Don Bosco Green Alliance Seeks Collaboration at U.N.

Don Bosco Green Alliance Seeks Collaboration at the U.N.

by Fr. Savio Silveira, Convenor Don Bosco Green Alliance

(ANS – New York – July 30, 2021) – Don Bosco Green Alliance, led by its global convenor, Fr. Savio Silveira, the provincial of Mumbai, India, had its first interaction with the Fr. Thomas Pallithanam, Salesian representative at the United Nations, on Thursday, July 20.

The global leadership team, comprising Mariana Cejudo and Silivio Torres for Latin America, Taichikwan for Far East, Bro. John for Africa, Fr. Ryszard for Europe, and Fr. Jerry Thomas for South Asia shared with Fr. Pallithanam the environmental activities being carried out in the various regions of the Salesian Congregation. Macson Almeida and Shawna Rebello explained how the global coordination functioned. He appreciated the efforts being made to engage young people from Salesian institutions across the world in various initiatives to care for the earth. Complimenting DBGA for organizing a side event at the High Level Political Forum (HLPF) at the United Nations in 2019, he pointed out that the grassroots work being done by the alliance was extremely important and necessary for the advocacy work that the Salesians were carrying out at the U.N.

Fr. Pallithanam then gave a detailed presentation of the various activities he was engaged in at the U.N. on behalf of the Salesians. He highlighted the vision and mission of Salesians@UN, and explained how this helped to bring the voices of young people into the discussions being held at the global level. Education, migration, poverty, and ecology are some of the key issues that the Salesians are focusing on at the U.N. Fr. Pallithanam said that a rights-based advocacy approach was used to further these causes.

The need to increase our footprint at the different regional centers of the U.N. was highlighted. As DBGA’s representatives for the different regions could become the focal point to firm up the Salesian presences at the U.N. regional centers. It would be important to identify those engaged in issues of migration, trafficking of children and youths, refugees, and indigenous people in these regions and form regional advocacy teams.

The calendar of major events held by the U.N. at New York, Geneva, Bangkok, and its other regional centers was also presented by Fr. Pallithanam. He encouraged the DBGA to participate in some of these events, especially the U.N. Youth Forum and the HLPF. Further, he also recommended that the DBGA should get actively involved at the United Nations Environmental Program in Nairobi, Kenya.

At the close of the meeting, Fr. Silveira thanked Fr. Pallithanam for enlightening the DBGA leadership team on the various opportunities available through the U.N. for involving young people in environmental action and advocacy. Fr. Silveira also expressed the hope that DBGA would collaborate closely with SDB-U.N. for future programs.