Last April 2021, the City Government of Baguio expressed its interest to be part of WWF-Philippines’ One Planet Cities (OPC) program that aims to assist Philippine cities to increase political leadership and public engagement by having them understand their emissions, implement progressive policies, and engage cities’ young people for an inclusive planning process towards achieving the sustainable development targets and limiting to the 1.5C goal.  

Another related project focusing on capacitating city’s youth is called “Our City 2030: Youth Visions and Solutions” which had its pilot implementation for 3 years in Quezon City, starting in 2018.  In 2022, a Phase 2 implementation was conducted to further support cities that are being engaged in the OPC program. In alignment to the objectives of these two WWF projects, Baguio City was selected to be part of scaling-up activities involving the youth of the city. 

On November 18, 2022 a total of 164 youths of Baguio City participated in SHAPING THE FUTURE WE WANT: Youth Conference and Visioning Workshop at the Baguio Convention and Cultural Center. The conference was in partnership with the Local Government of Baguio City, in close coordination with the City Planning and Development Office (CPDO) and the city’s Sangguniang Kabataan (SK).

The SK Federation President, Levy Lloyd Orcales shared a message to inspire and empower the youth of Baguio City as an invaluable sector of the community. While, Architect Donna Tabangin, the City Planning Development Coordinator, has given a dialogue on Youth4Resilience, an ongoing program of the LGU towards engaging the youth of the city, wherein the conference was a part of.

WWF-Philippines main facilitators provided updated information for the youth to better understand the topics of Climate Change, the Sustainable Development Goals, and the 1.5C Global Warming Target.  Details onn the critical role of cities in low-carbon development and sustainable future was also highlighted.

Beyond learning about the said topics, the event aimed to provide the youth a safe space to share their experiences, ideas, and opinions. The youth participants were divided into groups that allowed them to collaborate and learn from one another. They were asked to share what they thought the pressing problems are of the youth. Along with this, they were asked to identify which youthful attributes their city has, should have, and must improve on. According to the participants, one of the strong attributes of Baguio City is Arts & Fashion. However, Transit is something that the city should improve on.

After understanding what the gaps and issues were of the city, the youth were then tasked to envision what kind of city they would want Baguio to be by year 2030. The youth participants have expressed this through their vision boards, and the vision statement they have created as a whole.

“Kami, ang kabataan ng Baguio City ay nangangarap ng isang ligtas, progresibo, aktibo, inklusibo, tapat, at mapagpalayang lungsod kung saan nag bubuklod bukod at matiwasay na namumuhay ang mga mamamayan at kalikasan pagdating ng 2030. Sama-samang titindig, ano mang kariwaraan at suliranin ang haharapin”