In Yerevan, the Young Ambassadors at the opening of the SunChild festival

On the occasion of COP17 (17th Conference of the Parties) on biodiversity in Yerevan, the Young Ambassadors for the Environment (JAE, Jeunes Ambassadeurs pour l'Environnement) attended the opening ceremony of the 14th SunChild International Environmental Festival on Thursday, October 22, at the Moscow Cinema. Florian Escudié, French Ambassador to Armenia, and Boris Erg, Regional Director of the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, were also in attendance.

SunChild is the only environmental film festival in the South Caucasus. Founded in 2006 by Ruben Khachatryan and the FPWC (Foundation for the Preservation of Wildlife and Cultural Assets), it has screened more than 780 films from 150 countries over twenty years, alongside workshops in the regions and parades of children dressed as animals through the streets of Yerevan. The festival has weathered war, crises and the pandemic. It is still here, carried by the same team and the same conviction: films and art are how you reach young people.

A film that speaks about us, young people

The evening opened with Jane Goodall: Reasons for Hope, by David Lickley. Forty-five minutes about young people taking concrete action for nature, without grand speeches, through actions, projects and faces.

We recognized ourselves in this film, and in this festival. SunChild and the JAE share the same idea: young people are not the audience of decisions made at the COP, they are actors in their own right, in their own communities, with the means they have. Ruben Khachatryan has been proving it for twenty years in Armenia. It's what we have been trying to do in France since 2020. Discussions have begun with the FPWC team to develop joint projects, especially between young Armenians and young French people.

The JAE delegation remains in Yerevan to follow the COP17 negotiations. The SunChild festival runs until October 30.