The partners of the third Youth Green Conference (the previous two were held in 2019 and 2022) from Austria, Slovenia, Spain and Ukraine recently met in the Austrian region of Lungau to prepare for one of the best youth events of the year, which will take place in the Alps on 22-28 September 2025!
In addition to representatives from NGOs from four countries - European Wilderness Society (Austria), La Manchuela (Spain), Ormoz (Slovenia), and NGO FORZA (Ukraine) - the meeting was also attended by one young leader from each of the above countries.
Advanced Planning Visit (APV) took place on 22-25 April 2025 in the picturesque Lungau Biosphere Reserve and was filled with fruitful discussions and interesting excursions.
Advanced planning - the key to a quality Conference agenda
The purpose of the APV was to make the necessary administrative and practical preparations for the subsequent organisational activities and the event itself. All the participants discussed in detail how their experience could be put into practice during the Conference and how to ensure full support and involvement of participants with fewer opportunities.
So, for several days, the participants visited the main location of the conference: the accommodation and various developmental and educational activities at the Young Austria youth centre, as well as open-air venues.
The partners worked on a programme that included a balanced mix of indoor and outdoor activities, as well as cultural exchange and English language improvement.
Shared meals with regional, seasonal foods fostered an atmosphere of partnership and familiarity.
Carpooling and public transport made travelling to and from the conference venue more environmentally friendly.
"In these past few days, I´ve learned where the Youth Green Conference will take place. We also visited a workshop where I saw how wool is made – it was really interesting. I realized that local natural products take a lot of work to make and are better for the environment because they cause less pollution. This made me excited for the topics we’ll talk at the conference".
Ambrož,
young participant from Slovenia
Preparing the podcast
One of the outcomes of Youth Green Conference II was the Youth Environmental Charter. To deepen this important outcome, Youth Green Conference III will include the creation of innovative content to support this Charter. This will make environmental education more interesting, visible and understandable and will include the creation of podcasts.
Thanks to the presence of Yulia, a podcast expert, the participants discussed the technical details of content creation and the youth tried their hand at recording.
"Hi! I’m Daniel, 13 yo boy, born in the capital of sacuras – Uzhhorod, Ukraine.
My hometown environment is honestly bad. Not many are sorting waste, trees are under attack of lumberjack, etc. In our region, Transcarpathia, we have mounains and pine trees forests.
During APV I´ve learned some basic things, but it is only preparetion for the main Conference! I was surprised about the beauty of nature. I also learned some things about Slovenia, Austria and Spain. For exampe, in Slovenia there is a law that allowed only 2 kilo of mushrooms per day, but you can also bring with you one big mushroom, and it doesn’t matter how big it is.
This conference will help me to improve my knowledges about environment protection, communication with youngsters around the world, and surely English language".
Daniel,
young participant from Ukraine
Young participants
Participation and contribution to the April trip allowed the young participants not only to get to know the natural environment, but also each other and the project partners. They were actively involved in important decision-making processes, which helps to shape the project, actively engage partners and present themselves in a vivid way. In addition, the young people gained a deeper understanding of the ERASMUS+ programme and its opportunities, as well as YOUTHPASS (also available at https://www.youthpass.eu/en/) as an effective tool for official recognition of participation in a European project.
"My name is Sergio Velencoso and i’m from Madrigueras, a small village in Spain, and my high school name is ÍES Río Júcar.
The Austrian forests surprised me because I didn’t imagined that trees could be that tall and it was amazingly beautiful.
I learned that people from other countries drink water with syrup (which is delicious), I learned that my name has some language adaptations (such as Serhiy in Ukranian or Sergiu in Romanian) and I also learned about the problems with animals caused by the war in Ukraine.
I want to participate in the Youth Green Conference to learn more about nature and sustainability and try to improve my english skills".
Sergio,
young participant from Spain
Main topics of the YGC 2025
- environment
- climate change
- rural life
- sustainable development
- the concept of ‘Respect Nature’.
If you are interested in participating in this event and you are 13-18 years old, please fill in the application form and maybe your motivation will be the most convincing to join the team of young like-minded people who are aware of the importance of protecting nature and inspiring others: https://forms.gle/zU24KDB2vKujdMEj9
We wish you success!
