Young volunteers in the northern Moroccan city of Tangier have founded a pro-environment movement, the Green Youth Movement, in a gesture that reflects environmental awareness among Arab youth and their passion for a more sustainable future.
The practical impact of Al-Shabab Al-Akhdar movement was demonstrated in early May after they succeeded in preventing digging operations and stopping the mechanisms that targeted the demolition of the gardens of the “historical delegation” in their city, so that they could save the garden associated with the collective memory of the people and their perennial trees. Raising the slogan «Defend your environment and be shield .. Contribute to change your city».
The young volunteers began spreading their ideas and promoting their initiative since the beginning of this year, and were able to mobilize to counter what they described as "the execution of commissariat gardens carried out by the capitalization of building a garage on the rubble of trees."
Faced with the insistence of the green youth and their daily presence in the park facilities spreading environmental awareness among the community, the executing company stopped the excavation work and withdrew its machinery. Omar Amin Bouzidi, one of the founders and the official of the educational and institutional work of the movement, said in an exclusive interview to the Observatory of the Future, «the idea of the establishment of the movement of green youth stemmed from the suffering of the city of Tangier and the whole of Morocco "We succeeded in partially halting the work on the Garden of Mandoobiya, despite the lack of material resources, as we are students in a group of universities and higher institutes," he added. Learned from the experiences of organizations that operate in the environmental field and concerned with youth; including Greenpeace and Amnesty International, in terms of ways to engage in activities that we have through spreading awareness in the civil circles about the importance of the environment in our lives, and focused our campaign on mobilization through social networking and field activities sites ». He continued that «our campaign within the park included daily activities and gave the children of the city and its creators an opportunity to practice their talents and creations in the open air, despite our limited potential and weakness of our equipment, to finally reach the message that the public space within the old city of Tangier, especially the Garden of the delegate, is an area of expression and a place For socialization, entertainment and education.
Bouzidi, a law student, said the movement is working to establish environmental clubs in schools and universities in the future to create a generation capable of demanding environmental justice.
Bouzidi said that «the establishment of the movement is to make the diversity and ecological and cultural richness of Morocco, a cause of pride, and encourage children, youth and elders to engage in the task of saving our natural heritage, and ensure the future and sustainable living conditions for our future generations, and then prepare scientific studies with the help of experts in The field of environment and propose solutions and alternatives, and advocacy in order to accelerate the pace of completion of environmental projects ».
The movement is characterized by organization as volunteers divided themselves into teams to perform various tasks; including information and communication, and the preparation of programs and projects, and educational work in educational institutions, and others.
Young volunteers are working on environmental field studies that reduce local resource depletion from lack of green space, deteriorating water security, forest depletion and air pollution, calling for respect for the environment and conservation.