Lalita Gopaul, a Guyanese environmental sustainability activist, is among 16 youths who have been shortlisted for this year’s Commonwealth Youth Awards.
Gopaul’s nomination is due to recognition for her work, which has seen her reaching out to more than a hundred farmers countrywide in order to educate them to adopt more sustainable and environmentally-friendly farming methods.
Gopaul, 24, grew up in the small farming village of Clon-brook, which is located on the East Coast Demerara, while she now resides in the community of Doch Four, also on the East Coast.
When she received the email informing her that she has been shortlisted for the 2020 Commonwealth Youth Award, Gopaul said she was extremely elated. “I was really happy that I can represent my country for the Caribbean and Canada region, since the three other regional finalists are from Jamaica and Canada,” explained.
Gopaul has already been awarded a National Youth Award in August 2019 for her work in environmental conservation and protection.
She told Stabroek Weekend that her love for the environment was triggered by her childhood experiences on her family’s farm.
She attended Queen’s College and upon completing her education there she enrolled at the University of Guyana, where she graduated with a Degree in Environmental Science.
After graduating from university Gopaul, who is an active volunteer of the Guyana Mangrove Restoration Village Action Committee, continued her work advocating for environmental sustainability. She has since done professional and voluntary work in research and advocacy.
Gopaul revealed that some of her research work was featured in the Journal for Environment and Biotechnology Research and Agri Times Magazine, among other places.
In addition, Gopaul said all her research work done with the National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (NAREI) covers eco-friendly agricultural methods, clean energy solutions and green technologies and those research papers have either been added to the library of NAREI or published in international journals or local press so as to educate the country and world about “climate smart technologies.”
Gopaul noted that over 100 farmers across the coast were able to benefit from her research via the extension unit. “Farmers in Guyana are now adopting these new methods as field studies show boosted production in a changing climate environment,” she explained.
This is the project which saw her being shortlisted for the Commonwealth Youth award this year. It is called the Sustainability Development Goal (SDG) 13 or SDG 13, which focuses on climate actions.
The goal aims to mobilise US $100 billion annually by 2020 to address the needs of developing countries to adapt to climate change and invest in low country.
She has since educated over 100 farmers about SDG 7, which focuses on Affordable and Clean energy, and SDG 12, which focuses on responsible consumption and production, all of which ultimately aids in the achievement of SDG 13.
Gopaul added that since she has the technical/scientific skills in environmental sustainability, she decided to share her knowledge with youths in Guyana by way of mentorship in an environmental youth group, called the Eco Club, which includes young people across Guyana and students of Global Technology Academic Center. She mentors youths between ages 16 and 22 in the area of environmental education. As founder of the club, she has arranged tree planting exercises, environmental awareness activities, nature camps, coastal clean-up activities and recycling activities.
As a result of that, Gopaul said, she observed that there is a difference in the mindsets of participants as it relates to climate action. “Members are now more concerned about the environment and even moved on to making their own impacts,” she said before adding that her work has definitely contributed to educating young people and placing them on a sustainable path.
Research she has been involved in includes a published study entitled “Bioenergy potential and its effects on climate change and the economy: A review of the Guyana Context”, “Green Technologies and Sus-tainable Agricultural Practices for the Rupununi and Intermedi-ate Savannahs”, “An Assessment of the Potential use of Solar Energy for Supplying Power for a Crop Irrigation System in Guyana”, “Effects of Coco-peat, Vermicompost and Pro-Mix Growth Media on the Growth and Development of Boulanger (Solanum melongena) and Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum): A Comparative Study of Organic Growth Media”, and “A Comparative Study of Coconut Seedling Emergence and Root and Shoot Development in Cocopeat and Rice Hull based Growth Medium”. Most of those research projects, she said, were presented on a national level at the Ministry of Agriculture NAREI’s research conference in 2018 and 2019.
A total of 500 entries from 40 countries were submitted, from which the finalists representing 12 countries were chosen. The awards recognise outstanding young people whose innovative projects have made a real impact in helping their countries achieve their Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Four of these finalists will go on to top their respective regions, one of whom will be named Commonwealth Young Person of the year 2020. The regions are distributed as Africa and Europe; Asia; Caribbean and Canada; and the Pacific. Lalita was selected for the Canada and Caribbean region along with two persons from Jamaica and one from Canada.
Gopaul, also a researcher by profession, focused on eco-friendly agricultural methods, clean energy solutions and green technologies which are used here by a number of farmers. She is also the founder of ‘Eco Club’ and many young persons have benefitted from the initiative. The club also runs coastal clean-up activities, tree planting sessions and climate-action walks.
Also nominated from the region are: Stephen McCubbin and Samuel Neil, both of Jamaica, and Sowmyan Jegatheesan of Canada. Cubbin’s focus is on promoting sports and creating a safe place for both adult and children in physical activities. Neil, the founder of ‘The Aviation Club of Jamaica’, provides sponsorship to young people in aviation through partnerships with training institutions. Jegatheesan, who founded one of the largest online information sources for global wildlife projects, research and datasets under the name SystemaNaturae.org, hopes that her platform creates awareness and helps communities build resilience by better understanding global activities around climate change, migration patterns and human-wildlife conflict through the sourced material.
The Commonwealth has said that the finalists, who are innovators, activists and entrepreneurs, have each received a trophy, a certificate and £1,000 to expand their projects.
If Gopaul finishes as the regional winner, she earns a trip to London to attend the awards ceremony on 11 March, 2020 and will also receive £3,000. The person be announced as this year’s Pan-Commonwealth winner will take home the grand prize of £5,000.
Representing Africa and Europe are: Joshua Ebin – Nigeria, Galabuzi Brian Kakembo – Uganda, Salvatory Kessy – Tanzania, and Elizabeth Wanjiru Wathuti – Kenya. Those that have been selected for the Asian region are: Sheikh Inzamamuzzaman – Bangladesh, Vedant Jain – India, Jaya Rajwani and Hafiz Usama Tanveer – Pakistan. For the Pacific region: Sagufta Janif, Broderick John Mervyn and Rinesh Sharma – Fiji, and Fusi Masina Tietie – Samoa.
