The Tunza-South East Asia Youth Environment Network (SEAYEN) announces its fourth SEAYEN Sub-regional Conference on 21-23 July 2008 in Bangkok, Thailand at the UNEP Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific. The conference is jointly organized by the UNEP Regional Office of the Asia and the Pacific and Bayer AG, in cooperation with the Association for Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as well as convened by the National Youth Achievement Award Council (NYAA) Singapore.

Nearly twenty-five youth from South East Asian countries will attend the annual meeting on the topic of climate change. Youth have a unique role to encourage their family, friends and communities to live in a more sustainable way to address the impacts of a changing climate. By providing these youths their own unique forum for networking on future partnerships, the SEAYEN conference enables youth from this sub-region to come together for creative action on this global issue, such as in their united multi-country campaign this past World Environment Day urging ASEAN youth to “Kick the Carbon Habit.”

A youth voice and action on their roles in as change agents for the climate in ASEAN countries will be formulated as part of the SEAYEN work plan in 2009.Youth participants will hear from experts from ASEAN and UNEP who will deliver information about climate change in the region. The 4th SEAYEN Conference is organized back-to-back with the ASEAN+3 Youth Environment Forum hosted by the Government of Thailand in cooperation with UNEP.

The Tunza – South East Asia Youth Environment Network (SEAYEN) is a part of UNEP’s long-term “Tunza strategy” for engaging young people in environmental activities and in UNEP’s work. Tunza is a word in Kiswahili which is spoken throughout East Africa, including in Kenya where UNEP’s global headquarters is located, means ‘to care for’ or ‘to nurture.’  

Bayer is UNEP’s global partner on youth activities, and has supported the establishment of regional youth networks in Asia, Latin America and Africa. In the Asia-Pacific region, the SEAYEN network is one of five environment and sustainable development networks uniting young environmentalists and organizations representing the sub-regions of Asia (SAYEN – South Asia Youth Environment Network, NEAYEN – North East Asia Youth Environment Network, PYEN – Pacific Youth Environment Network, and CAYEN – Central Asia Youth Environment Network).

"Young people who are passionate about environmental issues must be provided with opportunities and platforms to further develop themselves so that they become catalysts for change and will be able to play key leadership roles and contribute to the protection of our environment".
James Soh PBM MBE, Executive Director, National Youth Achievement Award Council, Singapore

“We highly appreciate the strong environmental commitment of the youth network supported by the UNEP Bayer Partnership”, says Chaveng Chao, Director and General Manager Government and Association Liaison of Bayer Thai Co., Ltd. “Environmental protection and sustainable development are essential elements of Bayer’s mission and corporate policy.

For further information on SEAYEN, please contact:

Ms. Aileen Yap, +65 6733 6753, nyaac@singnet.com.sg, SEAYEN Secretariat, National Youth Achievement Award Council (NYAAC) Singapore

Ms Satwant Kaur, +66-2-2882127, kaur@un.org, Regional Information Officer, UNEP/ROAP, Bangkok