Bayer - Young Enviromental Envoy

Zhuoyan Zhang, China, BYEE 2008

Zhuoyan Zhang from Beijing in China, participated in the 2008 Bayer Young Environmental Envoy (BYEE) Program. As part of her degree in Environmental Economics and Management at the Renmin University of China in Beijing, she has been on an exchange in with the University of Copenhagen. Currently she is on an internship at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya.

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Zhuoyan at the BYEE Field Trip in Leverkusen in November 2008

Zhuoyan was already involved in a lot of student activities about a “Green Campus” before BYEE and took part in the Youth Leadership Program on low carbon economy in China. But attending the field trip in Germany really brought home the message of being part of a global community interested in protecting the environment.

Speaking about the field trip she said “When I got back to Beijing, I even dreamed of it one night – traveling in the bus, the melodious German songs in the bus, the beautiful sceneries of buildings and trees at the side of the road, and most importantly, the laughter of young envoys behind me. When I woke up, I suddenly realized that we are together on that road – marching on to our dreams of a greener world."

Since then she has been very busy: in January as only one of two students from her university she was selected to take part in an exchange with the University of Copenhagen. While she was there she was a volunteer for “The International Scientific Conference on Climate Change” in March 2009. The conference brought climate scientists from around the world together and is an important step towards the proposed Copenhagen treaty on climate change, due to be finalized in December 2009.

After Copenhagen, Zhuoyan's globetrotting continued to Nairobi in Kenya where she is on an internship with the Division of Communication and Public Information of UNEP. Her responsibilities included among others preparing the 2009 TUNZA Children and Youth Conference in Daejeon, South Korea, and the Seal the Deal Campaign – the UN Worldwide Campaign on Climate Change.