After months of finding the best writers, journalists, and environmental campaigners, we present to you our final team to COP 22 in Morocco!
Ana Carolina Amaral and Seble Samuel have both been named as fellows last May after their Break Free fellowship with us; while Binod Parajuli was announced after joining us at the South Asia workshop in Sri Lanka. Along with Binod, we announced another South Asia fellow, Anam Zeb, as part of our team. However, due to circumstances, she will not be able to join us in Marrakech. In lieu of Anam, we have chosen Lina Yassen, a young Sudanese woman who began publishing articles on climate change in big newspapers in Sudan as a pre-COP 22 fellow. She impressed us with her growth as a writer and influencer in her country. Likewise, Jonathan and Hamdi has been with us throughout the year. Jonathan, aside from writing amazing articles in Kenya, has helped in translating our toolkits in Swahili. Meanwhile, Hamdi has joined several of our workshops including that in Tangier for the Mediterranean Youth Climate Forum last June. Last but not the least is Rokotamana from Fiji, who has helped put a spotlight on climate change in small island nations.
Here, you can get to know the fellows better:
BINOD PRASAD PARAJULI
Binod Pras
ad Parajuli is a youth from Nepal whose interests include Climate Change Adaptation, youth empowerment and Disaster Risk Reduction. He is currently enrolled in Master’s program at Central Department of Environmental science, Tribhuvan University. He had worked as network coordinator of informal youth network YDRR ( Youth for Disaster Risk Reduction) and as a program officer in Environment and Child Concern Organization Nepal.
Recently, he led a campaign demanding strong climate action called “Global Divestment Campaign” in Nepal where more than 500 youths marched putting up an umbrella symbolizing divestment from fossil fuels and investment in renewables. He is also a research scholar at Himalayan Adaptation, Water and Resilience (HI-AWARE) Research on Glacier and Snowpack Dependent River Basins for Improving Livelihoods. He is passionate writer, photographer and traveller. Binod was part of our South Asia fellows who joined our workshop in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
ANA CAROLINA AMARAL
Ana Carolina Amaral, 27, is a brazilian journalist who has been reporting environmental issues for what feels like her whole life.
She has previously reported for Envolverde, Carta Capital and Superinteressante, as well as Globo now with Época magazine.
As a reporter at the public station TV Brazil, she covered international conferences such as Rio + 20 and produced award-winning documentaries, including an honorable mention at Vladimir Herzog award in 2012.
She has also worked on her own projects, creating the journalistic website Woman and Sustainability and is currently the Executive-Secretary for Brazilian Network for Environmental Journalism.
Here is a sample of her work describing the nexus between Petrobras and the government in Brazil
SEBLE SAMUEL
Seble Samuel is an Ethiopian-Canadian with a wandering spirit. She loves permaculture, afrodanza, poetry, acroyoga and environmental justice. Seble received a Bachelors of Arts from McGill University in Geography and Anthropology and has since been involved in climate change projects across Canada, Latin America and East Africa. This fall she will commence an MSc in Environmental Change and Management at the University of Oxford.
Seble is very new to climate tracking but brings her diverse experience from around the world to her new column in the Addis Fortune newspaper in Ethiopia.
LINA YASSEN
Lina, an 18 years old writer, a Chemical Engineering student at University of Khartoum and an environment activist, passionate about making the world a better place for the next generation, fighting climate change through writing articles and working with different organisations, aiming to make everyone understands that saving the environment is our responsibility. Lina has been consistently publishing articles in newspapers in Sudan.
HAMDI HACHED
Hamdi Hached tries to explore the nature of injustice, how civilizations devastate the natural world, and how human beings retreat into denial at the destruction of the planet.
He is a environmental activist and an environment expert at Gaia environmental consulting. He holds an engineering degree in Environment and Seas Sciences from the University of Carthage and a climatology masters degree from Malayu University in Malaysia. In 2009 he filed a patent in the field of bioenergy at the international level. In 2011 he participated in a reality TV, Stars of Science 3, in Doha Qatar. In 2012 he worked on the development of bio jet fuel for Aerospacial industry with the Airbus group and in 2014, started working with a consulting firm specialise in green buildings at the GCC countries. He writes on environmental and climate issues in different Tunisian and Arab websites since 2010.
JONATHAN ODONGO
Jonathan holds a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Education from Kenyatta University.
He considers himself an ardent environmental educator, sustainability champion, climate change crusader, renewable energy advocate, wildlife conservation fanatic, avid reader, budding writer, adventurer, traveler, explorer.
He founded Kenya Environmental Education Network to advance environmental learning, create an environmentally conscious society and inspire lifelong stewardship of the environment within and beyond the boundaries of Kenya. He also occasionally writes – both fiction and nonfiction– often weaving environmental issues in his stories to stir interest, share ideas and pass on key information in a simple language to inspire environmental action among young as well as non-expert readers.
TAIS GADEA LARA
Tais is a journalist specialized in environment and climate change, with academic background in Social Communication at the University of Buenos Aires. She is also the cofounder and director of Conexión Coral. She works as independent journalist in various media projects, including magazines (Sophia, Ecomanía, Provocación, Cosmopolitan), newspapers (La Nación, La Razón), blogs (Sustentator), radio (Ser Sustentable), television (Efecto Mariposa) and cinema (Green Film Fest). Her main topics of interest and research are climate change and gender equality.
She was trained by Al Gore on climate change and today, as Climate Reality Leader, she gives talks to different audiences. In recent years, she works around the world making special coverage on the main events of the international environmental agenda, including the Conference of the Parties (COP), the Assembly of the UN climate negotiations, and specific conferences and forums. Her special complement: teaching journalism.
ROKOTAMANA VITINAQAILEVU
Rokotamana or Roko (as he is commonly known) graduated with a degree in Environmental Science and post-graduate diploma in Climate Change from the University of the South Pacific (USP), Fiji. He is currently pursuing his Masters in agriculture in Papua New Guinea under the support of the EU Erasmus Mundus program.
Coming from an island nation, he is very cautious of environmental issues especially the impacts of climate change. He worked at the USP on community projects focused on documenting climate change impacts.
We have an amazing team this year! Expect us to be tracking the COP 22 negotiations closely and publishing articles around the world! Don’t forget to follow our live coverage and follow us on social media for the latest COP 22 updates!