The initiative brings ten young people into ICLEI South America’s newest governance body—two of whom will hold special status as councilors—and solidifies efforts to place youth at the heart of the climate agenda at the local level.

On this International Youth Day, celebrated on 12 August, ICLEI South America announces the official creation of its Youth Committee.

The new official governance body comprises ten members, two of whom will be appointed to ICLEI South America’s Advisory Council with special status as councilors. The decision was approved by the organization’s Regional Assembly, and the new members are scheduled to take office on 19 August.

Hailing from nine cities across Brazil’s North, Central-West, and Southeast regions, the Committee members bring experience working directly with subnational governments and civil society organizations on issues such as biodiversity, gender, and youth engagement in environmental and climate matters. Meet the members:

• Gaio Jorge de Paiva – Rio de Janeiro (RJ) – Coletivo Criação and the RJ Secretariat of Environment and Climate
• Graciane Simone Leite Barbosa de Alcântara – Vitória (ES) – Espírito Santo State Secretariat of Management and Human Resources
• Ana Heloísa Oliveira Alves – Santarém (PA) – Engajamundo and Feminist Action for Climate Justice/UN Women
• Andressa Maria dos Santos Sousa – São José dos Campos (SP) – FonteViva – Renascendo com a Água
• Odenilze Ramos – Manaus (AM) – Instituto Arumã
• Anderson Figueiredo dos Santos – Oriximiná (PA) – Aliança dos Povos pelo Clima
• Cayo Henrique Ferreira de Alcântara – Goiânia (GO) – A Vida no Cerrado (Avinc)
• Henrique Portanova Barbosa – São Paulo (SP) – Master’s student in Environmental Management at the Yale School of the Environment
• Maria Cecília Costa Braga da Silva – Manaus (AM) – Nascente Sociocultural
• Clariana Monteiro da Silva Peixoto – São Paulo (SP) – Global Youth Biodiversity Network (GYBN) Brazil

Rodrigo Perpétuo, Executive Secretary of ICLEI South America, celebrates the initiative and welcomes the ten Committee members: “The creation of the Youth Committee marks a new milestone for ICLEI South America: transforming youth participation into a permanent governance structure, with consultative power and the opportunity to directly support us in shaping climate policies for subnational governments in South America.”

For Armelle Cibaka, Director of ICLEI Brazil, the initiative “reflects a commitment built over the years: not merely to listen to young people, but to ensure they truly occupy spaces within organizations working on the ground for local sustainability—such as ICLEI,” she states.

ICLEI South America and youth engagement

The new Committee is the result of a journey ICLEI South America has been undertaking for years, gradually expanding and working to create spaces for youth participation within its institutional operations and alongside its Member governments.

In 2024, during the ICLEI World Congress held in São Paulo, the Youth Advisory Council was established—a project aimed at exchanging experiences, fostering closer ties with young people, and driving ideas and solutions originating from this group.

On that occasion, the Youth Manifesto was launched; this document calls upon local and regional governments to fulfill their responsibilities regarding sustainable, low-emission, and climate-resilient development, in alignment with the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement.

Furthermore, programs led by ICLEI South America in partnership with its Members also stood out in the realm of youth leadership development.

One such initiative is the Sustainable Schools Certification Program, which, in 2023, awarded the “Canário da Terra” seal to eight schools in partnership with the Municipality of Canoas (RS). The program recognizes best practices and innovative sustainability initiatives across four levels, which schools attain as they progress in implementing sustainable actions.

In 2025, the Municipality of Belém (PA) hosted 20 Plant-for-the-Planet Academies, with the direct participation of one thousand children from the municipal public school system. Promoted with the support of the Municipality of Belém, ICLEI, the Climate Emergency Collaboration Group (CECG), and the Plant-for-the-Planet Foundation, these Academies serve as spaces for interactive learning about the causes and impacts of climate change; there, children develop local projects and are recognized as Climate Justice Ambassadors.

More recently, in 2026, ICLEI Brazil concluded the first cycle of its Mutirão Jovens pelo Clima program—a call for the collective, voluntary mobilization of young people in support of climate justice, implemented within the framework of ICLEI’s Town Hall COP initiative and of ICLEI Brazil gatherings in 2025. By the conclusion of the mobilization drive in May of that year, ten initiatives from Campinas (SP), Curitiba (PR), Brejo da Madre de Deus (PE), and Teresina (PI) had been selected to receive a mentorship cycle with the ICLEI team, as well as exclusive feedback directly from the municipalities that supported the program’s call to action.

Complementing these efforts is the ICLEI Volunteer Program, launched in 2017, which attracts young people from across Brazil to develop sustainability-focused projects and actively contribute to local and global initiatives centered on learning and socio-environmental impact.