Transcription
Hello everyone. A very warm welcome to our children's and youth, our children's and youth dialogue, Generation Zero Plastic. Uh, we will just give another maybe a minute before we begin with our dialogue, and and we really dive into a really interesting session led by young people themselves, and looking at, looking at how many people registered with us. We got more than 500 plus plus applications, and this morning I'm told that participants range not only from Asia but about 59 countries around the world. So we are really very excited for this dialogue.
We are really very excited to have you all with us here, uh, talking, talking about doing something together and not just about empty promises or or just only words but concrete actions. And we will hear from dynamic trailblazer youth leaders who are doing it in their communities, who are putting it into practice. And it gives us a wonderful moment of inspiration to take it forward and see what is possible and how we can all work together. So just another minute maximum, uh, and then we will go into the dialogue.
Hello everyone and welcome to Generation Hope Goals, Generation Zero Plastic, and you. Today we are very happy that we have a lot of young people joining us to talk about how we can have a plastic-free future, and we are very, very thrilled to have you on this very important day, the World Environment Day. And the theme for this year's World Environment Day is Beat Plastic, Beat Plastic Pollution. And whether you are joining from a school, a campus, a home, or even from—some of you might be joining from your offices—we are really very happy to have you with us, and we are really thrilled that you have showed up, and we really want to thank you for showing up. And let's turn this time that we have, the next one and a half hours, into ideas, energy, and action. So let's, without, without giving, without giving up any more time, let's just dive into it and get going with our action.
So to begin with, I would, uh, so maybe, uh, Jui, if you could change the slide. I would like to welcome two very dynamic ladies to set the ball rolling and to set the, uh, the tone for us. I would like to invite Hanak Utk, who is the regional director for Child Fund International in Asia. Hanek is an international development professional with over two decades of experience in child rights and public health. Hanek believes in the importance of innovation and working with like-minded organizations to promote positive change for children so that they can stay healthy, educated, skilled, and safe. So Hanke, all yours, and welcome to the children and youth dialogue, Generation Zero Plastic.
Thanks, uh, thanks Amelia. Thanks for that introduction, and hello everyone, and good afternoon, and welcome to Generation Zero Plastic. I'm really excited to be here with all of you today. Um, I can see in the chat the introductions, and um, it's nice to see that there's like young environmental champions from across the region to mark this year's, uh, World Environmental Day. So, we're coming together because we believe in the power of, uh, young people to shape the future, and this year's theme, Beat Plastic Pollution, could not be more urgent. Um, at ChildFund, we are deeply committed to supporting children and young people in raising their voices and leading change, especially when it comes to the environment. We know that you're not just the leaders of tomorrow. You're already leading and creating solutions today. In fact, last month we listened to children across Asia during a regional consultation, and over and over we heard how strongly you feel about protecting your environment and how passionately you are working to reduce plastic use in your homes, schools, communities. And that's, that's exactly what today is about. So it's a space for us to learn from each other, to exchange ideas, and to spotlight the incredible innovation and creativity that young people are bringing to the plastic crisis. To the plastic crisis, not into—sorry. We've also been truly inspired by the Generation Hope Goals cohort. You've shown what is possible when young people come together with bold ideas and real solutions. So, thank you all for being here. Thank you for taking action, and let this, let's use this dialogue to learn, to share, to imagine what a future without plastic pollution could look like and how we can help create it. So, let's unplastic the future together with Generation Zero Plastic. Thank you everyone. Everyone.
Thank you so much Hanak for that welcoming note. Now it gives me great pleasure to invite Juliet Braslo. Juliet is a sustainable development officer at UNESCAP with over 14 years of experience in sustainable development and policy analysis. She supports the 2030 agenda in Asia-Pacific and has worked with ESCAP's space application section. She holds dual degrees in agronomy and horticulture and international agriculture development. Agriculture development. So, welcoming Juliet. Juliet, the stage is all yours.
Thank you very much. It's great to see all of you here. We're over a hundred people, and there's so much activity in the chat. So, I'm excited. Uh, this year's World Environment Day comes exactly 2 months before countries meet to continue negotiating a global treaty to end plastic pollution, which is a result of the UN Environment Assembly's, uh, resolution 5/14. Meanwhile, the theme of the World Environment Day, Beat Plastic Pollution, is particularly important for Asia and the Pacific's sustainable development ambitions to achieve the 17 sustainable development goals. Looking at SDG 12 on responsible consumption and production and SDG 14 on life below water, for example, shows a lack of advancement on some critical SDG targets that are relevant to this discussion today. Asia and the Pacific region exports over 10 million tons of beach litter from land-based sources. So, this is a huge problem to tackle. The region is also home to the largest number of children and youth in the world, numbering around 1.7 billion. So we have a problem and lots of solution makers. And at the same time, at the 12th Asia-Pacific Forum on Sustainable Developments, SDG 14 goal profile notes that children are also unique in terms of their exposure and vulnerability to the nano and micro plastics that are created by plastic marine debris. So there's also some vulnerability, extra vulnerability to consider. But children and youth are not idle and have demonstrated their commitment to beat plastic pollution around the region. We've seen, for example, Bye Bye Plastic Bags launched in 2013 by two children in Indonesia. That's in spawned a global movement to counter single-use plastics. And we saw a lot of great youth tackling plastics pollution projects presented at the Generation Hope Goals event earlier this year. So with this in mind, ESCAP is thrilled to be co-organizing this dialogue as a follow-up to the solutions-oriented Generation Hope Goals event, and we really are looking forward to hearing from you all today, and we want to reiterate that we can unplastic our future together. Thank you.
