Young Voices for Pollinators
From 5-7 December 2025, Youth Council member Marla Schulz had the opportunity to take part in the second session of the Young Citizens Assembly on Pollinators in Brussels, representing EUROPARC and the expertise and importance of Protected Areas in pollinator conservation.
An inspiring and truly European experience that showed how democracy, youth participation and biodiversity protection can come together.
The assembly was initiated by the European Commission in response to the dramatic decline of pollinators across Europe. Wild bees, butterflies and other pollinating insects are disappearing at alarming rates, driven by factors such as intensive agriculture, pesticide use, habitat loss and climate change. This decline threatens biodiversity, food security and healthy ecosystems and it clearly requires action.
To bring young voices into this debate, the European Commission launched this Citizens’ Assembly. 100 young people from across Europe were selected through a random, postcode-based process to ensure diversity in geography, education and social background. The result is a group that truly reflects the diversity of Europe’s youth from students and apprentices to young professionals.
The assembly takes place partly through online meetings but also on three weekends on site in Brussels (2025-2026). During the first session (September 2025), participants received expert input and identified key problem areas around pollinator decline. They agreed on four main thematic fields that now structure the whole process:
- Transforming land use and protecting habitats
- Fostering a cultural shift and changing behaviours
- Financing biodiversity
- Policy implementation and accountability
The second session (December 2025) focused on exchanges with stakeholders. Marla Schulz was invited to the second session as a stakeholder and expert, representing the EUROPARC Federation Youth Council and the perspective of Europe’s Protected Areas. She contributed her experiences and insights from national parks, biosphere reserves and other large protected landscapes, where pollinator protection is already being put into practice.
In the morning of the first day the young citizens prepared their questions based on the four thematic fields. In the afternoon, the ten invited stakeholders joined in and talked and exchanged ideas in small discussion groups with three to four stakeholders and around 20 young citizens. In Marla’s case, she took part in a discussion together with Noa Simon (BeeLife) and Anne Crespin (Pro Silva).
They discussed with the young citizens how Protected Areas, agriculture and forestry can better contribute to pollinator protection. Following these discussions, each group decided which topics they wanted to continue working on. Across the assembly, focus areas included agriculture, pesticide use, land use, drivers of cultural change, awareness, funding, interest groups, enforcement and implementation.
These focus areas will now guide the work of the upcoming third session (March 2026), during which the young participants will develop concrete recommendations.
The entire process is also being documented by a film team, creating a documentary on democracy that will be released in the coming year. This process is a powerful example of lived democracy and meaningful youth engagement. Giving young people space to learn, discuss and shape policy together is not only valuable for pollinators, but for the future of Europe as a whole.
If you would like to find out more and learn about the background, visit the website:
Website for the Young Citizens AssemblyOr find out directly what the young citizens are doing via the Instagram channel (@ycap_eu).
We want to thank the Young Citizens Assembly on Pollinators Project for enabling Marla’s participation through funding.