At just 17, Nate Wilbourne is already an internationally recognised youth and nature advocate, and for the second year in a row he has been named a semi-finalist for the Kiwibank Young New Zealander of the Year award.
He has rubbed shoulders with like-minded young people around the world, spoken at international events, and even been part of a delegation talking with international lawyers from The Hague. Along the way, he founded Gen-Z Aotearoa, which he describes on his website as ‘home of tomorrow’s leaders, creators, and changemakers in New Zealand’.
Wikipedia already has an extensive list of his achievements in conservation, climate action and political advocacy. Much of his drive to create change, he says, can be traced back to tree planting with his class at Brightwater School.
“We used to cycle to the river and do some tree planting,” he remembers.
“I just learnt a lot about the environment – pest species and human degradation, runoff into the waterways – and I wanted to learn more about that and do my part.”
Nate is back home in Brightwater after a year on scholarship at the prestigious Robert Bosch College in Germany, which brings together young future leaders from around the globe. Not that he is at home often as his advocacy work, especially through Gen-Z Aotearoa, takes him across the country.
He says Gen-Z Aotearoa is New Zealand’s largest under-18-led organisation, with a team of about 28 volunteers. In the past year, it has secured $150,000 in grants for the work it carries out around young people.
“We should have the opportunity to shape our future,” he says. “There is support out there, but more would be nice.”
Gen-Z Aotearoa will soon be working with University of Auckland on a mental health campaign for social media across New Zealand and Australia, and he says it’s right that young people are involved.
“It’s relevant – we’re young people and we have lived it.”
Next year, Nate heads to Victoria University of Wellington to study a Bachelor of Laws, and Bachelor of Arts, majoring in development studies and international relations. Beyond that, he is eyeing a career in international environmental justice.
“We had a school delegation meeting with international lawyers from The Hague and I thought, this is what I want to do with my life.”
In March he heads to Paris for the world’s largest sustainability conference where he will be part of a panel discussing how young people are using social media to strengthen democracy.
Meanwhile, in January he will find out if he has made the shortlist of three finalists for the Kiwibank Young New Zealander of the Year award.
Nelsonian Jemima Jones, who founded Grassroots Recycling, is a semi-finalist for New Zealand Sustainability Leader of the Year, while Nelson-based Safeguarding Children are New Zealand Community Leader of the Year semi-finalists.