Thank you so much Juliet for setting, for giving us an overview of where we are with respect to achieving the goals and also what young people have been doing and how, uh, banning single plastics started from two young people who really wanted to do something about something concrete about environmental sustainability. Awesome. Now, it gives me again a really great pleasure to introduce a, a, a young environmental activist, a real powerhouse, Lily. Lily is from, really hails from Thailand, and she is a former UN and UNICEF youth ambassador. She works with NGOs on future action plans and joined international activists invited by the Vatican to create the pact which she signed with Pope Francis. Lily actively works to combat plastic pollution, promoting sustainable alternatives and raising awareness. Her experiences reinforce her belief that leadership is a shared journey towards meaningful change. Lily is joining us today from California, and we, we really appreciate you joining us in spite of the big time difference, and the stage is all yours, Lily.
Thank you so much for introducing me, Amela. Me, Amela. Amelia. Okay, first of all, thank you. I'm very excited to be here today. It's an honor to be able to speak here, and thank you everyone for coming and taking action. And first off, happy World Environment Day. My name is Latlin Lisa Tatanasan, and I am a Thai Youth Activist. And over the last six years of my activism journey, I have met with multiple government ministries, retail corporations, and many more people in power than I can count. But first and foremost, I am still one of the many members of the youth fighting for our future. I've been a part of many world initiatives like UN, UNICEF, the Economy of Francesco, where I had the honor of signing the pact for change with the late Pope Francis and Thailand's 2020 nationwide ban of single-use plastics. Yet throughout my journey, the most defining obstacle and what I believe is my greatest trait is my youth. I was told I was too young to worry about some global issues and that I should focus on my studies and let the adults handle it. But even as I grew older, I came to realize that those in power did not share the same hunger or desire for change as I had. My world and future was left in the hands of adults who wouldn't stop talking and start making change. And I've met enough politicians and corporate officers in my life to know that some may think that skipping school to protest at parliament at age 11 is too young. Or that volunteering in plastic-polluted slums at age 10 is also too young. But I think 9 years old is too young to become a victim of climate migration. Three months old is too young to ingest microplastics found in baby formula from plastic pollution. An unborn baby is too young to have plastic found in its placenta. So why do we continue to dismiss the most vulnerable when it will affect them the most? Can we honestly say that our children will be protected in the future? Not from crime, not from an economic crash, but from the long-term consequences of our actions. I cannot possibly imagine the possibility of a plastic-free future without first imagining a level of societal shift that comes with it. Environmental advocacy is social advocacy. And with today's resources and responsibility, ignorance is a choice. And now we must choose the future of our planet and the lives of people over any means of profit or structural norms. Our strength is the time that we have right now and the opportunity to take the first initiative. We need to work as leaders and create an open dialogue between influential leaders and younger voices by creating spaces for listening and understanding, just like the ones we have today. And we can find some common ground. We are all collective members of the world. So we all need to protect our home. The youth cannot possibly lead this pursuit alone. It is a joint effort. Corporations must embrace social responsibility with transparency and accountability, not greenwashing, but with real action. Governments must create open dialogue where influential leaders and young voices listen, learn, and lead together. Advocacy is collective by nature. We are all advocates today. The actions of one cannot change the hearts of all. We share this earth, hence World Environment Day. We share this responsibility with each other and with the next generation. And the truth is today we all come from a place of privilege. I recognize this. I've had access to education platforms and the ability to be heard. But many people, especially those in high-risk climate aid areas, do not. And many of those people will never get a microphone. In this fight for a future, no one is possibly too young or too old or even too ignorant to start working toward change now. We need to stop, stop thinking about the future and start planning for now. We must understand that our fight is not for ourselves, it's for our children. That's why it is necessary to hear the voices of children. That's why youth leadership matters because when we speak, we don't speak alone; we open the door for others to be heard, too. Thank you.
