Young Climate Leaders Gather in the Dominican Republic

Reem Al-Mealla, a Marine Biologist from Bahrain leads the session "Standing on the Edge" - to share and learn from the wisdom of the marine ecosystems that protect us and those living in earth's extremes. This session was originally planned to be indoors and organically evolved and was finally co-created at the beach, ending with a very moving ritual of receiving the blessings of the Ocean.

Emerging Climate Leaders gather in the Dominican Republic

 In February of 2025, a group of 22 Emerging Climate Leaders from 17 different countries across the planet came together in Samana, Dominican Republic, to engage in deep processes of co-creation, intercultural exchange, wisdom integration, healing, and communing with Mother Earth. This program was organized by two former participants of GPIWs 'Inner Dimensions of Climate Change (IDCC)' series: Alex Epstein (USA) and Daniel Abreu (Dominican Republic), with the support of Dharma Drum Mountain Buddhist Association. Alex and Daniel's experiences with IDCC (between 2017-2019) nurtured a reverence for the importance that these kinds of gatherings can have on nurturing the spirit of sustained environmental action in young leaders - and they have chosen to pick up the mantle and build upon the legacy of IDCC with their own series of global convenings for 'Emerging Climate Leaders'. Their mission is as follows:

"The Emerging Climate Leaders program engages young environmental leaders from across the planet in immersive processes of co-creation, intercultural exchange, wisdom integration, healing, and communing with mother earth. By coming together in these ways, we aim to build the capacity of, and foster meaningful connections between Emerging Climate Leaders so that we can all be more resilient and interconnected in our ongoing efforts to build more regenerative futures that are rooted in respect and reciprocity with the natural world”.

At 'Emerging Climate Leaders' we asked ourselves: What does it mean to be in 'right relationship with the world'? What are the futures we want to bring into being? How can we collaborate with nature to build more regenerative futures? What and who is calling us towards the work we are engaging with? Who are we each striving to become as we play our role in co-creating the future? What are the relationships and resources needed to sustain this personal and collective evolution? What must we unlearn or let go of along the way? What do we need in order to stay resilient through the intergenerational and interspecies work ahead? How can we support one another in building more interconnected, reciprocal, and holistic futures?

"This was one of the greatest experiences of my life."

 -Sham

Community Resilience: The Sustainable Food Systems and Agroforestry panel included 6 farmers sharing stories, practices, wisdoms, and lessons from different regions of the world including Ana Elisa (Puerto Rico), Islandia(Haiti), Sham (San Andres Islands, Colombia), Javed (Trinidad and Tobago), Leonardo (Brazil), and Ramphai (Thailand). At the center of this dialogue, group members spontaneously self-organized a beautiful mandala of seeds and other gifts, which transitioned into a seed exchange after the session

 "Meetings like this are special because they help to form connections between people who have been called to work for the revival of a sacred connection to nature and our planet. And because it is so contrary to the dominant way of thinking right now, these people often face resistance in the spaces where they work."

 Javed Omardeen, (1995-2025)

The program was designed around six core themes: Grounding in Place: Immersing in connection with the land, engaging with community members and learning about the socio-ecological history of Samana and Haiti-Kiskeya (Dominican Republic/Haiti)  Deepening Our Connection with Nature: Curating a range of nature-based practices that help deepen connections with Mother Earth and nurture inner harmony. Co-Creation: Nurturing collaboration and deep engagement between group members. Learning Exchanges: Engaging group members as co-creators of series of workshops designed to share knowledge, wisdom, frameworks, tools, and resources with one-another to help expand our consciousness and build our individual capacities to deepen the work we are each engaged with our local communities. Reflection and Rejuvenation: Dedicating time and space for reflection and healing, with the goal of replenishing our individual and collective spirit for the work ahead of us. Identifying Collective Purpose: Exploring how to continue supporting one another, and build capacity for engaging collaboration and co-creation at a growing scale.

"I am teaching my daughter to start talking to other species - asking permission and giving thanks to the natural world." - Ramphai

Interweaving - Interspecies Connections: The third day was dedicated to deepening connections with our non-human relatives, starting with a very special trip to commune with the humpback whales (known by many cultures as the 'mother of all mothers') who migrate to the Dominican waters each winter to mate and give birth. This experience was led by Daniel (DR) and Ayala (DR/Spain) as an extension of their work with Benedicion Holistica, (Instagram @benedicionholistica) with the intentions of facilitating a live and respectful encounter with these unique beings and allow for each participant to directly receive the wisdom of this profound experience. Daniel and Ayala lead spiritual retreats and known for their whale encounter programs in the Dominican Republic held several times a year.

An outing during the gathering included cacao planting with local children.

GPIW extends our deep admiration for the organizers. We loved seeing the colors, the offerings to nature, the ceremonies, the regional foods that were shared, the children planting, the sense of community and friendship, the joy, the nature, the whales, all of it. It brought tears. At the same time we were saddened when we thought of all the young people here in the US, and other industrialized ‘modern’ societies who are losing hope, living in bleak states of mind, who can’t find the energy to move forward and who don’t know how to move forward, because they could not even imagine that life could look like what what was nurtured there at this gathering in the Dominican Republic.  How heartbreaking that many young people have to look to drugs or other numbing activities to silence the cry in their souls, to silence their longing for nature and for community. There are young people here in the US and in Europe who are bereft of such an experience, unable to experience the love, abundance of beauty, and wisdom that enveloped the young people at the program, something so natural to life that has somehow been censored.

 We thank Alex, Daniel and Ayala for allowing us to publish portions of their report above. You can learn more about their programs at the links provided. You can also contact them directly to support their efforts to keep such meetings going, to get help in organizing one for young leaders in your community, or just to let them know what you think of their work. 

Alex Epstein emergence@rootcatalyst.org Daniel and Ayala @benedicionholistica and danielabre@gmail.com

– GPIW 

This photo includes Ven. Chang Ji Fa Shih and Ven. Guo Chan Fa Shih who are longtime practitioners and students of the late Master Sheng Yen who founded Dharma Drum Mountain Buddhist Association. Master Sheng Yen, during his life time encouraged his sangha to support young people working for the Earth and environment from across the world. He supported gatherings of young people around the world, having the foresight to see that they would carry the work into the world for many years to come. And here we are many years later. We are grateful to the compassion and vision of Master Sheng Yen and to his continued legacy carried out by his students.