SINGAPORE – It started with a desire to educate the public about banning the ivory trade in Singapore, which led Ms Woo Qiyun to begin her foray into the sustainability advocacy space.  

Back in 2018, the National Parks Board consulted the public via the government feedback portal Reach on whether Singapore should ban the sale of ivory products to tackle illegal wildlife trade. 

While Ms Woo felt very fervently that the ban was necessary, she also wanted to make sure other people knew about the significance of the move and would likewise take the time to submit their feedback. 

That compelled the digital creator, who was then reading environmental studies at the National University of Singapore, to use infographics to explain the issue in a simple, engaging way on her Instagram account, @theweirdandwild.

After a staggering 99 per cent voted in support of the ban, Singapore announced in 2019 a blanket ban on domestic ivory trade that came into effect in September 2021.

This prohibited the sale of elephant ivory and ivory products, as well as the public display of these items for the purpose of selling them. 

While it is not clear if Ms Woo’s efforts played a significant role in this outcome, one thing is certain: it ignited her passion for sustainability advocacy.

Since then, her Instagram account has evolved into a go-to channel for climate-related comics and illustrations which feature a green blob that asks difficult and often pertinent questions. 

The 26-year-old is also a sustainability consultant with climate tech start-up Unravel Carbon, where she helps businesses measure and reduce their carbon footprint.

Her most challenging feat thus far was explaining the latest United Nations climate science report – known as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Synthesis Report – which was released in March and summarises five years of critical scientific research on climate change. 

“This was a massive content piece that took me 1.5 weeks to develop. You can imagine the number of hours I spent reading tweets, articles and then being sad, and then inspired to draw again,” she wrote in one Instagram post.

Among other things, the report stated that deep emission cuts are needed this decade to have any chance of limiting global average warming to 1.5 deg C above pre-industrial levels.

A level beyond that will risk far greater climate-linked impacts. Yet, countries’ pledges have shown themselves to be insufficient in getting the world to where it needs to be. 

The report is supposed to be a “survival guide” that frames the global stocktake, a “health check” on Paris Agreement goals, which will happen at the upcoming UN climate summit COP28. 

Countries are meant to take a long, hard look at the report and evaluate the areas where they have been doing well and where they are falling short, before taking the next steps to raise their climate ambition.

Ms Woo is among at least 35 youth from Singapore attending the COP28 conference, which will be held in Dubai from Nov 30 to Dec 12. She aims to provide her Instagram followers with updates on the negotiations and what to expect, as well as to demystify critical issues like the global stocktake. 

“As the conference is the largest climate summit of the year, I want to keep the momentum going online too, since these events can be so far removed from people who are not able to attend,” she said.

During COP26 negotiations in Glasgow in 2021, Ms Woo, who followed the conference virtually, held live video calls with people on the ground to keep her followers informed on the happenings.

In 2022, she spoke about youth activism at COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, and did live vlogs, or video blogs, to keep her viewers tuned in to the conference.

Asked why it was important to her to document the conference as it happens, Ms Woo recalled the shock she felt when world leaders at COP26 initially agreed to phase out coal, but India, at the last minute, pushed to change the wording to the “phasedown” of coal instead.

“That one word difference means a lot when it comes to decarbonisation, and we know that the final agreement could have been a lot more ambitious if not for certain decisions,” she added. 

This compelled her to follow negotiations carefully to understand the nuances, which would add more context to the final outcome.

Ms Woo’s interest in conservation and environmental issues started at the tender age of nine, when she would watch documentaries produced by her childhood idol, Australian zookeeper and conservationist Steve Irwin. 

“Over the years, I started developing an interest in climate change precisely because there are so many things to cover and, at the same time, it can also be so intangible,” she said. 

“That drives me to do a lot more communications because I’m constantly thinking about how I can make topics, like carbon emissions or global negotiations, into content that is interesting. While the information might not be immediately useful, hopefully it could stay in people’s heads enough to make things click and get them to want to do something about their lives that could help propel the sustainability movement.”

Ms Woo is among a global group of 15 youth who are part of the National Geographic’s Young Explorers programme.

They receive funding, mentorship and skill building to advance the work they do in areas ranging from conservation to scientific innovation and storytelling. 

As part of her project, she hopes to create an interactive online story on climate issues that are especially relatable to Singaporeans, particularly as the city-state deals with its own unique set of climate and biodiversity challenges.

Despite the obstacles, there have also been some successes – for instance, oriental pied hornbills returned from the brink of local extinction in the 2000s, and cleaning up water catchments and rivers here led to the return of the otter population, said Ms Woo.  

These were encapsulated in an enamel pin, which she designed for the Singapore pavilion at the COP28 conference, featuring these animals against a backdrop of Singapore’s Central Business District.

“Nature comes back and restores itself when we give it a chance to, so I wanted to highlight that as an aspiration of what Singapore can be when we take care of our natural environment,” said Ms Woo.