Thank you so much, Lily. There was so many, and I'm sure, uh, our listeners could—we have a round of applause for Lily. Please, please use your, uh, react button to show her some love. It was, and and to summarize, I think a lot of the young activists who are here with us and who are, who are doing innovative work would have also heard this refrain: You are too young to do this. You are too young to think about this. Why should you worry about this? And the points that you made about plastic being found in placenta, plastic being found, uh, in, in young, uh, in young children, and climate crisis being the, being the, uh, the trigger for migration and for separating children and families. So it's, there is a lot of repercussions that we are seeing as we work with children and young people, and that's why this platform, and very soon we are going to, uh, this will be the space for young people to share their ideas and their challenges and the solutions that they have, and we are really very happy to have a really strong cohort of young people from Generation Hope Goals, and just, uh, for, for those who are joining us now, Generation, ation Hope Goals is—so sorry, just a second. So, Generation Hope Goals work is, is a cohort, uh, that promotes climate action through innovative solutions that are already happening on the ground, and the first iteration of this, uh, took place earlier this year, and we, we had more than 200 applicants who, who applied, out of which 15 were, were cho, were shortlisted, out of which five made it, made to the finals, and some of them are here with us today. So before we get into, uh, in, into discussions and meet with these amazing young people, once again a big thank you to you, Lily, for, for giving us that context and especially for saying that when the young people speak they don't speak for themselves only; they, they fight for what's coming and fight for children. Uh, now will be a time for us to do, uh, an interactive exercise. Let's, let's, let's get our creative thoughts and ideas flowing. I would request you to scan the QR code. It will take us to Mentimeter where we have set up some, some interesting questions for you to, uh, answer. Yes, we can share the link. Give us a moment. So the link, uh, the Mentimeter link is in the chat. You could click on the link or you could also scan the QR code. Thank you Huie for putting the QR code in the chat box as well. So if I could quickly see, uh, a, a thumbs up or something which can, uh, which can let us know if you have, uh, logged in already to Mentimeter, we will begin the, the quiz shortly then. Oh, wonderful. I see a lot of thumbs, thumbs up. Great. Up. Great. Uh, awesome. Okay. So, we have about 56 people on, on the Mentimeter side already ready to, to take some exciting, interesting questions. Perfect. Hello. Yes. Yes. Uh, if you could identify yourself, who's speaking? Is there a question? Maybe during this, if you could put your question in the chat box, that would be, that would be more helpful to us. That. So, plastic bottle kind of tops the list, with straws a close second. Microplastic, plastic bottle, water bottles. I'm assuming plastic bottles again. Uh, again. Uh, wrappers. Wonderful. We have identified the problem. Shall we move on to the next question? Okay, now we have identified the problem. Yes, the plastic bottles and the straw and all. So, what is that? One or two, or if you can think of more grandma-approved hacks that can help you to ditch plastic? Reusing glass bottles. Yes. Reusing containers. Reusing plastic containers. Reusing plastic bags. Uh, I'm okay. Leaf. I have understanding that, as using, uh, leaf-based products that are quite common in Asia that you make, um, what do you call bowls and plates out of that, bags made of cloth, carrying your own bag, ice cream topper for ice cream, recycling, don't buy individually wrapped items, definitely ceramic and glass container, container, baskets, bamboo tumblers, mesh bags. Bring your own bags. I, I like that. BYOB. Eco-friendly jute bag. Using wood products for the kitchen. Using old handkerchiefs, scarves, tea towels. Perfect. Actually, that, that was also my grandma's hack. Grandma's hack. Uh, curtains were turned into tablecloths. Tablecloths were turned into napkins and cloth bags. Nothing was ever thrown away. It was, and I'm seeing a lot of that, uh, is being reflected by the young people as well. All right. Okay. I think that's some really great ideas here. Uh, could we move on to the next, next slide? Okay. If you could create one equal rule that everyone had to follow, what would you, what would it be? What would you say? Bioplastic. Okay, there are some answers in the chat also. I was, this could probably because maybe people are not, not able to get on to Mentimeter. So, Kadija says, uh, cloth bags and shoppers for, for everyone. Cloth bag is always a great idea. No. Use plastic always. Upcycle, waste separation. Highly underrated but very important. Oh, I like that. Plastic. You are, are fired. I think maybe we could, we would definitely very social media friendly. Use it as a caption. Stop using plastic as an easy carrier. If it's single use, refuse. Another very catchy, catchy line and a very important—Wonderful. All right. I, we have a lot of interesting responses. Should we move on to the next slide, slide maybe? Right. What would you give up for a cleaner planet? Wonderful. So, long showers. Well, is it still a thing? Long showers, I don't know. For young people, is it still a thing? Fast fashion for sure. And yes, junk food wrapped in plastic. This goes with what all you have been saying in the previous slides as well about reusing, recycling, about banning single use, and in fact, I mean this is something I learned very recently that the, the individual wrappers for all of this junk food, especially chips and other things, the very fancy, shiny, shiny-looking