Profile: Jacinta Quiñones Fernández

23, Universidad de los Andes, Santiago, Chile

• “My name is Jacinta Quiñones Fernández, a 23 year old law student from Santiago, Chile, who is willing to be an agent of change in Latin America regarding environmentalism and climate change. I am interested in joining FXB Climate Advocates because I would love to connect and share ideas with youth activists interested in climate change and environmentalism. Knowing how the world leaders in development policies and natural resources administration pioneers have achieved regarding integral transformation of their local communities will surely inspire me to inspire others in my region to be agents of change in their communities, from the hand of sensitivity and awareness of what surrounds them.

• Notwithstanding the fact that I have no professional experience at the moment, the different volunteer positions of which I have been part have allowed me to channel my concerns and seek even more transcendental instances. First, at the age of 16, I was a spokesperson within the NGO "Techo Chile", by virtue of being a ground wire between my peers and the institution, which is dedicated to fighting inequality and poverty in my country. Then, upon entering college, I discovered feminist activism and the positive impact that gender-sensitive policies can have on the community. Simultaneously, I joined the Santiago Fire Department, learning about risk management techniques, first aid pressure work, and community teamwork. As I defined my passion for environmental law, I decided to form part of Environmental Law and Natural Resources Academy of my Faculty, and in parallel, I took complementary courses to my training, such as an Environmental Law deepening course (@acadaruandes), a course about Memory and Human Rights (@memoria.uc), and a Resilience and Socio-Natural Disasters course (www.fundacionayla.cl). Later on, from 2021 until today, I joined the NGO "Tremendas" Chile to be part of their Environmental Area-related-to-Gender-Equality, and recently joined NGO "Fundación Humboldti" (which promotes the Humboldt Penguin conservation), regarding my high interest in animals and endangered ecosystems.

• I strongly believe that the best achievements throughout my life have been every single volunteer position and different opportunities I have seeked in order to become a better future environmental lawyer despite the fact of how young I may be.

• I know, for sure, that because of my self-confidence, results oriented and persevering personality, I am and will keep being an agent of impact and positive change in my community regarding environmentalism.

• A clear example of this could be the Internship that I completed in the Chilean summer of 2022 at the Chilean Environmental Superintendent( "Superintendencia del Medio Ambiente", Chile), to actively learn about the environmental public service of my country.