Florent Kaiser is a young professional in international forest development who has spent the last 8 years in various regions of the world learning and working in different forest development initiatives and youth groups.
Amongst other tasks, Florent has presided the International Forestry Students’ Association (IFSA) and to date continues to create opportunities to give the youth a voice in international processes. Florent was selected to deliver the opening speech at the Youth Session of the upcoming Global Landscapes Forum 2014 and has been interviewed by our communications team about his motivation and messages:
The Global Landscapes Forum brings together a diverse group of experts from various land use sectors to discuss and develop ideas that would lead us to sustainable pathways that tackle climate change. What is your mission at the GLF 2014 and what expectations do you have?
I am a forester and I grew up in a time in which humanity had recognised the enormous threats and challenges imposed on worldwide forests, but was just beginning to also see the unique opportunities for solutions they bring. In this process, we recognised that we can’t look at forests alone and the challenges and solutions to it in our changing world require a wider, more comprehensive approach that involves all sectors.
My personal mission has always been to build bridges where there are gaps and disconnectedness. I see the GLF as a major opportunity to take down the barriers between segregated sectors to come up with the necessary more holistic, united approaches to tackle global change. I intuitively feel a certain positive energy of cooperation and “friendship” amongst individuals and organisations at the GLF. Of course, this is totally different at the UNFCCC COP, where there are things like negotiating interests and debating over historical and present faults in the air.
I find this positive dynamic and atmosphere at the GLF to be of utmost importance and would like to personally contribute to it. Here, I see the youth as a good starting point, due to our inherent capacities for positivism, creativity and our desire for change. However, there are barriers here as well: however, removing barriers between youth and the older professionals is something we are also working on.
You have been working with youth and for youth for years. What drives you and how would you like to see youth involved?
As a young person myself, I have always been fascinated and driven by the dynamism of young people. There are many wonderful people I work with that take the right to be creative, to be free, to be active – in the name of their beliefs. This is the role I see in the youth and would like to promote and maximise it also during events such as the GLF.
Furthermore, youth have a powerful ability to connect and cooperate. Young people form groups and are active in networks, sharing and motivating their fellow youth to take action and raise awareness, from a local to a global scale. Social networks give this a marvellous boost and young people are best placed to capitalize on new technologies that help bridge divides.
All taken together, this creates enormous capacities and a momentum for change. Events such as the GLF play a double role – older delegates help youth harness and direct their powerful energy. Events like GLF also inspire the professional world to revive a youthful energy for change in their work and lives.
What is your message to youth at the Global Landscape Forum?
Mostly, I would like to share and encourage. I would like to share what I have learnt, and my experiences as a young person during all these years of dynamic “activities” (I do not use the word “work” for its connotation of it being a payment-involved duty in a payment-based society) with young people from all around the world.
And I would like to share my beliefs about certain key values that can help us drive positive change in the world. During the GLF, I would also like to encourage both young people and senior professionals to take down some of the existing barriers and call for cooperation, dialogue and friendship to help create this change.
We are in the midst of the biggest challenge of the 21st century and while the consequences are dramatic, we should not only see climate change as a dark, gloomy threat. It is also our greatest chance to re-adjust and re-invent our way of life on earth and re-incorporate and reconnect humanity into the global ecosystem. And, as such, this has a powerfully positive intrinsic worth. Let’s work on it with passion and excitement!
This belongs to a blog series profiling youth and leadership in landscapes. Tell us your youth story – submit blogs to landscapes.youth@gmail.com