plastic bags in which it comes very beautifully packaged. Those are the most difficult for, to bio, for, for it to be reused or recycled, and it, there is a particular way in which there's a process which is much longer that needs to happen, and it's a chemical process. So yes, my vote would also have gone for junk food. Perfect, bubble wrap. Yes. It's one of those things for sure. I think this, this really gives us a lot of understanding about you, about what are the challenges, and we are—it's so heartening to see, uh, from the responses that there is a lot of awareness from, from our previous generation; we have not lost all of that wisdom, intergenerational wisdom, traditional wisdom, and it's just about, uh, making that, bringing back to that, going back to our roots and finding those to use again. And before we get into our next section, which is where we get into the breakout groups, uh, this is the time we will have a group photo. So before we get into the breakout group, uh, this is the time if you could all, those, those who can and are willing and give us their consent, uh, to switch on their cameras, uh, so that we can take a group, a group photo, and, uh, we will, we will share all of this in a follow-up email, and of course also we have the WhatsApp group, uh, where we can share these things as well. And if you have not joined our WhatsApp group, please do. Um, we can put the link in the chat box one more time. Um, all right. Now, it gives me again a lot of pleasure to introduce the powerhouses that, that are anchoring our breakout groups. So, uh, to, if we could have the slide on the screen, we would love to introduce our—so our first breakout group, uh, room is themed on Plastic-Free Planet and Youth Actions that can be taken to, uh, beat plastic pollution. This is moderated by Wanchikasha. Wanikasha has founded Nepata, founded Nepata Foundation. Wanchika is a policy analyst at the Council on Energy, Environment and Water. This is a Delhi, New Delhi-based think tank. Uh, but she hails from Nepal. Nepal. She focuses on sustainable agriculture and climate impact. As part of her work, she co-founded the Nepata Foundation, leading efforts to reduce period poverty and plastic waste through reusable pad production. Her work has supported 150-plus women and gained recognition from the US embassy in Nepal. As a US Youth Council member, she led a civic engagement project to counter misinformation among youth in Nepal. She is supported by the fabulous Jui Kong. Juie serves as the youth engagement, as a youth civic engagement coordinator. Coordinator. Uh, may I request the participants to mute themselves? You will be able to talk; you will have an opportunity to have a discussion in the breakout groups. Thank you so much. So, Juie serves as the youth civic engagement coordinator at UNESCAP in Asia and the Pacific where she drives regional efforts under the youth empowerment portfolio. In this role, she focuses on strengthening youth-led climate action through capacity building, advocacy, and multi-stakeholder partnership. Multi-stakeholder partnership, recognizing the crucial intersection between climate justice and marginalized populations. That is the first breakout group. We move on to the next breakout group. The second breakout room is Circular Economy: Turning Waste into Wealth. This is anchored by three dynamic ladies, and I'm very happy to introduce Cerrone and Alexandra from Catalyst of Change ASEAN. Catalyst of
Change ASEAN is a youth-led initiative promoting circular economy and waste management in Southeast Asia. It works with women waste empower workers, youth, and children through education and green entrepreneurship. They're active in Indonesia, Brunei, and the Philippines. They have reached 800-plus youth, supported 20-plus women, and educated 30-plus children, driving inclusive climate action. action.
Cerrone serves as the co-founder and project lead, leveraging her experience in climate change management and her recent work on shaping net-zero standardization, inequity, and climate justice with Oxford Net Zero. Alexandra is a public relations assistant for Catalyst of Change ASEAN, committed to environmental advocacy and community service, transforming everyday materials into art to advocate for sustainability. They are supported by my very wonderful colleague Sushmita, who is a leading advocate for child rights protection, gender equality, and is very passionate about advocating for increased funding for health and education. So those of you who are in group two, you are with three very powerful ladies.
Moving on to group number three. Breakout room three looks at marine life matters, combating ocean plastic pollution, and this sometimes can be the most—this could be the least talked about—but which has the most profound impact on the planet's health and sustainability. This is also led by two very strong women activists. I'm very pleased to introduce Plank. Plank has co-founded Care for Coral with her sister Pin, who could not be with us today. Care for Coral stood second in the Generation Hope Goals earlier this year. She, Plank, is a Stanford senior studying political science and sustainability. Care for Coral, that she co-founded with her sister, is Southeast Asia's largest youth-led marine conservation group. Her leadership has earned her spots on Forbes 30 Under 30 and Thailand's Future 100, along with a royal award for most outstanding youth organization. She is supported in this breakout group by Fitria Iscanda. Fitria is actually a doctor. So Dr. Fitria is an Indonesian doctor and climate health activist recognized by UN Women 30 for 2030. She advises the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and serves on the ASEAN Youth Forum board and leads Environmental Rights Alliance Indonesia to advocate for a healthy, sustainable environment. Some really very interesting discussions coming your way.
