High School Students Explore Synergies Between Climate and the SDGs

On 22 July 2022, UNU-IAS hosted a workshop for high school students exploring the synergies between climate action and the SDGs, aimed to facilitate inter-school exchanges and provide an opportunity for students from across Japan to discuss their environmental activities. The workshop was a follow-up session to the Seventh Youth Environmental Activity Contest and was held in parallel with the Third Global Conference on Climate & the SDGs. The event was organised in collaboration with the Ministry of the Environment of Japan and the Environmental Restoration and Conservation Agency, with the support of the Global Outreach Environmental Center (GEOC).

In opening remarks, Akio Takemoto (UNU-IAS, Programme Head) highlighted the role of science-based communication in outreach initiatives promoting climate action.

Four schools introduced their environmental activities: Kanazawa Izumigaoka Senior High School (Ishikawa Prefecture), Oze High School (Gunma Prefecture), Banana to the Futures from Koka Gakuen High School (Tokyo Prefecture), and the Pla-Girls Team from Ehime University Senior High School (Ehime Prefecture).

Josephine Wouda Kuipers (UNU-IAS Student, MSc in Sustainability) shared her experiences and emphasised the importance of working with people from different backgrounds and learning from each other to create innovative solutions.

Ryoji Suzuki (GEOC) invited the students to work in groups and exchange ideas. Each school presented outcomes from the group discussions, sharing new approaches to scale up their environmental activities and identify potential partnerships.

In closing remarks, Kojiro Fukuda (Secretariat of the National Youth Environmental Network, Environmental Restoration and Conservation Agency) concluded the event with a summary of the workshop results.

Detailed information about this workshop will be published in the National Youth Environmental Activities Network magazine in autumn 2022.