Empowering Youth to Conserve their Coastal Wetlands: Education, Communication, and Partnership in the Indo-Pacific
About this event
Coastal mangrove and seagrass ecosystems protect shorelines and support coastal livelihoods, yet many are degraded or under threat from human impacts. Youth engagement in their conservation and restoration is held back by inadequate support, policy gaps, and unclear routes for participation. This webinar looks at how youth-led and youth-focused initiatives are advancing coastal wetlands conservation at local, regional, and global scales, drawing on immersive place-based learning, grassroots youth organising, and international policy engagement.
Mary Mar E. Jaleco, Community Extension Services Coordinator at the John B. Lacson Foundation Maritime University, presents the JBLFMU Eco-Adventure Camp, which offers hands-on wetland learning for young people aged 16 to 20. Matthew Vincent Tabilog, Founder of Mangrove Matters Philippines and Knowledge and Capacity Building Lead for Youth Engaged in Wetlands (YEW), covers youth-led mangrove education and community engagement. Phebe Fidge, Co-chair of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration Youth Task Force, discusses barriers and enablers for youth engagement. She draws on the Task Force’s report on policy coherence gaps, CYMG’s guide to youth engagement in ocean governance, and her own coastal wetland restoration work in Australia.
The webinar runs at 03:00 UTC on Tuesday 17 November: 22:00 Washington DC and 19:00 Seattle on Monday 16 November; 11:00 Manila and Singapore; 14:00 Sydney.
Organiser: OCTO, with support from the NOAA National MPA Center
What to expect
- Lessons from the JBLFMU Eco-Adventure Camp in the Philippines
- Youth-led mangrove conservation through Mangrove Matters Philippines and YEW
- Policy barriers and enablers for youth-led ecosystem restoration
- Live Q&A after the presentations
- Captioning in over 30 languages
Date and time
16 November 2026
22:00 ET (03:00 UTC Tuesday 17 November). End time not specified.
Location and format
Online (Zoom).
Registration