Blog Post

The Role of Youth for Sustainable Development – Special Session at the SDSN Mediterranean Conference

  • By Kathy Zhang
  • •
  • 16 Mar, 2015
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By Dario Piselli
During the 2nd Conference of the SDSN Mediterranean Network that took place on March 5-6 at the University of Siena, Italy, a special session themed “The Role of Youth for Sustainable Development. Towards the launch of SDSN Youth” was held to focus on the issues of youth empowerment and engagement in the transition from the MDGs to the SDGs, as well as to foster the discussion about the proposed SDSN Youth global initiative, which is now in the process of being launched.
Founding members of the network coming from the Mediterranean region joined forces with the event’s organizing committee to orchestrate the session, which was greeted with optimism by Professor Jeffrey Sachs during his intervention via video conference and introduced by the opening remarks of Professor Achim Dobermann, member of the SDSN Leadership Council. The keynote speakers were SDSN Youth’s Dario Piselli (who also chaired the session) and Dario Bettaccini (both of the University of Siena), and Fulya Kundaklar and Sila Temizel of Bogazici University.
All the presentations from the session, which were live streamed online and can be seen here, highlighted the need to see young people not only as the recipients of international policies specifically devoted to solve the plurality of challenges that youth is still facing worldwide, including lack of access to education and the internet, armed conflict, unemployment, human rights abuses, natural disasters and so on, but also as key stakeholders who have the opportunity to participate actively in all relevant levels of decision – making processes and to bring unique perspectives for sustainable development through their intellectual contribution and their ability to mobilize support. In addition, they introduced key characteristics from the SDSN Youth proposal, including its vision, structure, and potential campaigns and projects, in order to begin developing fruitful collaborations with Universities and research centres from the region.
The session, which was attended by about 100 researchers, students, and civil society representatives, was praised by Angelo Riccaboni, Chair of SDSN Mediterranean, and SDSN officers as a glaring success and a driving force within the Conference, whose outcome document, the “Siena Declaration for Sustainable Mediterranean Agriculture and Food Systems” included many poignant references to the role of universities and youth for sustainable development that the SDSN Youth’s founding members welcomed.
SDSN Youth will launch in 2015 as a new initiative to engage youth globally in the post-2015 agenda. Through education and global cooperation, SDSNY will encourage young people to prioritize the SDGs, while creating a global platform to advocate for change and formulate solutions and pathways for achieving the SDGs, with assistance and mentorship from experts and policymakers. Its main focus will be on empowering youth and supporting its active participation in the transition from the MDGs to the SDGs, but also helping young people worldwide initiate and scale projects that may help sustainable development problem solving at local, national, and global scales. SDSN Youth’s team currently comprises individuals from many of the SDSN Regional and National Centres and beyond, including Monash University, the London School of Economics and Political Science, Columbia University, Fundação Amazonas Sustentável, the University of Siena, Bogazici University and the University of the West Indies. Its membership will be open to youth organizations and student groups from all over the world. For any questions, please contact youth@unsdsn.org.

SDSN Newsletter - July 2021

By SDSN Secretariat • 03 Aug, 2021 •
This month, SDSN celebrated its growing network, talked about the incredible amount of media coverage on the 2021 SDR, and reflected on this year's High Level Political Forum

WRI Report Spotlight: “Unlocking a Renewable Energy Future: How Government Action Can Drive Private Investment”

By Fiona Laird • 02 Aug, 2021 •
World Resources Institute recently released Unlocking a Renewable Energy Future: How Government Action Can Drive Private Investment, a report outlining key challenges to increasing clean energy investment and deployment. This report digs into the financial and regulatory mechanisms available to support policy frameworks like that outlined in SDSN USA’s Zero Carbon Action Plan (ZCAP), released in October 2020.

European Commission launches proposals to reach 55% emissions reduction by 2030

By Sam Van Hoof • 30 Jul, 2021 •
The ‘Fit for 55' package includes a ban on combustion engines from 2035, a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, and a Social Climate Fund among other provisions.

