8th WORLD CONFERENCE ON SPORT AND THE ENVIRONMENT

Report
participate in these traditional sports without the environment being clean, such as the river
having to be clean before one can canoe.
Mr Oben asked Mr Odera about the fact that he had tried to engage the one million people in the
slum on environmental issues. He asked whether people in sport can do more and more to engage
these people and asked what exactly he was doing and what difference he was making?
Mr Odera replied that interest grows when they started having success stories. When it comes
to young people, the solutions are sometimes overthought. Young people just need the
opportunity and don’t need to be spoon-fed. They need the opportunity to succeed. There is
a change occurring, and there will be success stories, which in time will inspire young people
to be football stars or marathon runners. And this will enable them to get out of poverty.
Chief George-Wilson asked about the use of technology as a tool.
Mr Kineshanko replied that with respect to success stories, young people can use online
social networking stories to hear about and transfer these success stories. For instance, he
had heard stories of the Vatican becoming carbon neutral and once he heard that story he
wanted to make a personal change.
A delegate spoke about a programme in South America. Specifi cally, in Lima, Peru, several
business people paid for facilities to be built in the slums of Lima and they engaged the teams
of the community, who had to put in hours in the construction to be able to use these facilities,
which included a women’s centre, a kitchen and a playground. This underlines the importance
and the power of engaging the private sector to work with a community that does not have the
resources so as to stimulate the community. She also asked about technology. Specifi cally,
with the internet, she missed the practical person-to-person engagement experienced with
sport. The internet can inspire by providing success stories and to communicate, but she
wondered what was next. She wants to know what happens after a young person realises
they want to take action after going on the internet.
Mr Odera said that when people talk on the internet, they exchange ideas. For instance, in
Africa, he uses the internet to ask young people to create project ideas. He sees the internet
as a way to exchange ideas and to initiate action.
Mr Kineshanko said that the internet can be used to take action. For instance, there will be
an iPhone application that Habitat will use that shows how much carbon has been expended
after a fl ight and then they can take an action to offset this by investing in a project.
A delegate wanted to say that she has worked with VANOC and she confi rmed that young people
want to work on sustainability issues and the solutions should be simple. She was even more
inspired to do more work. She mentions that her reserve in the city of Chilliwack does not take
part in the city’s recycling programme. Instead, the reserve has to create its own programme and
the people do not have the relevant knowledge about proper recycling. She was inspired to help
her community in its recycling efforts.
A delegate from Belize wanted to share a project where sport is used to raise awareness about
environmental issues. Specifi cally, for each team to compete in a football competition, they must
engage in an environmental project that can create awareness, and this has a ripple effect on the
entire community. This can be done with any sport since sport brings many people together.
Chief George-Wilson reiterated that solutions needed to be kept simple.
Mr Oben reiterated that the solution can be small. For instance, the difference between
changing a drug addict to a “clean” person may be just football. So, we all have the power to
reach out to young people and give them the momentum to be able to do positive things that
the older generation has failed to do.
8th World Conference on Sport and the Environment
International Cooperation and Development Department
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