Alps2030- Youth participation and green events in the Alps

Background Climate change, increasing consumption of resources and waste problems threaten nature and society in the Alps. With the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) the Alpine states set themselves the goal of making global development socially, ecologically and economically sustainable by 2030. The project Alps2030 contributed to the implementation of the SDG’s at the local level. The addressed needs were the ones to foster awareness and availability to change, especially among young people between 13 and 25. Instead of being afraid and “don’t know what to do” we set up a program that gave young people an opportunity to experiment with sustainable lifestyles and to develop solutions to environmental problems. Together with the project partners, the young people could turn their ideas into reality and initiate change. Objectives Objective 1: promote (youth) exchange across the Alpine arc about sustainable development and youth participation: We wanted to foster transnational cooperation, what is imporant to solve global challenges. Objective 2: promote youth participation in municipalities and to empower young people: Give young people a change and the skills to be active in their community, push and empower local communites to enable youth participation. Objective 3: strengthen the role and importance of young people in political decision-making processes. Through the project youth groups learned how to take decisions within their group, how to present in front of politicians, how to accept what is possible for the moment and what is not. Through the participation in this Erasmus+ project they stepped out of their role (pupil, daughter, son…), they were a representative of a group that works toward something, they had to present their ideas, maybe fight for them, had to make sure that they got taken seriously. With their engagement they could shape their life world but also the future of the Alps.On the transnationl meetings we promoted youth participation on various political levels. Implementation Each partner implemented one local activity. To give an overview, this happened: Working on guidelines and organising green events; promotion of the SDGs trough “sustainability pills” (short video clips they made, opening of a “library of things”, remodeling a school library with natural materials. We held 3 transnational meetings: One kick off meeting (online due to Corona), one mid-term meetin at the planken rockt festifal and one final meeting where the youngsters came in contact with a lot of politicians. Achievements - Each municipality youth group implemented a local activity related to the SDGs. Four partners worked on sustainable events. - The project partners were from different Alpine countries. Awareness of and solidarity with other cultures and transnational cooperation was fostered by the transnational events as well as respecting other points of view and language skills. - All participants received new insights into the main topic and hands-on experience with sustainable lifestyles through the organization or visiting of sustainable events. - All participants experienced a new way of learning and gained insights into the organization of a group project and multilingual events. - Barriers between participating young people and politicians were removed, intergenerational cooperation and mutual understanding strengthened. - The young people experienced turning their ideas into life and implementing them into a project in their municipality. - Learnings of the partners that worked on the green events are summarized in a green event guide, written by young participants with the help of adults, which will be disseminated by the partners and also on the project results platform. The three partners of Liechtenstein also produced a movie, that can be watched here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzOwusljCZo The partner town of Belluno produced a movie on sustainable events as well: https://youtu.be/OYXrcA6emD4 In addition, they produced “sustainability pills”, short videos on the SDGs: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5zuxWWsEn7jAx2F-48ai8C3zXhP6N9iX and on their Instagram channel: https://www.instagram.com/alps2030_belluno/ They have been to the Cittaslow Acadamy and talked about Alps2030. Cittaslow is an international network of “cities where life is good”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVbfTNlhkGo The team of Idrija concentrated on the SDGs 1 and 12 (no poverty and responsible consumption and production). They opened a “library of things”, where people can rent out things (sports equipment, camping equipment for example) that other people donated. Hand in hand with this, they organised reuse workshops and another DIY workshop. The core team was built from 12 young people. Tolmin: makeover of the school libery with natural materials Information on the project was put on the CIPRA homepage and was shared by the partners. Good practices and methods were distributed to all member communities of the “Alpine Town of the Year Association” and are shared in the alpine network of CIPRA International and of the project partners.