Youth X Board of Directors
When young people hear “Boards of Directors”, the first thing that comes to mind is a room of older men sitting around a boardroom table making backroom deals over cigars. Ofcourse, this dramatic TV-inspired scenario isn’t what a Board of Directors meeting actually looks like, but there is an ounce of truth to it: older, more experienced individuals are often the ones making organizational decisions. However, in recent years, we’ve seen a shift in this narrative. More and more people are calling on Boards to become more diverse by making room for individuals from underrepresented groups that are most impacted by high-level decisions. This includes young people.
Here, in Canada, Friends of the Rouge Watershed is paving a path for young people to get involved in the decision-making processes behind the conservation of national parks.
Meet Friends of the Rouge Watershed
Friends of the Rouge Watershed (FRW) is an environmental NGO that encourages community involvement in the restoration of the Rouge National Park’s local ecosystems. The Rouge National Park is an urban park in Scarborough, Toronto, Ontario that also acts as a watershed that provides a natural filtering system that benefits wildlife and humans.
Since its establishment in 1991, FRW has educated 65,000 youth and volunteers from the community, planted and maintained over 700,000 native plants, and restored 3.5 million square metres of habitat from barren, uninhabitable land into flourishing forest, wetland, and meadows that are now home to thousands of new species.
FRW puts a special emphasis on connecting youth with local environmental policies, advocacy, and environmental stewardship. In fact, the Board of FRW consists of four university students (all under 25!), showcasing just how important youth involvement in conservation efforts is.
FRW works to preserve Rouge National Urban Park by engaging community members in a number of activities: whether by planting a tree, attending a nature walk, helping in habitat restoration, or sending a Member of Parliament a letter.
Bringing awareness of park negligence to politicians is especially important, since the management plan for Rouge Park is in the hands of the federal government. In fact, it was only after a series of FRW-backed petitions (in which youth were heavily involved) did ecological integrity become listed as a priority in the Federal government’s Rouge National Urban Park Management Plan.
In turn, this allowed for an increase in native species and diverse communities in the national park. Although this victory is reason to celebrate, the FRW continues to work hard all year-long to combat climate change, improve air and water quality, and protect biodiversity.
To follow FRW’s work check out their website: http://friendsoftherouge.ca/ or follow them on social media: https://www.instagram.com/frwatershed/
Photos by Friends of the Rouge Watershed
