A new youth-led en­vi­ron­men­tal ini­tia­tive is putting the fu­ture of cli­mate ac­tion and com­mu­ni­ty re­silience in­to young hands.

Leaves of Lega­cy—launched by the He­roes Foun­da­tion in part­ner­ship with the En­er­gy Cham­ber of Trinidad and To­ba­go, and Re­pub­lic Bank’s Pow­er to Make a Dif­fer­ence pro­gramme—em­pow­ers chil­dren and youth to lead en­vi­ron­men­tal trans­for­ma­tion across the coun­try, start­ing with their own schools, homes, and com­mu­ni­ties.

Launched dur­ing the Caribbean Sus­tain­able En­er­gy Con­fer­ence, Leaves of Lega­cy en­cour­ages prac­ti­cal, place-based ac­tion by en­gag­ing youth in tree plant­i­ng, gar­den­ing, and sus­tain­able land care. The ini­tia­tive aims to build food se­cu­ri­ty, fos­ter en­vi­ron­men­tal re­spon­si­bil­i­ty, and re­con­nect young peo­ple to the ecosys­tems and com­mu­ni­ties that shape their lives.

The launch in­clud­ed the plant­i­ng of three sym­bol­ic Ashoka trees on the Hilton Trinidad and Con­fer­ence Cen­tre com­pound.

Two hun­dred trees and food crops were dis­trib­uted to stu­dents from six sec­ondary schools: Holy Faith Con­vent (Pe­nal), Mara­bel­la South Sec­ondary, Siparia West Sec­ondary, South East Port of Spain Sec­ondary, St Fran­cis Boys’ Col­lege (Bel­mont), and Trin­i­ty Col­lege Mo­ka.

“For me, it’s more than just about plant­i­ng trees. It’s about plant­i­ng change,” said Rayshad Ra­jku­mar, a Form 4 stu­dent at Trin­i­ty Col­lege Mo­ka. “With their sup­port, we can take the lead in cre­at­ing a green­er, bet­ter fu­ture. Not some­day in the fu­ture, but start­ing now."

CEO of the He­roes Foun­da­tion, Lawrence Ar­joon, de­scribed the pro­gramme as a way of “giv­ing young peo­ple the tools, trust, and re­spon­si­bil­i­ty to lead to­day.” He said the ini­tia­tive is de­signed to trans­form sus­tain­abil­i­ty in­to a lived, dai­ly prac­tice.

Re­pub­lic Bank’s Mar­sha Sanatan-Mur­ray said the bank sup­ports the project be­cause it “helps young peo­ple see them­selves as ca­pa­ble of cre­at­ing change.”

Dr Priya Mara­jh of the En­er­gy Cham­ber added that the pro­gramme in­stils the val­ues and ac­tion need­ed for a sus­tain­able fu­ture.

Leaves of Lega­cy builds on three years of green­ing and gar­den­ing projects led by the He­roes Foun­da­tion, which have in­volved 450 chil­dren and youth. The ini­tia­tive now aims to grow in­to a na­tion­wide move­ment cen­tred on en­vi­ron­men­tal care, com­mu­ni­ty re­silience, and youth lead­er­ship.

The Foun­da­tion al­so thanked Hilton Trinidad for its role in car­ing for the first trees plant­ed—an ex­am­ple it hopes will be mir­rored across the coun­try.