The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Working Group I has recently released the Climate Report 2021. This report reaffirmed what we already know, that humans have caused the climate crisis, that some of these changes are irreversible, and that these changes are happening at an unprecedented rate. However, there’s still hope—we can still change the story. And young people are actively doing their part to rewrite the fate of this earth, making sure that they will inherit a habitable, safe, healthy, and just world.

From July to August 2021, the Youth Cluster of the Climate Reality Project Philippines, in partnership with East-West Center and Wavefarers, spearheaded and implemented "Project Niche: Claiming My Place in the Climate Space" with the goal of capacitating and inspiring budding climate advocates to become key players in local climate change action in their respective communities. It was opened to all budding young climate advocates who are currently taking their high school or college studies.

Participants were called to submit project or campaign proposals to solve a local climate or environmental problem in their community. To help the participants develop their proposals, pre-pitch capacity-building workshops on proposal writing and pitching were arranged.

On August 14, 2021, eleven (11) qualifying teams competed in the Advocacy Pitch Competition of Project Niche. The teams, composed of young climate advocates from different parts of the Philippines, pitched their proposals to the panel of judges. After the pitch competition, five (5) winning projects were announced: Project Green Hydra, Plan Synergy, Climate Learning Kit, Rio Flitter Collector, and Alpas.

These projects will undergo the Project Niche Incubator, where they will be given Klima Pandayan access and mentors who will help them, on top of the seed money that they will use to implement their projects.

The participants of Project Niche are testaments that there’s still hope. Throughout this project, we saw how young people are eager to not only find their place in the climate space – but to claim it and own that place. All of us should be inspired by their passion and drive to help effect positive change in their communities.

Thank you to all the participants who actively participated, from the pre-pitch sessions, the proposal write-up submission until the advocacy pitch competition!

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