Government delegations, NGOs and other institutions met for a week at the United Nations headquarters in New York to discuss and forge a path of cooperation in the care and sustainable development of the oceans, seas and marine resources in the first edition of the World Ocean lecture .

Among the participants,3rd year Economics, Leadership and Governance students Beatriz Santiago, Juan Vidal, Xabier Goikolea and Nicole Mendoza, attended as junior ambassadors of the NGO Kinderenergy. Beatriz Santiago, tells about her experience.

 

How did the opportunity to attend the lecture come up?
Elisabeth Delgado, president of the NGO Kinderenergy, gave us the opportunity to attend the lecture of the Oceans as junior representatives. This NGO was created with the intention of highlighting the importance of children in the care of the environment: they are the main natural resource and in their hands is the future of the planet.

 

What is your role in the UN meeting ?
As representatives of Kinderenergy our role was attend to different events related to the values pursued by the NGO itself and to present our interests; to network with people and institutions around the world and to make our message known. In addition, we were working with the UN Youth Envoy, made up of young people from all over the world, with whom we organized an event on the last day.

 

What have you learned from this experience?
After this week at the UN we are more aware of how important the oceans are in our lives and how urgent it is to start taking care of them. Without the oceans, we literally could not survive. Fortunately, a good issue of the events organized dealt with topics related to our degree program and that were of interest to us (Economics, society, impact investment...), so it has been a week to enjoy learning. In addition, we have been able to see firsthand how the UN works. It has been a good opportunity to consider a professional future within the organization.

 

Which moment of the lecture would you choose?
During one of the events organized by UNICEF, one of the members of roundtable, a 14-year-old Balinese girl, said something that struck us all: "We children are only 25% of the current population, but we are 100% of the future generation". This phrase sums up quite well what we have been doing these days: looking ahead and counting on the generations to come, including our own, for the survival of the oceans.