Today, on 5 May 2025, we celebrate Cambodia’s youth. The future of marine ecosystems is beginning to take root — not just in the soil of seaside communities, but in the hearts and minds of Generation Ocean: young, committed, and coastal. Their stance is clear: “I want to plant mangroves!”
On a bright morning in Kep, 31 students settled into a quiet classroom at Chakryia Vong Secondary School. It was 22 May 2025, and this wasn’t just another school day. These students had come to learn about mangrove forests — and about their role in protecting the landscapes their communities depend on.
For many of these young people, awareness sessions on mangrove conservation offer a valuable opportunity to understand the environmental challenges threatening their communities — and the solutions that lie within their reach.
Organised by Action Education / Aide et Action, the activity is part of a broader initiative to strengthen coastal resilience through youth engagement and education under the Consortium for Sustainable Alternatives and Voice for Equitable Development (CO-SAVED), a project co-funded by the European Union (EU).
“Our goal is to engage the new generation in natural resource management,” explained Mattrohet Tahir, Regional Projects Manager for Action Education Cambodia. Leading the session with support from two young volunteers, he expressed: “Youth are at the core of community development — and they want to help build a greener future.”
Co-Action: Education, A Story of Resilience
The session shed light on the ecological importance of mangrove forests — essential natural buffers that reduce coastal erosion, mitigate flood risks, and support rich marine biodiversity. But beyond the facts and figures, it provided a space for young people to reflect on their connection to nature and their role in protecting it.
Then Khunraksa, 18, from Domnak Cham Bork village, sat attentively in the front row. At the end of the session, she shared her thoughts. “I learned about the benefits of mangroves,” she said. “They can stop floods, absorb carbon dioxide, produce oxygen, and they’re home to birds. I want to plant mangroves.”
Rin Chakryia, also 18, from Kampong Tralach village, echoed that same motivation. “There’s fresh air in the forest,” she said. “I like going there with my friends. They’ve already started planting mangroves — and I want to follow them.”
For Kong Teng, 18, from Phum Thmey, the session reaffirmed a long-standing bond with the forest near his home. “My house is in the same village as the community that protects the forest,” he said. “I want to study law at university. Then I’ll come back to help protect it.”
These stories reveal a growing sense of environmental responsibility among youth — many of whom come from farming families that rely on healthy ecosystems for their livelihoods.
Co-Impact: A New Generation To Save Our Oceans
Something remarkable is beginning to grow—not just knowledge, but hope. What happened in this classroom was part of a broader engagement strategy to strengthen the long-term resilience of coastal communities — one that is empowering Cambodian youth through education.
“Based on my observation, the students were very interested,” said Mattrohet Tahir. Some of them, he noted, are already part of communities actively engaged in forest conservation. That connection, combined with education, holds great potential. “As friends, they should unite — because they want to help protect the environment.”
Placing youth engagement at the heart of environmental action, we deliver environmental education directly to students in coastal schools. The project is helping to shift mindsets and inspire real-world action to protect the mangrove forests and the ocean.
In the words of Khunraksa, Chakryia, and Teng: “I want to plant mangroves.”
A green future starts now — with every young voice that speaks for the planet.
