Parami University will host its first Worldwide Teach-In for Climate Justice event on March 29, 2023, to provide a platform for all interested individuals to participate in the solution-oriented interactive discussion. The Worldwide Teach-in for Climate Justice aims to raise awareness and focus on creating dialogues around climate and justice at universities and communities worldwide.
The 2023 Teach-In for Climate Justice hosted by Parami University will be held with three speakers with different expertise from diverse communities with the aim to introduce controversies and issues around climate change and sustainable development.
At the end of the 3-hour webinar, students will learn about
Controversies concerning fairness and justice surrounding some incentive-based compensation schemes.
The role gender plays in the fight against climate change
Estimating carbon emissions from daily activities and ways to actively reduce carbon footprint.
Student-led Video Competition
Following the Teach-in event on March 29, 2023, students will be able to participate in a video competition to raise awareness about behavioral change. Seasonal festivities tend to be the times when people are more open to changing behavior. These videos aim to raise awareness and encourage people to adopt eco-friendly behaviors during the traditional Burmese new year.
There are three prizes: Gold - $300, Silver -$200, and Bronze - $100. The videos that meet all competition criteria will be featured on Parami University’s special media platforms.
We would like to invite all individuals to join this interactive panel discussion that will contribute to the solution of climate.
Register now to join this event at https://paramiuniversity.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMude2urjMtEtXcoSLG1rC4sE_1-I2sspaZ
Note: Advanced registration is required for this event and will be conducted in English language.
About Our Speakers
Patita Nkamunu, Co-founder of Earth Acre (Kenya)
Discussion topic: Payment for ecosystem services
Ecosystems provide tremendous economic and social benefits to people. Therefore, those benefiting from ecosystem services should provide monetary or other benefits for communities preserving such ecosystems. For instance, Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries (REDD+) is a framework created by the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties (COP) to guide activities in the forest sector and to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, as well as the sustainable management of forests and the conservation and enhancement of forest carbon stocks in developing countries. These schemes support the implementation of activities by national governments to reduce human pressure on forests that result in greenhouse gas emissions at the national level. However, there are controversies in developing countries surrounding foreign influence in land-use policies. At the broader international level, the scheme mainly benefits countries that are particularly ineffective at forest conservation and largely exclude those with a proven track record and sound conservation policies. What are the merits of each side of the controversy?
Biography Patita Nkamunu
Patita Nkamunu is a Maasai indigenous woman activist and conservation practitioner from Kenya. For the past 40 years, she has been involved in a professional or voluntary capacity in several local and international conservation organizations and subsequently gained extensive experience in lobbying and advocacy, conservation policies, and project management. Her life-long goal is to co-create land trusts that protect indigenous lands and pastoralist lifestyles while maintaining ecosystem connectivity in Kenya. She is also a member of Kenya’s Indigenous Women Council and the National Conservancy Council-Kenya. Her story was featured in the ‘Wildlife Warrior’ documentary series, broadcasted in 42 countries. Most recently, she co-founded Earth Acre, a Carbon Credit start-up in the US, which partners with
indigenous communities to create biodiversity credits and benefit sharing.
Patita holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Community Development from Daystar University. In 2022, she won two scholarships, one from the Mastercard Foundation and another from the Wildlife Conservation Network, to study for a Master’s degree in Conservation Leadership at the University of Cambridge in the UK. Her scholastic interests include, but are not limited to, developing incentives for benefit sharing and learning about investments in green economies and carbon credits markets to realize the value of natural capital in Africa.
Xiomara Acevedo Navarro, Founder and Director of Barranquilla+20 (Colombia)
Discussion topic: Climate Justice and gender equality
The climate crisis is not “gender neutral.” Women and girls experience the greatest impacts of climate change, which amplifies existing gender inequalities and poses unique threats to their livelihoods, health, and safety. Across the world, women depend more on, yet have less access to, natural resources. How does climate change exacerbate existing gender inequality in developing countries? How do we ensure women have equal access to education, employment, funding, and support in the face of the climate crisis?
Biography of Xiomara Acevedo Navarro
Xiomara Acevedo is a Colombian climate and nature activist, founder and director of Barranquilla+20, a youth and women-led NGO whose mission is to educate and empower children, youth and women to drive climate and biodiversity action in Colombia and South America. She also coordinates the Global Youth Biodiversity Network in Colombia and the Women for Climate Justice national network and has spoken in several international multilateral environmental negotiations, such as the Conference of Parties (COP) 12, 13 and 15 of the Convention of Biological Diversity as well as COPs 20, 21, 25, 26 and 27 of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate change, the World Water Forum in Brasilia, World Urban Forum, and World Humanitarian Forum, among others. Her ten-year journey as a climate and biodiversity entrepreneur benefited more than 20,000 people directly through education, activism, environmental campaigning, policy advocacy and non-violent action. These experiences significantly contributed to her understanding of intergenerational equity and justice as core principles to drive environmental action.
She is passionate about intergenerational equity, the rights-based approach, and promoting feminist action for climate and natural justice. In 2014 she won the National Youth Volunteer Award in the category of environment and habitat from the United Nations and Colombia Joven, Government of Colombia. In 2021 she was recognized as one of the TOYP (Ten outstanding young people of Atlántico, Colombia) by the Junior Chamber International. Most recently, she became one of the 50 women “rising stars” in ESG by the organization Women of the future. She is currently a One Young World Ambassador. Xiomara has a Bachelor’s degree in international relations from Universidad del Norte, Colombia and a postgraduate specialization degree in climate change, cities and leadership from FLACSO Ecuador and a certificate in climate adaptation finance, Frankfurt School of Management and Finance. She is now a Robert Samson scholar at the University of Cambridge, pursuing a second Master’s degree in Conservation Leadership.
Leo Nyein Zaw Ko, Founder of Nature Advocacy (Myanmar)
Discussion topic: Carbon footprint
Reaching net zero targets may be impossible if the reduction efforts are only confined to business enterprises and major industries. Each and every citizen must also take responsibility for reducing carbon emissions in his/her own capacity. What daily activities currently contribute the most to carbon emissions? What are the prevailing trends and lifestyle choices that reduce carbon footprint at individual, organizational, and community levels? How can we estimate our carbon footprint? How can we systematically influence collective behavior to achieve nature-positive outcomes?
Biography of Leo Nyein Zaw Ko
Affectionately known as the “Dolphin Man” among his friends and followers, Leo Nyein Zaw Ko is an environmental activist and founder of Nature Advocacy. Originally a consumer research quantitative analyst, he switched careers about four years ago, applying science-based communication strategies to raise awareness about sustainability, conservation, and illegal wildlife trades in Myanmar and beyond. At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, he led a group of nature enthusiasts and volunteers to launch the ‘Save Irrawaddy Dolphin’ campaign, which reached several million on social media and gained support from local fishing communities and conservation NGOs in Myanmar. WWF-Myanmar featured him as a ‘Planet Hero’ to recognize his contribution to dolphin conservation in November 2020. He is also a Young Southeast Asians Leaders Initiative (YSEALI) grant winner and has extensive experience working at conservation NGOs and academic institutions in the Asia-Pacific Region.
He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Engineering from Bucknell University (USA) and an M.Sc. in Environmental Management from the National University of Singapore. In 2022, he became the first person from Myanmar to gain admission to the Master of Philosophy in Conservation Leadership course at the University of Cambridge, winning several scholarships to fund his studies there.