And last, but not least, breakout room four looks at innovation for environmental sustainability, youth-led solutions. And again, we have a wonderful, dynamic panel here. It is led by Brigittita Gunawan, who has co-founded Divers. Now Divers is a very interesting initiative. initiative. I apologize for the dog barking in the background. I am working from home, so apologies. Right, we are back on track. So Divers is a really very interesting initiative. Ria is a National Geographic Young Explorer and ocean climate advocate from Indonesia. She is the founder of 30 by 30 Indonesia and Divers, connecting communities through science, environmental education, and storytelling. She has engaged with over 16,500 people in 100-plus locations on a mission to build an intergenerational community of ocean advocates. advocates. She's joined by our top five finalist for Generation Hope Goals, Razwan Shuo, co-founder of Ecoenitals. Razwan is a final-year environmental science student at Kulna University in Bangladesh. He leads Ecoenitals, a student team developing climate-smart farming solutions for salt-affected areas. Their floating beds for salt-tolerant crops earned them the 2025 Youth Startup Summit Champion of Champions title, and as I shared with you already, they are our top five finalists and bring that innovative bent of mind to the group. They are ably supported by Christiana from UNFCCC Asia and Pacific. Christiana, or as she prefers to be known as Tiana, is from Fiji in the Pacific region and serves as the youth engagement coordinator for UNFCCC, supporting the Youth Empowerment and Climate Action Platform, or YCAP. She has been actively involved in advancing climate action and promoting meaningful youth engagement in climate policy processes at all levels. And today she is supported by Somia Dugal who is from her team as well.
So now, thank you. We will—this will be the time for us to go into breakout groups, and as you have already selected those breakout groups, you will have 30 minutes to discuss. The moderators have prepared some very interesting questions and interesting methodology, and after 30 minutes, we will come back into the plenary where the discussion highlights will be presented, and we will come up with a call to action that all of you have created through your discussion. So happy discussions and 30 minutes. I would request the moderators to be—you know—to keep to stay on time, to keep the time and come back. All right, time to go into breakout groups.
Because youth-led solutions often entail, you know, lack limited funding and limited mentorship opportunities, the top recommendation would be to have mentorship programs where young people are intentionally sought out for the purpose of trying to build or trying to think out the solutions. So it's not something that eventually happens because they find their way there, but it should be something that is intentionally given as an opportunity for young people because one of the main issues that they mentioned was that youth-led solutions, even when they do innovate, they face the barrier of facing criticism, or—and especially for young people—that can bring them down, to stop innovating. So I guess getting people with the right mentors and providing a program that intentionally seeks out green solutions or innovations for, for example, plastic solutions is really needed. And yeah, that's all I have for now. Perfect.
I would like to thank Brigittita and Razwan both for this wonderful work along with the supporters in your group. Could you also put your recommendations in the chat box? I know this was—we really had to put in, you know, a lot of things in a very short way, but you all had wonderful discussions, and you brought that knowledge back to the group. Now we discussed, we shared ideas, and all of us have heard what were the different ideas that were shared. Now it's the time for us to co-create this call to action. What are we going to do? We were here for this brief time, 90 minutes. It's not a lot of time in our lives, but when we go back to the business of lives, what are those things, top three, top five, that we are going to do? So the recommendations are in the chat box, and we thought, given that we had people from a lot of different countries across different bandwidths, so we decided to ask you who are here to put your top three recommendations here, and that we will address as the call to action. So we will take a couple of minutes. If you want, you can also vote. You—you have all the three—all the four groups have put in the top three recommendations. You can leave a thumbs up or you can drop a heart if you think all of those recommendations are applicable, or if you think that you like only one out of those recommendations, please put them in the chat box. And whatever is the consensus of this group is the call to action that we will take forward together. Yes, I see Plank has voted for recommendations of group three. Yes, Plank for sure. And you have got a heart too. So people are voting, and there is—there are already five votes for recommendations from breakout group four. Two votes, three votes actually for break—for recommendations from breakout group one. Seronyi also has put in the recommendations. There is one vote. Group three or two, that is—there are more votes coming in, group three, group four, one, group four, yes, and thank you for sharing your thoughts as well. Ikra has just shared that it's about—take—people are aware of the situation, but they're not really taking any action. So, but she says that every small action can lead to big change. So a lot of the—lot of the votes coming in for group four, group four, group four, and also for group one. That's really very encouraging. Thank you so much. Also, please take a look at recommendations from group two. A lot of the recommend—a lot of the discussion was around upcycling and recycling and also creating that mindset of not overconsumption, but to see how it can be reused and recycled or upcycled into different ways. ways.
Perfect. We will be putting this together, and we will share this with all the participants and those who registered for this event. Please do keep an eye on your WhatsApp group. Those who have not joined the WhatsApp group, my wonderful colleague Huie will share the link to the WhatsApp group in a bit. So please click on the link, join us, follow us on—on our broadcast channel on—channel on WhatsApp also. It gives you an opportunity to continue the conversation over there. Okay. So as we head into the concluding part of our dialogue, I would—it gives me great pleasure to invite Miss Jyn to give us the closing remarks. Miss Jyn works on the plastic pollution and marine litter effects of the Coordinating Body on the Seas of East Asia Secretariat. She has worked with local and national governments, businesses, and coastal communities to prevent plastic pollution and protect marine and coastal ecosystems in the East Asian Seas region. Welcome, Miss Jyn, and the floor is all yours.
