a practical solution to remove the sediment before using for household use. And the benefit goes beyond the school. Our children are also teaching their families, so the knowledge can also be used in their homes and neighbourhoods.” 

Climate Warrior projects contribute to Adiwiyata, a national programme by the Ministry of Environment to promote environmental awareness and responsibility to protect the surroundings among schools.

“Young people are the ones carrying change forward. They are becoming agents of change themselves. This is extremely important,” says Jamaansyah, the Environmental Outreach Officer at Aceh’s Environmental Office. 

“The Adiwiyata programme has grown significantly, especially in the past two years, with schools showing great enthusiasm. This is our joint effort to build character in the younger generation so they care about the environment,” Jamaansyah explains. 

Aceh is no stranger to the effects of climate change, including rising temperatures, coastal flooding and prolonged droughts that  daily life and increase the risk of future disasters. Across Indonesia, climate and environmental hazards are increasingly impacting children. An estimated 28 million children are exposed to coastal flooding and 15 million to heat waves.

Through Youth4Health Impact, UNICEF supports the government to empower adolescents, enabling them to engage directly with local health policy makers and advocate for changes that reflect their concerns.

Since 2022, the programme has engaged over 25,000 adolescents across Indonesia on prevention of non-  disease risks and reached more than 141,000 youth through peer education in Aceh and Bandung, addressing critical health threats such as smoking, pollution and mental health. 

Diana is deeply committed, but sometimes she doubts herself. “When I don’t do well, if I fail to run a programme properly, my presentation does not go smoothly, or when I struggle to coordinate an event, those moments make me question my competence,” she shares.

Yet, she pushes ahead with her team. “We move hearts and inspire youth to take action for the environment,” Diana says proudly. "Both male and female students have a strong desire to take action, to move together in the climate space. This is the kind of outcome we hope to achieve – their willingness to act, and for some, their wish to grow.”

Diana’s dream is simple but powerful – that every school across Indonesia will one day have access to clean water. “We may be young, but our small actions can protect health, nurture learning and safeguard the future of our nation,” she says confidently.