MEMBER PROFILE: AMR ASHRAF

Mr. Amr Ashraf Mohammed Abd El-Ghani Amr was born in Alexandria, Egypt in 1992.

Because many of his friends and family suffer from chronic diseases due to high levels of air pollution, he became a leader in climate change initiatives at a young age.

In 2007, Amr mobilized over 300 students in the city of Alexandria to plant trees in local schools and hospitals. At times, he experienced hardships with his school administration, which would not provide him with support or resources of any kind. He has been incredibly self-sufficient and relied on communication solely through Facebook and Taking It Global.

Amr's climate change initiative won him first place on the Climate Change Theme at the Arab Environmental Youth Convention later in 2007.

Amr is currently working on something even bigger. The Prevent Air Pollution (PAP) campaign is a grassroots movement stressing the importance of action against climate change in Alexandria and throughout the world. PAP aims to increase environmental awareness and community living standards by focusing on reforestation and encouraging people to use renewable-clean-fuels.

PAP manages an extremely active outreach program. Despite limited resources, it uses all means of available communication (including social media) to educate local communities. PAP prepares lectures, circulates fliers, and presents videos to educate youth about the adverse affects of climate change in Alexandria and elsewhere.

PAP also maintains its own Facebook group and is currently constructing a website at http://www.pap-eg.com/.

Nationally, Amr was awarded appreciation from the Youth For Environmental Sustainability and Better Understanding Forum and the Arab Environmental Youth Convention E-Course for his outstanding work with PAP.

Globally, Amr received official certificates from his scholarship at the United Nations Development Program and was recognized for his outstanding work in conducting activities in raising environmental awareness, volunteerism, and tolerance within the Mediterranean Region. He also received a diploma in Sustainable Development from the International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics (IIIEE) at Lund University, Sweden and was recognized for his activism against climate change at the Young Masters Program on Sustainability.