Thank you so much, Millie, and thanks for the audience and warm greetings from UNAP Coordinating Body on the Seas of East Asia, or COBSEA. So it has been truly inspiring to hear from all of you today, your bold ideas, your local actions, and your commitment to reshaping a more sustainable, plastic-free future. So on this World Environment Day—that I have been for two days in Jeju Island right now—we are reminded that this year's theme, Beat Plastic Pollution, is not just a slogan but a call to action that is urgent, complex, and deeply relevant, especially here in Asia and the Pacific. So this region faces some of the world's highest levels of plastic pollution, as you know, but it's also home to some of the most innovative, dynamic, and determined young change-makers like all of you, who are showing us what real solutions can look like when driven by creativity and community-based solutions. So at COPSEA secretariat unit—COPSEA secretariat—we work with nine participating countries in the East Asian Seas across East and Southeast Asia to address marine litter and plastic pollution, and our work is grounded in the 2019 revised Regional Action Plan on Marine Litter, and we support our member states through collective, science-based, and coordinated actions to prevent and reduce plastic pollution from both land-based and sea-based sources. Also strengthening monitoring and assessment for informed, evidence-based actions and create enabling conditions for actions such as research, knowledge sharing, capacity building, outreach, and regional coordination. So we think these efforts contribute directly to SDG 14, Life Below Water, but also connect across many of the SDGs you have already addressed today, including health, gender, green jobs, and circular economy and global partnerships. So tackling plastic pollution and marine litter is a systemic challenge and requires systemic-wide thinking. So that's exactly what this dialogue has reflected so well today. So thank you so much, and importantly, what you are doing today is not just about awareness. It's about action—action that is scalable, community-led, and inclusive, and your ideas can shape local waste management systems, inspire climate-smart innovation, and even help inform policies at national and regional levels for the policymakers. And as we look ahead to the global instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment under negotiations ongoing, we must ensure that youth voices—your voices—are not only heard but heeded. So you're not just participants in this moment, but you are leading this. So UNEP COPSEA is proud to work alongside partners like Save the Children, ESCAP, IGS, Bodhisatta Foundation, ChildFund, and Youth Empowerment in Climate Action Platform, and also UNDP, our colleagues, and all of you to amplify these youth-led efforts. So at UNEP COPSEA, we remain committed to supporting solutions that are grounded in evidence, backed by strong regional cooperation, and also led by communities, especially young people like you who are closest to the challenges and most invested in the future. So let us just continue to connect, collaborate, and un-plastic our future together. Thank you so much.
Thank you so much, Miss Jyn. We know that you were in—in the—the UN event for the World Environment Day, and thank you so much for joining us. Now the big question in front of us: We have this, we have the concerns, we have the call to action, and there has been overwhelming voting for recommendations of group one about—about starting eco-clubs, about recycling with incentives, about investing in alternatives for policy innovation, and push for policy innovation. There is also a lot of voting that has happened for recommendations from group number four, which is youth innovation should be supported by intergenerational wisdom through intentional mentorship programs designed to help young people craft solutions and navigate issues such as lack of funding. And there has been some love for recommendations from group two about upcycling and recycling and recommendations from group three about building awareness about plastic segregation and the actual impact of plastic pollution and eliminating the sources of plastic pollution, especially on land and from fishing activities. So those are the orders in which all of you have voted and said what is really important to you. Now what's next? We have done this. We came together. Now what is going to happen following this, and I would like to invite my—my colleague, Taskin—Taskin Rahman is the—he heads advocacy for Asia at Save the Children, where he champions child and youth-led solutions to some of the region's most pressing challenges. The stage is all yours, Taskin.
Hi. Thanks, Amelia. It's a pleasure to be with you today, and I'd like to take a moment to reflect on the incredible momentum we have built together through Generation Hope Goals, a bold and ambitious initiative designed to accelerate collective action in addressing the impacts of climate change. At the heart of this effort lies the creativity, determination, and leadership of young people, both globally and across Asia, who are shaping a more sustainable and just future. I am deeply grateful to our partners—UN ESCAP, ChildFund, Bodhisatta Foundation, UNDP, UNEP, UNFCCC—and to many youth and child-led networks, groups, and organizations who have made this journey possible. Thanks to our collaboration and support, the first iteration of the Generation Hope Goals reached 19 countries, culminating in February with Equary from Bangladesh taking the top prize. We have received over 230 applications to address critical issues within the climate space—proof that young people are not just aware of the crisis but are actively engineering solutions. As Hane and Juliet and others have powerfully reminded us, we need to act, and we need to act fast. And with that urgency in mind, I'm thrilled to share the second iteration of the Generation Hope Goals is on the horizon. We are excited about what lies ahead. There will also be new opportunities to showcase some of your work—of this youth and child solutions—at the upcoming Bangkok Action Week, taking place from the 28th of September to early October. For those who are interested in participating, please reach out to your respective focal points so that we can begin planning together. Thank you for all your time, your commitment, and your belief in this shared mission. Together, I believe we can create not just hope but a lasting impact. Let's keep going and keep the planet going as well. Thanks a lot. Over to you, Amelia.
