In response to the pressing issues of climate change and sustainability the South East African Climate Consortium Student Forum (SEACC SF) was formed in relation to the South East African Climate Consortium. SEACC SF aims to lead a student crusade to tackle issues of sustainability and climate change. We recognise that students, as potential leaders and key players in society, have a responsibility to respond to what has become one of the strongest moral callings of our time by exerting our influence to create more sustainable societies in order that we can protect our natural environment, as well as the rights, of current and future generations, to an environment that is not harmful to their health or well-being, as enshrined in Section 24 (a) of the South African Constitution.

SEACC SF espouses a commitment to the principles of the Green Generation:

• A carbon-free future based on renewable energy, ending our dependency on fossil fuels;

•   Collective individual commitment to responsible, sustainable consumption;

• Establishing a green economy, to lift people out of poverty and create sustainable green jobs;

• Creating a green global education system.

In order to achieve these principles we espouse the following aims:

• Our primary aim is the creation of a network that hopes to establish, as a moral and social norm amongst students across South East Africa, an engagement with issues of sustainability and climate change;
• To facilitate discussion and cooperation amongst members, societies, NGOs and individual student researchers;

• To create and develop a knowledge base, which can be utilised by students and non-students and SEACC SF and non-SEACC SF members alike in their endeavours to tackle climate change and issues of sustainability;

• To create a broad activism base from which to influence policy on an institutional, business and governmental level;

• To create and develop on-the-ground, practical sustainability initiatives and models that can be utilised to tackle issues of climate change and sustainability in varying contexts;
• To raise awareness and funding in order to strengthen the response to issues of sustainability and climate change;

• To work in conjunction with SEACC in order to assist them in realising their goals and objectives.

• To stimulate and collate research in the field of climate change and sustainability.

• To educate the broader public on issues of climate change and sustainability.

SEACC SF has developed numerous partnerships with organisations such as the Sustainable Seas Trust and the Environmental Learning and Research Centre, as well as the support of various academics across the Eastern Cape, and the patronage of Professor Mervyn King, head of the UN Global Reporting Initiative. Furthermore, as a result of SEACC SF’s excellent work it was awarded the Rhodes University Environmental Award as well as funding grants from Artists Project Earth and the Critical Ecosystems Partnership Fund.

For more information email seaccsf@gmail.com