Rio+20 Portal

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Theproject Young Europeans, Let’s Take Care of the Planet! aims at encouraging dialogue between young Europeans, reinforcing their knowledge and commitment on the issues of sustainable development.

It gives continuity to the international process launched by the Ministry of Education in 2009, which culminated with the international conference Let’s take Care of the Planet in June 2010 in Brasilia, gathering youth from 47 countries that jointly wrote the Youth Charter of Responsibilities for the Environment, a reference document for the whole process.

From local activities in schools to the organization of a European youth Conference in March 2012, the project will culminate with a contribution of young Europeans at Rio+20 Earth Summit in June 2012.

The global process lies on 4 essential pillars:

• The notion of « responsibilities » – acknowledging that each one’s individual and collective responsibilities is the main idea of the project. Each citizen is responsible within the limit of his/her access to information and power.
• « A youth elects a youth» – The delegates, aged 12 to 15, are chosen by their peers.
• « A youth elects a youth» – During the international conferences, the workshops are facilitated by a team of young persons aged 18 to 25: the facilitators.
• « A generation learns from another generation » – Even if the youth are protagonists of the project, the link and dialogue between the involved generations are fundamental. The youth can, in their turn, tell their parents.

From this methodological frame, the project is based on:

• Representative democracy
• Dialogic and intercultural learning
• A commitment to implement eco-citizen actions
• A bottom-up process, from local, regional, national activities to a European Conference and a youth delegation in Rio +20.