Thank you so much, Taskin, for that, and it really gives us something really to look forward to. Also, I want to—we, together with all—all of us as partners, we are deeply committed to taking the recommendations that have emerged out of here, the call to action, and you—and you—and working with young people such as yourself, plug that in at various levels in SARKC, in ASEAN, and other regional and global mechanisms where there is possibility. So this is not going to end just here. And we have some wonderful announcements from—from Jay—the center manager of Humanistic Youth Center of Bodhisatta Foundation. So Chay, the stage is all yours, and after Chay, I would like to invite Brenda. Brenda is the director of Global Partnerships and Youth Development for Bodhisatta Foundation. So Chay and Brenda, the stage is all yours.
All right. Thank you, Amelia. Um, hi everyone. I'm Chay from Bodhisatta Foundation in Singapore. I'm running the youth center here. Um, so I would like to share a slide. Um, all right. So I would like to take this opportunity to share more about our TIA conference. So TIA stands for Bodhisatta International Youth Association, and we are running a conference in Singapore, and the date is actually from the 22nd to the 24th of August. And why—I think the main reasons, and I believe everyone here knows about the SDGs that are under review for next year as well as the goals that we hope to achieve in 2030. So we hope to use this platform to inspire, empower, and sustain youth projects and to try to hit the goals together for 2030. So we are targeting the region in the APEC region, and then we are hosting it in Singapore, and we are calling for youth. The main reason is we found out that the population in the APEC region—60%—are actually youth. So we feel that there are a lot of potentials that youth can do in this region for the community, and we hope to be the catalyst as Bodhisatta Foundation. We have been around for more than 58 years, and we hope that we can use our partnerships and our networks to help the youth to achieve some of the things that they hope to do for their community and their country. So we are the host organization, which is Bodhisatta Foundation, as well as TIA, the Bodhisatta International Youth Association. This is fairly newly founded because we hope to empower youth of tomorrow to do more for the community. So the main site for this conference is actually located in the north side of Singapore, which is in Yishun area, which is the center that I'm running. The conference is also broken down into two half-days and one full day. So this is the theme for our conference—like I mentioned—is to inspire. So we want to bring in different partners, different exhibitions, different projects to inspire youth about what's out there and what kind of projects you can embark on. And then we want to have platforms or expert speakers coming in to empower the youth, equip them with the capacity and something to help them achieve what they hope to do. And then we also want to find out different modes or mentorship, for example, and possible grants to sustain the projects and really having youth come into the picture to achieve the 2030 goals, and we are focusing on the SDGs under review for 2026. So it's 6, 7, 9, 11, and 17. So we will focus more on this area, paving towards the APFSD in February as well. The big picture is really about empowering youth, and the goal is to strengthen the connection with the different stakeholders, including youth, build the capacity for youth as well. We also want to tie in mental well-being and resilience as well because we feel that for mental well-being as well as resilience, it really ties in hand-in-hand with whatever we want to achieve for the environment. So these two we cannot let go of any. So that's why we want to tie in a lot of different well-being segments for the youth to experience as well, to take care of the well-being of themselves while they are doing things for our environment and the goals as well. So the experience that we are putting together includes learning journeys. So we have identified different areas in Singapore to bring the youth to visit. So one is a coastal walk-related experience that we will bring the youth to; another one is a gallery about Singapore's sustainability that Singapore has been implementing. Yeah. Then we are also bringing the experts from the region to come in to lead different segments to share their opinions or experiences in the different SDGs that are under review, equip them with the well-being sessions that I mentioned as well, and we want to bring in local stakeholders, youth stakeholders, and professionals from the regions to have a networking session. The last two is a cultural night that we hope to have as well because we are pulling in people from the region, and there will be different cultures that we will be able to be exposed to.
To. Uh, lastly, the action planning stage. We want youth to take this uh opportunity to come up with ideas, think about how we can make the ideas become realities. Um, so we are looking uh at the final mode uh that we will share again uh nearer to the date about uh either it's going to be a seeing or mentorship pairing. So this is something that we are looking into for the action planning segment. Planning segment. So this itself is actually the rundown for the three days. Um, so we, the day one will be really focusing on SDG6 where we have the two different uh learning journeys. Then for day two, we will talk about 7, 9, and 11 where we are using different modes including a panel, a human library, experial experience sharing from different speakers as well. Then the dinner and culture night will be on the second day. And lastly, the third day is all about the action planning. Um, so we have capacity building, design thinking workshop followed by um the action plan planning.
