Good Natured

The World Economic Forum selected Peruvian Joaquín Leguía as a global leader for his promotion of social and environmental responsibility among children through ANIA, the Association for Youth and their Environment.

text alejandra visscher

The World Economic Forum selected Peruvian Joaquín Leguía as a global leader for his promotion of social and environmental responsibility among children through ANIA, the Association for Youth and their Environment.

How exactly does a young Peruvian make the list of 250 world leaders at the 2007 World Economic Forum alongside the likes of Shakira, Leonardo di Caprio and Middle Eastern princes and sheiks? By dedicating himself, body and soul, to fostering a love of nature in children. This is the mission of ANIA founder and director Joaquín Leguía, the young Peruvian who made the select list.

The initiative’s origins are tied to Leguía’s own personal history. When he was four, his parents separated, and Leguía sought solace in his home’s lovely and spacious garden. It quickly became his place of refuge, where he could be free. He let his imagination run wild as he climbed trees, hid, pretended to fight lions (which were really dogs) and explored nature. Through these experiences, he developed a strong affection for the garden, which he saw as an extraordinary Amazonian forest.

At a young age, Leguía decided to study natural sciences rather than let himself be groomed for the promising political career many expected of the son of a past Secretary of State and grandson of former Peruvian President Augusto B. Leguía. His fate was sealed when he chose to pursue a master’s degree in environmental management at Yale, specializing in children’s roles in development. He discovered that if young people had regular access to natural, non-structured environments – as opposed to zoos, for instance – they would develop a genuine love for nature just as he had. »

With this conclusion in mind, Leguía returned to Peru determined to join an organization dedicated to the issue, but he couldn’t find one. “If it doesn’t exist, I’ll create my own,” Leguia told himself. So, in 1995 he founded ANIA, the Association for Youth and their Environment.
“We are promoting the creation of a development indicator that values the contributions of those under 18 to the well-being of society,” says Leguía.

The existing indicators related to this demographic register things like how many children are born, go to school, work as minors and so on, he explains. But is there an indicator that can show a ten-year-old that his or her efforts help to improve the country? “The main development indicator for countries is the ‘economically active population.’ But there are other indicators that are not strictly economic, that we haven’t yet learned how to measure, because we haven’t acknowledged their importance,” concludes Leguía.

Following his dream, Leguía created a program within ANIA called TINI (which stands for “Tierra de Niños,” or “Children’s Earth”). TINI is designed to encourage environmental preservation among youngsters. The initiative consists of entrusting them, either individually or collectively, with the care of at least 1,000 square feet of land (it could be several containers) in order to contribute to the well being of their country by creating life and promoting biodiversity. Their communities then recognize this work.

There are already a number of examples. One community in the Peruvian Amazon has given a group of children responsibility for the conservation of nearly 250 acres of tropical forest. Another community in Huancavelica, the department with the highest rate of poverty in Peru, entrusted a group of youngsters with the care of the last pristine lagoon in the area. In Pando, Bolivia, and Acre, Brazil, ANIA has trained children and adults to replicate these methods in their forests.

“It has been proved that adults who had some tie to nature before the age of 11 develop a strong affinity for the environment. That’s why it is crucial that children today are given the opportunity to experience nature,” Leguía stresses.

The story doesn’t end here. Soon the publishing house Editorial Planeta will release a book in which Leguía recounts his childhood. El jardín y yo (The Garden and Me) is a moving story that will encourage parents to create and foster lasting bonds between their children and Mother Nature.