All United Nations Member States agreed in 2015 on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The core of this agenda are 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which are important to fulfil in a global partnership by the countries regarding the protection of the environment. This SDGs include issues of water, energy, climate, oceans, urbanization, transport, science and technology.
During the two week long workcamp the volunteers do their part to turn the SDGs into reality. To achieve this, among other things, trees will be planted and plastic collected. But particularly important is the intercultural exchange, the contact with the local people and to create awareness.
Planting Trees:
A leafy tree produces in a season the amount of oxygen which 10 people consume annually. On the other hand, 18.7 million acres of forests are lost every year. This is equivalent to 27 soccer fields ever minute.
Accordingly, the preservation of ecological diversity by planting new trees is crucial.
Therefore, our volunteers have tried to increase the tree population and planted trees in the Eco-Village.
Raising Awareness in the Community:
Besides the Eco-Village, the group also extended their work of tree planting to the area of an mediacal ambulance to increase awareness among local people. Not only trees are important for a sustainable world, but moreover the use of plastic has irrevesible consequences which are visible all over the world. Plastic items can take up to 1000 years to decompose in landfills - littering land and oceans, killing animals and coral reefs, and destroying our nature strongly. To fight plastic pollution the volunteers took the opportunity to clean the area of rubbish.
Despite their active efforts, the volunteers also looked forward to get into intercultural exchange with the local people working at the medical ambulance.
Talking about the health systems in the different countries, sharing experiences, and discussing problems and solutions contribute to a mutual understanding, and support finding solutions for a lasting improvements.
Internal Discussions and Reflection:
Also the internal communication of various views and experiences between the volunteers is in our point of view important for an intercultural exchange. In workshops the participants discuss about certain topics and also reflect about their own impact and personal perceptions.