Then, um, so to recap a little, the highlight of the conference is really about fostering collaborations, um, be it between organizations, between youth, or uh the different representatives that will be coming for the conference, and um promoting the well-being that I mentioned, um, because it really goes hand-in-hand with whatever we want to do for the environment or for the SDGs, as well as capacity building and lastly to drive impact together. And this is also to sum up, uh, to really amplify the youth impact, expand to the region, lead with a purpose and foster real connections to create these solutions together. So uh, that is just a quick uh sharing about the TR conference. So I'll just pass the time back to Amelia as well. Thank you.
Thank you, Chay. Uh, may I request uh Miss Brenda Neck from Buddhist Sushi Foundation to share a very exciting news with us? Miss Brenda.
Yeah, thank you, Amelia, and uh to all our distinguished uh guests and participants. Uh, again, it's a very good, great honor for us to be here today in this important meeting because we have been hearing and discussing about not only plastic pollution as an environmental problem but it is a global issue that impacts every one of us in our community and inside the ecosystem as well. So I really love that uh this year UNET came out with a big push on plastic pollution because I have been also hearing, like just now there was a slogan saying that um, “plastic, you’re fired.” It is a very, very real and practical solution at every level, not only from a top-down approach but also hearing from the ground, from the people that are concerning about uh our environmental um affairs and our our world, our community, where are we going to stay and how are we going to live. So like for me uh every day there are two, or I would say, consider treasures uh that I carry along with me. One is my plastic bottle and one is my thermo, thermo uh thermoflask. So having having these two treasures with me every day, um, within a year I use less than um 30 pieces of plastic bags, and um this actually helps to save our environment by spreading the seeds of eco-awareness and at the same time we are also practicing circular economy. So we are very grateful that um UNET recently has been engaging um not only uh civil society's organizations but also faith-based organizations like Tuti through uh several platforms including uh Faith for Earth, recognizing our unique way of uh influence and social mobilization. So uh from the faith-based perspective we are really looking into behavioral change and policy advocacy, and that's why Tuti believes that um the power of faith can unite our communities and inspire impactful uh environmental action, including um uh uh Pope Francis, that before before he’s away uh he has been uh trying to uh push the uh Catholic communities in terms of the Laudato Si’, a very powerful uh statement about how do Catholics uh confront uh global uh plastics pollution issues. But uh and also having young people today, I think we we play a very vital role in this and because not only voices, creativities, but we see the passion of everyone that drives changes today. So as what we always believe that the earth is not only the home of our own generation, it's also the future for the next generation. We will get older and we will be away uh in this world, uh with of course there’s still time, a couple of years to go, but looking into it, if we do not take action now, who will take into action and consideration. So um my colleague J Joue has uh explained and shared with us about uh the Tuti International Youth uh event in Singapore. So we really love to unite everyone together and we can spark innovative ideas and fostering collaboration. So last but not least, I would like to express my gratitude to all our partners and colleagues for all the hard work for today and in the future. So let us join hand in hand, starting from ourselves, taking action and uh creating uh a better future change uh for our next generation. Thank you so much. Much. Thank you.
Thank you so much, Brenda. And uh I believe there is a very uh so the next steps for Generation Hope Goal are also linked to your TI conference. Would you like to share about that over here? This is this platform.
Oh yeah. I think uh uh Chwe, my colleague, uh the gentleman before me has also explained about the TR conference that we are trying to put SDG 17 and also several SDGs together. So I think this is one of the good uh uh methodologies that we can practice uh uh together with UNAP and Save the Children and ChildFund together as well. So the event will occur in uh August uh 2023, 22nd to 24th, right? Ze, right? So uh for further information I think we can help us to put up the link inside this uh Zoom. Zoom I think has helped to send out a link. Yes, okay, great. Great. Thank you. So so uh hopefully we can uh engage everyone together and also to take a look at uh Singapore’s uh TUSI environmental protection action together from the uh Southeast Asia perspective. Thank you so much.
Thank you so much, Brenda, and thank you so much, Away. Uh, with this we are at the end of our uh youth, children and youth dialogue, and thank you so much for staying with us, and we apologize that we went a little bit over time, but the discussions and and the commitments that uh that were being shared were were really very interesting to cut anything short. So please, this is just the beginning, and this is this is this year is going to be very exciting already. Uh, in August we have the TR conference to look forward to. As Taskin shared about the Bangkok Climate Action Week coming up, and there will be more interesting announcements around the Generation Hope Goal 2.0 uh version of it also. So do stay connected, do stay tuned and let’s reduce, reuse and recycle, upcycle what we can and keep showing us the way. Uh, and let’s look at intergenerational wisdom and traditional knowledge that has come up and intentional mentorship for our young people. That’s what the young people have spoken today. And thank you so much. A big thanks to all the partners and thank you so much, and we’ll see you again. Bye-bye. Have a lovely rest of the evening, day, and happy World Environment Day to everyone. Bye-bye. Happy World Environment Day.