There is Gundrha, who founded a small business in India that transforms waste from New Delhi’s largest landfill into bricks for building houses and blocks of flats; there is Sudra, who in Pakistan — defying a culture that would have girls confined to their homes — dives into the ocean to protect the coral reefs; and then there is Waseem in Palestine (or what remains of Palestine), who turns organic waste into protein to feed farm animals, and Mohammad in Afghanistan, who employs 40 women in an urban farming project powered entirely by solar panels.
Others have invented a washing-machine filter made from coconut shells and banana fibre to trap microplastics from laundry and prevent them from entering the oceans, while still others have created digital platforms to predict heatwaves in city neighbourhoods and implement protection and cooling strategies.
And what does Italy have to do with it? It does. Because all these young innovators (engineers, agronomists, biologists, social scientists and sustainable development experts), hailing from over 60 countries around the world, are on board a train travelling from Milan to Venice and then on to Bologna, Naples and Rome as part of an all-Italian project called Yout4Climate, conceived and promoted by the ministry of the Environment and carried out in collaboration with the Rome Centre of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
The aim is to provide practical tools to young people from countries vulnerable to climate change who have innovative and brilliant ideas, to support them with a small initial grant of 30,000 dollars, and then to mentor them over time by connecting them with experts in various sectors and major companies.
Over five years, Youth4Climate has funded 200 projects out of 7,000 submitted, across 70 countries on five continents. Fifty per cent of these projects are led by women, and more than 35,000 people are involved in the various communities. A drop in the ocean, but we have to start somewhere.