By PP Henry K. H. Wang, Rotary Club of Tai Po

The Rotary Club of Tai Po (RCTP) in Hong Kong and the Rotary Club of Makati San Lorenzo (RCMSL) in The Philippines have been jointly organising two successful International Climate Youth Summits and Climate Competitions in 2023 and 2021, together with our international climate partner, the Climate Reality Project.

In 2023, RCTP and RCMSL jointly organized a successful second International Climate Youth Summit on 6 May 2023. Over 500 Rotarians, Rotaractors and youths from Hong Kong, The Philippines, Mongolia and different countries attended the Summit online virtually.

Inspirational opening welcome speeches were given by senior Rotary leaders from both D3450 & D3840, including D3450 DG Norman Lee and D3840 DG Mildred Vitangcel.

Then the RCTP President Danny Lau and RCMSL IPP Rey John Lorca gave interesting opening messages on behalf of both the Rotary clubs. 

Interesting Climate PPE speeches were then given by the D3450 PPE Committee Chairlady Eliza Ning plus the D3450 PPE Committee Vice Chair for International Cooperation, Henry Wang, who is also the RCTP PPE Director.

International climate experts from The Philippines, Hong Kong and other countries then gave insightful speeches on different aspects of climate change and PPE. There was strong interest and good questions raised from the over 500 international youth participants.

In follow-up to the Summit, the youth participants joined an International Climate Youth Summit Workshop on 13 May 2023. The D3450 Preserve Planet Earth Committee (PPE) Chairlady Eliza Ning gave a keynote speech on Direct PPE and Rotary Direction on Environment and Climate to youths.

Then International climate youth leaders led the youth participants in different climate breakout group sharing knowledges and activities. There were also good opportunities for the youth participants to further engage and exchange views in different teams.

In follow-up to the successful International Climate Youth Summit and Workshop, the youth participants from different countries will then work in various project teams. They will brainstorm and then develop different interesting climate and PPE project proposals in 2023/2024. It is planned that they will then present their various climate PPE project proposals to a panel of international judges from RCTP, RCMSL, The Philippines and Hong Kong in late 2023 or early 2024. Six promising climate PPE projects will be selected to be the top proposals by the judges. Then RCTP, RCMSL and RCMAA (Rotary Club of Makati Ayala Amity) plus other international Rotary clubs will jointly award and sponsor the development of these six top climate PPE projects by the youths in 2024. It is planned that the awards and development highlights will be announced in the third International Climate Youth Summit in 2024/5. RCTP and RCMSL, with their Rotary Partners, will consider developing suitable new District or Global grants applications for the most promising new climate PPE projects proposed by the youths in 2024/5.      

At the D3450 District Training Assembly DTA on 6 May 2023, highlights of the D3450 PPE Committee plans plus the International Climate Youth Summits and the Climate Competitions were reported by PP Henry Wang to the over 400 participants. After the DTA, DGE Andy Li sent positive feedbacks on the presentation to RCTP and the D3450 PPE Committee.  

PP Henry K. H. Wang

Rotary Club of Tai Po

May 2023