Hosted at Green School South Africa’s internationally acclaimed regenerative campus, Nature+ brings learners, teachers and school leaders together for nature-based fun, hands-on solution labs, a Community Action Day, and a youth-led Festival & Gallery Walk.
PAARL, WESTERN CAPE [5 February 2026] – A growing number of children are carrying a quiet, heavy question: what kind of future are we inheriting? For many, that worry can become what UNICEF describes as climate or eco-anxiety: heightened emotional, mental or physical distress in response to dangerous changes in the climate and planetary systems.
This concern is far from fringe. In one of the largest global surveys of young people aged 16-25, with 10,000 respondents across ten countries, 59% said they were very or extremely worried about climate change, and more than 45% said those feelings negatively affected their daily life and functioning. In South Africa, a UNICEF youth poll found 49% of young people said climate concerns have made them reconsider starting a family.
This March, a new South African gathering is making a bold move: not by ignoring that fear, but by turning it into agency and focusing on nature positive developments in all the industries and across continents that build towards an exciting future.
The Nature Positive Youth Conference 2026 (Nature+) takes place 24-25 March 2026 at Green School South Africa’s Paarl campus. It brings together Grades 1-12 learners, along with teachers, school leaders and homeschooling families, from across the country for two days of practical, place-based learning with a positive and global outlook: not just talking about what’s breaking, but building what can heal.
Nature+ is co-hosted by Abundant Village, Green School South Africa and Tintswalo, with WESSA as a strategic partner through its Eco-Schools network. A key story within the conference is a delegation from Xinyeketi Primary School (Bushbuckridge), bringing rural and urban learners into the same imaginative space: learning together, comparing realities, and creating together.
“This is for the kids who have grown up with the word ‘climate’ sounding like a threat,” says Albertus Louw, former 50|50 presenter and one of the organisers. “Nature+ is not about pretending things are fine. It’s about giving young people real experiences of what’s possible, and real tools they can take back home. Hope isn’t a slogan. It’s a skill.”
A campus that feels like the future (because it’s built like it)
Green School South Africa is not a conventional venue. The campus was designed according to the Living Building Challenge approach, aiming to be regenerative, not just “less harmful”. Nature+ takes place inside a learning environment where gardens, water, energy, materials and waste systems are part of what learners can see, touch and understand.
“We all react to the physical environment we are in: imagining how people can live sustainably on this planet is easier in an environment where beauty, abundance and connection are fostered and celebrated,” says Alba Brandt, Founder of Green School South Africa. “Nature+ is an invitation to wonder, to experience, to create and focus attention on positive developments that compel us towards a sustainable future.”
A rare collaboration across worlds
Nature+ is also intentionally designed as a cultural moment. It brings together an unusual team to create a youth experience that is practical and inspiring: an environmental storyteller, a conservation leader, a school founder building a next-generation campus, and an actor who swapped the glamour of Hollywood for the dust-paths of Africa.
“Nature positive is not a theory,” says Briana Evigan, known for her role in the Step Up films and now Co-Founder and CEO of Abundant Village. “It’s a way of living where people and ecosystems can thrive together. When kids learn through doing – through soil, water, connection, and community, they stop seeing the future as something to fear and start seeing themselves as the ones who can shape it”
“It’s easy for young people to feel trapped between big problems and small power,” says Cindy-Lee Cloete, CEO of WESSA. “What changes that is action that feels achievable, shared, and meaningful. Nature+ is built around that: youth doing, not just listening.”
UNICEF definition of climate anxiety. UNICEF South Africa poll (49%). The Lancet Planetary Health global survey (10,000; 59%; >45%).
Confirmed participants
The conference includes participation from additional partners and collaborators. SANParks, Grammy Award-winner Jason Evigan (Youth Anthem co-creation), South African musician Phila Dlozi (Youth Anthem for Nature co-creation), and Prof Sirpa Kokko (University of Eastern Finland) are confirmed participants, but are not listed as media spokespeople for this release.
What will happen (highlights)
- Optional pre-conference experiences (21–22 March): including Table Mountain and Robben Island
- Community Action Day (23 March): beach clean-up activities, with learning about ocean-harvested plastics
- Age-appropriate learning streams (Grades 1–12): from nature connection (younger learners) to systems thinking and advocacy (older learners)
- Principals’ conference: a 3-hour online session discussing UNICEF’s Greening Education initiative, with case studies from schools around the world.
- Hands-on, place-based “solution labs”: practical, problem-based learning designed with partners and educators
- Youth-led showcase moments: including a closing Festival & Gallery Walk (Day 2, 13:30–16:00)
- After the event: Action Pods and simple digital storytelling channels to keep momentum going and share projects
Story ladder
Over the coming weeks, Nature+ will share the human stories behind the conference, including:
- Inside Green School SA: “a campus built like the future”
A look at Green School South Africa’s Paarl campus as a living learning environment designed using the Living Building Challenge approach, where energy, water, gardens and materials become part of what children can learn by seeing and doing. - From Hollywood sets to village-rooted impact: Briana’s “why”
A profile on what it means to swap a familiar life for the long, patient work of community-rooted regeneration, and why youth imagination and wellbeing are central to that work. - Conservation with a human face: why community-rooted development matters near wildlife landscapes
A clear, grounded story on how thriving communities and thriving ecosystems are linked and why nature-positive solutions need to work for people living alongside critical biodiversity areas. - Albertus’s pivot: from documenting what’s broken to building what can heal
A human profile of a filmmaker and former environmental TV presenter choosing a solutions-first path, and why that shift matters for South African youth right now. - The rural-urban bridge: learner stories at the heart of Nature+ (permissions-led, dignity-first)
A carefully produced story (and visuals) showing what happens when learners from very different contexts meet, learn, and build together, including the Xinyeketi Primary School story, shared with full permissions and safeguarding. - Culture + learning: behind the scenes of the Youth Anthem for Nature
A short, visual-led piece on the Youth Anthem co-creation process featuring confirmed participants as part of the wider experience of turning learning into something felt, remembered, and shared.
Register for Nature+ 2026
Schools, educators and homeschooling families can register interest and request participation details below:
Media Enquiries
For interview requests and media RSVP:
info@natureplus.co.za
