Caymanian environmentalist Dejea Lyons has been named one of 16 ambassadors at international youth environment programme Planeteer Alliance, an initiative of the Captain Planet Foundation.
Lyons, known for her work with Cayman’s Protect Our Future organisation which she formerly led, expressed excitement at being selected as an ambassador and says she is ready to use her role to effect change.
“I think for me one of my top priorities is going to be to share with other planeteers how to interact with their local governments. In the Cayman Islands, we are so lucky to have opportunities to reach out to government officials with ease compared to what other countries have to go through,” she said, speaking with the Cayman Compass from the UK.
Lyons, who last year received the Diana Award – established in honour of Princess Diana, lamented that many people around the world do not have the privilege of access to local leaders.
She said she would like to conduct workshops on how youth could get the attention of their governments to make community change.
Lyons said another priority for her work as ambassador is to make sure she “promotes the amazing work of the Planeteer Alliance programme and all it has to offer”.
She added, “It has been proven that this programme works and I want to share those stories of planeteers who have taken what they have learnt and put it into action.”
Lyons explained that the purpose of the programme is to give young people like herself environmental-leadership and campaign-design training so that they can find solutions for issues they are passionate about in their communities.
“Not only are they giving us training but they are giving us access to a global community of young change-makers. This give us an opportunity to network amongst each other and create group campaigns as well,” she said.
She had to apply to become an ambassador, which involved an international selection process.
“In the end 16 of us were chosen from around the world. With being an ambassador I will help to bring awareness to the programme, conduct my own workshops, represent the programme at conferences and so on,” she added.
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She explained that she has been working with parent organisation, the Captain Planet Foundation for the last four years.
“The first interaction I had with them was at Ocean Heroes Bootcamp in 2019. Since then, I have continued to collaborate with them on various campaigns and projects. When they made the Planeteer Alliance, they reached out to me and asked me to be a part of the programme. Since then, I have been able to run my own workshop, help people connect with the programme and represent the Planeteer Alliance whenever they need it,” she added.
Lyons represented the Alliance at the 1975 + Reverb Action Village, held 15 Jan., which focused on increasing awareness of environmental issues and encouraging youth participation.
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