It’s FREE – and it’s never been more relevant than right now! A Climate Change Symposium with homegrown Young Climate Change Champions, who serve as environmental ambassadors in their local communities, is one of the offerings at Iziko Museums of Cape Town’s Iziko Summer School 2009. The symposium takes place at the South African Museum’s TH Barry Lecture Theatre on Thursday 26 February at 17h30 for 18h00. Celebrated South African freelance science journalist, columnist and author Leonie Joubert will partake in the symposium. Her books Scorched: South Africa’s changing climate (Honorary 2007 Sunday Times Alan Paton Non-Fiction Award) and Boiling Point: people in a changing climate, travel through South Africa’s remarkable countryside and tell the stories of places and people that are vulnerable to climate change.

The current climate crisis has escalated greatly in the past decades, contributing to human migration, poor productivity from the land and a high mortality rate in many countries of the world. This global crisis has posed an enormous challenge to humans and animal species, both in Africa and abroad. Iziko Museums of Cape Town, in collaboration with British Council, aim to create a space for future generations to engage in dialogue on preventative measures and consequences of this rapid climate change. The Climate Champions are helping a generation of young people; building understanding of and action on climate change. The Climate Champions programme, being piloted by the British Council in South Africa, involves 21 young people from Cape Town.

"This is a real scoop for this year's Iziko Summer School!" says Professor H.C. (Jatti) Bredekamp, CEO of Iziko Museums of Cape Town. "When one considers the important role of Iziko Museums in stimulating among our youth out-the-box thinking about our natural environment, the Iziko South African Museum is the ideal home for such a symposium. I admire these energetic young people who have committed themselves to the task at hand in their communities," he says.

In terms of the bigger picture, plans are under way to create opportunities for all the Champions in South Africa to participate in activities locally and regionally, and to support the global programme of Young Climate Change Awareness Ambassadors, who have made great strides in addressing this global crisis, in a bid for them to reach more young people and encourage them to get involved with combating global warming. These Young Climate Change Awareness Ambassadors – called ‘International Change Champions’ (ICC) are members of a pioneer program sponsored by the British Council and working with in-country partners in the following 13 countries, initially the G8+5 (Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, UK, USA) to help set up Climate Champion initiatives. Other countries will follow on later.

Young people are at the heart of the British Council’s activity to combat climate change because they are best placed to highlight the effect of climate change for future generations. Passionate about making a real and lasting difference, they are provided with support and training to help them take their climate change projects into schools, communities and regions. Discussion and exchange of ideas with people from other countries also helps broaden their awareness of the problem. Critically, the ICC initiative is driven first and foremost by the Champions themselves: the British Council provides the framework in which ideas can grow and flourish but the direction comes firmly from the young people themselves. These Champions have been selected to help spread the word about climate change and to get others involved. For example, the Champions visited London in March and Kobe, Japan in May 2008. In London they developed three aspirational challenges for G8 Environment Ministers. Each challenge was a statement which tried to capture the main concerns and hopes which young people hold in regard to climate change. Young people from all over the world were then invited to vote for the option they preferred. The preferred option, to be called the Kobe Challenge, was then taken to Kobe and presented to the Environment Ministers. A part of the Kobe Challenge is a commitment from each Champion to complete a climate change project in their country, within a year, which they will report on. Learn more about the British Council’s South African climate change initiative at www.britishcouncil.org/africa-climate-change.htm. For information on the International Climate Champions programme or the Kobe Challenge, please visit our website at www.britishcouncil.org/lcf-climatechampions.htm.

Iziko Summer School costs, registration forms and programmes can be viewed at www.iziko.org.za, or book through Wandile Goozen Kasibe on telephone (021) 481 3804 / 13, or e-mail publicprogs@iziko.org.za or wkasibe@iziko.org.za. Iziko Summer School 2009 runs between 4 February and 14 March.

Iziko Museums of Cape Town is a public entity organisation partially funded by the National Department of Arts and Culture. Funding support from individual, corporate and donor sponsors enables the organisation to ensure the widest possible public access to Iziko Museums of Cape Town collections and sites. Plans in the pipeline include the imminent 2009 opening of the Iziko Social History Centre, to be located at the former National Mutual Building on Church Square, Cape Town. The twelve Iziko Museums, each with their own history and character, are:

Natural History: Iziko South African Museum; Iziko Planetarium

Art History: Iziko South African National Gallery; Iziko Michaelis Collection

Social History: Iziko Slave Lodge; Iziko at the Castle of Good Hope; Iziko Groot Constantia; Iziko Bo-Kaap Museum; Iziko Koopmans-De Wet House; Iziko Bertram House; Iziko Rust en Vreugd; Iziko Maritime Centre.

Entrance to Iziko Museums is FREE to children under 16 – and free to everyone on certain commemorative days.

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