SDSN Canada 2021 Members Meeting Recap

By Giovanni Bruna • 29 Jul, 2021 •

SDSN Canada reconvened the network membership on June 16th, 2021 for the annual Members Meeting.

This year's meeting featured conversations on the current state of the SDGs in Canada, emerging opportunities for post-secondary institutions, networking breakout sessions, and a featured joint presentation by the Brookings Institution and Rockefeller Foundation on mobilizing campuses and communities for the SDGs using the 17 Rooms initiative. A lightning round of member initiatives was also included to highlight a portion of the SDG work happening across the network.

Recap the discussion by reading the meeting notes   or listening to the audio recordings for each session.

Meeting Highlights:

  • The SDSN Global annual Sustainable Development Report 2021  was released June 2021, tracking progress on the SDGs by country (Canada ranked 21st in the world). The report outlines the short-term impacts of COVID-19 on the SDGs and describes how the SDGs can frame the recovery.
  • The Government of Canada has released Canada’s National Strategy for the SDGs, Moving Forward Together. The strategy outlines a set of 30 actions towards the SDGs, including localizing the SDGs, supporting partnerships with Indigenous initiatives, and advancing research into the gaps in Canada's efforts to achieve the 2030 Agenda.
  • The 17 Rooms initiative  is a tool for advancing SDG collaboration, community-centric conversations, and bottom-up action. There are three key principles of consideration:
    • Every SDG gets a seat at the table (a dedicated room).
    • Identify what the next step is, and not the perfect step. What are things you can do together over the next 12 to 18 months that you can implement action on the SDGs?
    • It is about conversations, not presentations. The goal is to learn from each other and create a community of practice.
    • Join the 17 Rooms-X Community of Practice to access the beta toolkit.
  • A ‘lightning round’ of presentations by members spotlighting SDG work from Colleges and Institutes Canada, the Interdisciplinary Research Center in the Operationalization of Sustainable Development (CIRODD), Vancouver Island University, the University of Saskatchewan, and the University of Waterloo.

The meeting was also a chance to invite the membership into initiatives designed to be more intentional about the network’s collective presence and impact. In this vein, the network thinks that the 17 Rooms process can be a critical resource for campus conversations on the SDGs. It also relaunched the Member Challenge , is starting the ‘SDG Teaching Community’ for faculty across the network, and is convening a small working group of interested members to talk about an enhanced governance structure for the network.

Public Consultation on SPA Report

By Lauren Barredo • 29 Jul, 2021 •
We encourage stakeholders to provide meaningful input to aid the development of a better and more complete report. We invite feedback from individuals and organizations, from all sectors.

Environmental and Agricultural Impacts of Dietary Shifts at Global and National Scales

By FABLE • 28 Jul, 2021 •
The FABLE Consortium is releasing two policy briefs over the coming months intended to advise national governments on sustainable land-use and diets. The first brief, entitled “Environmental and agricultural impacts of dietary shifts at global and national scales'' is now available.

Media Coverage of the Sustainable Development Report 2021

By SDG Index • 23 Jul, 2021 •
The Sustainable Development Report 2021 has been covered by the BBC, the Guardian, Washington Post, and more than 100 other media outlets.

The Multidimensional Vulnerability Index and Small Island Developing States (SIDS)

By Isabella Massa • 21 Jul, 2021 •
SDSN together with the United Nations Resident Coordinators in SIDS and the Permanent Mission of Antigua and Barbuda hosted on 12 July 2021 a High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) side event to discuss the issue of measuring multidimensional vulnerability, and its relevance for international financing mechanisms.

SDGs Today Launches My School Today!

By SDGs Today • 20 Jul, 2021 •
SDGs Today recently launched their My School Today! call to action, meant to support students and local communities to geo-reference their schools and education facilities as part of an effort to promote timely information on school locations in Africa

SDSN at the 2021 High-Level Political Forum (HLPF)

By SDSN Secretariat • 20 Jul, 2021 •
SDSN and our networks are hosting a number of events alongside the UN's High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF). We are thrilled to invite you to join us at the following events, which SDSN is hosting or are organized by our partners.
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