Formentera's youth council

foto consell-infanciaThis week members of the island's youth participatory council, the Consell de Participació de la Infància i la Joventut, congregated for the group's second plenary session of the 2017-2018 school year. Social welfare secretary Vanessa Parellada was there to welcome attendees, who represented primary and secondary schools of the island, and give a sneak peek at the proposals, still in the draft phase, that arose from the participation-driven process of Formentera's strategy on young people, and which will face scrutiny by the island's coalition of community leaders, the Consell d'Entitats.

From tackling wasteful water use and advocating renewable energies, through safeguarding posidonia meadows and preserving s'Estany des Peix, to regulating boats that anchor on the local seaboard and promoting recycling, measures tabled by the youngsters had one thing in common: the environment.

Saluting the youngsters on the measures they had floated, the secretary affirmed they slotted neatly in the Council's own sustainability model, calling it “a shame some of these didn't make it on the agenda at the recent “state of Formentera” debates.