Nico's Natural World

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/nico-cordoniergehring

Hello, my name is Nico. I am fourteen years old, a scholar at Winchester College, and I live in Cambridge, UK. As wildfires, heatwaves and floods worsen, I am desperately concerned about the terrible impacts of climate change on our local fenlands and our natural systems worldwide, and on the most vulnerable people especially children.

Together with my friend Wezi from Zambia, I recently wrote a response to the Call on General Comment 26 for the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, about children’s rights and the environment, especially the importance of fighting climate change and protecting nature. We studied the science, also the politics, and became very, very worried. Our future, our very survival, is at stake. Children and nature, who are voiceless and vulnerable, are already suffering. We need all the help we can get, to stop this global nightmare.

Rather than staying sad and angry, though, this summer I am going to kayak from Cambridge where I live to the sea, to raise funds for local and global charities who are trying to protect children’s rights and nature from the impacts of climate change. Please sponsor me? 🙂

All funds raised will go directly to the Voices for Future Generations Children’s Initiative, and to local charities working to protect our fenlands and promote education about sustainability solutions.

As a volunteer UN Child Ambassador and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Children’s Rights, I have spent years working to help promote sustainability education and the rights of future generations locally and globally. I love nature and animals, and believe it is important to protect and restore habitat for endangered species (including my two Hermann’s tortoises), and to advance the global SDGs for kids. To help make this happen, I edit a blog (nicosnaturalworld.org) with hundreds of followers. I also volunteer as co-chair of the Global Youth Council on Science, Law and Sustainability which was founded by young people during the Glasgow Climate Change COP26 and edits an online journal (harmonyyouthvoices.com). As a leader of my primary King’s College School Eco-Society, I was also founding co-chair of Cambridge Schools Eco-Council with pupils from many schools in my community. We won the UK Rotary Young Environmentalist Award with my team for our work to protect local fenlands by stopping sources, restoring sinks and mobilising our school and society on climate change. Through speaking out in conferences and events, hosting online Eco-Seminar mini-series about the SDGs, and helping to organise Cambridge’s climate-strikes, I’ve been trying to raise awareness and educate about sustainability locally and globally.

But it’s clearly not enough – climate change is getting worse, not better, and we need to do everything we can to support organisations who are helping to make a difference. That’s why I’m paddling to the sea this summer, and I hope very much that you could help sponsor my campaign here://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/nico-cordoniergehring

My efforts support our local Wicken Fen wetlands conservation and education efforts (National Trust) and the Cambridge Botanical Gardens locally, as well as the UNESCO Voices of Future Generations Children’s Initiative (with which I have been a volunteer for years) and the IUCN International Union for the Conservation of Nature globally.

Keep an eye out for updates on my training!