Meet Peter Pham, WWF's 2024 Youth Conservation Leadership Award winner

WWF is thrilled to announce the selection of climate activist Peter Pham as the recipient of the WWF-US Youth Conservation Leadership Award for 2024. This prestigious award is given annually to a young conservation leader for outstanding contributions to the environmental field. It provides a monetary award as well as access to a global platform and experts.

Peter Pham is a climate activist, environmental leader, policymaker, and public servant. Born and raised in San Jose, California, Pham is a co-founding youth leader and board member of Silicon Valley Youth Climate Action, a grassroots group dedicated to fighting climate change through local initiatives. He has served as a commissioner for public lands, transportation, and redistricting; a board member for several local environmental organizations; and a contributor to the development of microplastic-eating bacteria to aid in combatting pollution. He studied public health at the University of California, Berkeley, and currently works in clean tech.

Think global, act local

In 2019, Pham was part of a youth group that took a hard look at the state of climate action in the US and realized that there is much it can do to push the needle.

"There is so much attention on the federal level, but the gridlock in national politics often means that climate action will be slow at that level," Pham said.

State and local policy, however, is significantly easier to influence. Its impact is often immediately felt. Not only that but there are often far fewer people advocating for climate action on the local scale. In this gap, Pham and his peers saw an opportunity to harness the groundswell of youth energy for climate action and create something tangible in the shape of Silicon Valley Youth Climate Action.

"We identified a need, found our niche, and created a strategy," Pham said.

Since its conception, Silicon Valley Youth Climate Action has grown from an advocacy group to an established non-profit organization with several staff members. It has already made waves by contributing to:

• Establishing new building standards for the city that make construction more sustainable and efficient and reduce the demand for fossil fuels;
• Legislation to create more clean water infrastructure in schools;
  
• Establishing state penalties for offshore oil spills to protect marine wildlife;
• Improving forest management and wildfire preparedness in the state;
• Channeling $2 million in funding for climate-focused curricula in schools;
• And over 25 other state bills that impact more than 39.5 million Californians.

Pham emphasizes that there are myriad connections between fighting climate change and protecting nature from destruction and biodiversity loss. His advocacy has extended to helping protect key areas like California's Coyote Valley and boosting urban reforestation in San Jose.

As a core member of the climate action group and his efforts to protect nature outside of the organization, Pham is the definition of a holistic leader. He knows that his efforts are part of a system where an action in one place can have a ripple effect in another. He views the legislation that he advocates for as more than just environmentally focused. Instead, it's tightly connected to another key goal of his: nurturing the next generations of climate leaders. He's led efforts to equip youth with the tools to understand how to affect policy and make their voices heard in strategic and impactful ways, including by becoming environmental professionals themselves. A particular focus of these efforts has been outreach to youth from underserved communities to show them how many opportunities are available in the green space and help them access them.

"Unlike other fields like medicine or law, which have a high entry barrier, environmental issues provide opportunities to be deeply engaged with the democratic process, to learn coalition-building, and immediately see changes in my home state as a result of legislation that we pushed for," Pham said. "I envision a future where kids like me don't have to step away from enjoying life to solve existential crises."

The journey to leadership

Pham described the path that led him to become a conservation leader as "a gradual awakening" that ended with "a eureka moment." He comes from a family of Vietnamese immigrants who fled political turmoil and avoided engaging in politics because they came from a place where it was life-threatening to participate. As a student, Pham made an impression on one of his educators who asked him if he had ever considered running for office. He refers to that moment as "planting the seed" which was then "nurtured to life" by others around him who encouraged him to find his voice and consider ways to be a changemaker.

The spark that pushed him into action came from the 2018 Camp Fire, the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California history. Pham watched his mother struggle with asthma while the devastation across his home region threatened the stability his immigrant parents had worked so hard for.

"Despite being taught my entire life to stay out of politics and to keep my head low, I made a decision to join and lead in the youth climate movement because it became clear that our institutions were not doing a sufficient job of stewarding the environment and humankind," Pham said.

Today, Pham often prefers to remain behind the scenes of the climate movement, recognizing his strength as a strategist rather than a public persona. Asked about how he finds the motivation to persist in the face of the overwhelming urgency of the climate crisis, Pham said that it's all about adopting a practical mindset. He described his professional mission as "being called on to serve the people" and views every project he takes on, big or small, as progressing this mission.

"I don't think of setbacks as failures. I try to only see opportunities," he said.

It helps that he sees himself as only one piece in a tapestry of leaders and doers all working towards the same goal, no one more important than another. For this collectivist personal philosophy, Pham credits his Vietnamese upbringing.

Pham plans to use the monetary portion of the award to pursue a master's degree in public policy. WWF is honored to celebrate him and his accomplishments as part of our efforts to support youth leaders and innovative solutions in conservation.

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