Warri Bilson Nkeh (he/him)

How are you using education to build more sustainable and equitable communities? Tell us about your EE work and impact. 

Through the Youth Association for Climate Action (YACA), I use environmental education as a healing and rebuilding tool in Cameroon's conflict-affected northwest region. Our Agro-Therapy and Climate Learning Initiative (ACE) and ADAPT program transforms school gardens into living classrooms where children aged 5–15, including students at a visually impaired school, reconnect with nature while displacement and school closures disrupt their formal education. Students plant, prepare nurseries, and design planting schedules, learning soil health, composting, and climate-smart farming by doing rather than being told. We deliberately bring in local farmers, parents, and elders to share seed-saving and Indigenous land practices, so environmental science and traditional ecological knowledge reinforce each other rather than compete.

The equity dimension matters as much as the environmental one: Over 20 families have started home gardens using student-grown seedlings, extending food security benefits beyond the classroom into households. We've trained 10 community-based youth mentors so leadership, not just participation, stays local. Across six schools, we've reached 2,500+ young people. The model treats environmental stewardship and psychosocial recovery as inseparable, since land is often the safest space left for a child to learn in.

Tell us about your journey to where you are today. What inspired you? What has your path been like? 

I grew up watching how environmental degradation and conflict compound each other in Cameroon's North West displaced families losing both safety and the land that once fed them. Studying Agricultural and Environmental Engineering at the University of Bamenda (MSc) gave me technical grounding, but it was working directly in Northwest region last-mile communities that reshaped how I think about impact. Parents and teachers weren't asking me for a curriculum; they were asking for something to help children carry the weight of displacement and disrupted schooling.

That listening became the foundation of YACA, which I founded to make environmental education hands-on and healing rather than purely instructional. Leading the Coltech Environmental Club at university and later serving as an advisor to Our World 2050 pushed me to think beyond one region: How do local, low-cost, youth-led models scale and connect to global practice? Being featured in UNESCO's SDG4 Education 2030 storytelling and now joining EE 30 Under 30 feels like validation of an approach I built slowly, through trial, community feedback, and a refusal to separate ecological restoration from human recovery.
 

How can people learn more about or support your work? 

The clearest way to follow YACA's work is through our program updates and stories from the field school garden expansions, youth mentor training, and the family home-garden network growing out of ACE. We're actively building partnerships with additional schools, youth-led organizations, and Cameroon's Regional Delegation of Secondary Education to scale into urban centers, so organizations or individuals working in education, food security, or psychosocial support in crisis contexts are especially welcome to connect.

Support can take several forms: funding for nursery materials and garden infrastructure, mentorship or technical exchange with other environmental educators, particularly those working in conflict or emergency settings, and amplification, since visibility itself brings resources and credibility to youth-led work in under-covered regions. I'm also open to collaboration on adapting the Child-Led Agro-Therapy model to other contexts facing displacement or climate-linked food insecurity.

A Little More About Me

What does being an environmental educator in a conflict-affected region mean to you?
Being an environmental educator in a conflict-affected region means turning adversity into purpose. It means using education not just to teach about the environment, but to restore hope, unity, and resilience in communities torn apart by crisis. Every lesson becomes a bridge that connects young people to their environment, their potential, and to one another. For me, it’s about showing that even in the most fragile places, seeds of change can still grow.

What keeps you hopeful for the future?
Watching a child who arrived displaced and withdrawn take ownership of a garden bed and teach a younger student what they've learned. That transfer of confidence, not just knowledge, is what convinces me this work outlasts any one program.

What makes you most excited to be an EE30U30 awardee?
Joining a global cohort means I'm no longer solving conflict-context environmental education in isolation—now, I get to trade real strategies with other young leaders facing similar constraints in different geographies.