Search on for SA’s top young eco-warriors
Nominations for the 2023 BESTSELLER Foundation’s Young Environment Ambassadors Awards (YEAA) are open, with calls for Nelson Mandela Bay and other South African residents to nominate their eco-warriors.
Young trailblazers across the metro are invited to showcase their interest, passion and enthusiasm for sustainability.
Winners will receive financial support to further their efforts to protect nature and the environment, with a total prize purse of $5,000 (R96,300).
Motherwell’s active climate change citizen, Lusanda Msebi, was named the SA winner of the award last year and was one of three global youths aged between 15 and 30 to receive recognition.
She started a project in textile recycling in 2020, focusing on spreading awareness around the importance of recovering and reprocessing waste, to encourage upcycling and thrifting.
Msebi, a vice-chair of the Motherwell Community and Enviro Hub who runs awareness initiatives focused on illegal dumping and water-saving, also works on creating new and usable items from waste material.
Her nomination by GreenCape, a Cape Town nonprofit organisation (NPO), won her global recognition for the award.
GreenCape works as the interface between business, government and academia in developing countries to identify and remove barriers to economically viable green economy infrastructure solutions.
The 28-year-old, part of the NPO’s #SAClimateChamps project introduced last year, said she hoped her achievement would set an example for more YEAA ambassadors from SA. She has since nominated two Bay fashion designers who actively champion environmental solutions to address climate change and with whom she collaborates to create textile designs from recycled material.
“The awareness of the broadness of my movement in recycling and interest in textile design [bolstered] my nomination,” the Ikamvelihle resident said.
“I packaged pictures and supporting information for my advocacy, which, ultimately, impressed the judges.
“[Similarly], my decision to nominate two Gqeberha youths illustrates my passion for environmental sustainability and desire for someone from SA to win the prize.
“SA has many platforms to channel climate change, but accessing funding remains challenging.
“But I hope my story — winning and achieving my goal — can be shared to raise awareness in the broader community about the potential of their work to be recognised.”
Entries for the 2023 YEAA close on May 31.