Celebrating Volunteer Impact: Youth leadership and Advancing Sustainable Development Goals by Climate Action (HLPF 2026 Side Event)

Yes.
Thank you.
Good morning, everybody.
Good morning.
I know we're running right on time.
11 30.
Good morning again.
I Your Excellency, distinguished Parliament representatives, representatives of the United Nations system, distinguished delegates, representative of governments, academia, civil society, youth, volunteers, ladies and gentlemen.
On behalf of Saudi Green Building Forum, UN volunteers, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for West Asia, the Volunteer Group Alliance, the Center Sustainable Development at Columbia University, and the Green Hope Foundation.
It is my great honor and pleasure to welcome you to the official site event.
We extend our sincere appreciation of the permanent mission of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the United Nations and New York for its value, support, and continued encouragement, which have helped help us to make today possible.
Thank you all for joining as we come together to celebrate the impact of volunteers.
Leadership of young people and the power of partnerships in advancing the sustainable development goals through climate action.
It is now my distinct honor to welcome our guest of honor, His Excellency Ambassador doctor Abdel Aziz Al Wasil, representative of the Kingdom of Sadi Arabia to the United Nations in New York.
Your Excellency, thank you for being with us this morning.
It is now my great pleasure to invite Your Excellency to deliver a welcome remarks.
Thank you.
Thank you very much, Excellency distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.
Good morning, everyone.
It is a pleasure to join you today at the opening of this event.
I would like to extend my appreciation to the Saudi Green Building Forum and all partner organizations for convening this timely discussion.
Bringing together representatives from governments, the United Nations, academia, and civil society to explore the role of youth and volunteerism in advancing climate action and achieving the sustainable development goals.
Challenges facing our world today require effective partnerships, coordinated action and the meaningful engagement of all sectors of society, particularly young people who are a driving force for innovation, volunteerism, and sustainable solutions.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia firmly believes that achieving the sustainable development goals is a shared responsibility that depends on international cooperation, capacity building, and strong partnerships.
Guided by Saudi vision 2030, the Kingdom continues to invest in people, empower youth, and promote volunteerism.
In recent years, Saudi Arabia has witnessed a remarkable growth in volunteer engagement and community initiatives while continuing its efforts to develop more sustainable cities, enhance quality of life, and improve the sustainability of the built environment.
The Kingdom also places a great importance on advancing climate action through its national and regional initiatives, particularly the Saudi Green Initiative and the Middle East Green Initiative, reflecting its strong commitment to contributing to global efforts to address environmental challenges and promote sustainable development.
Ladies and gentlemen, today's event provides an important platform for exchanging experiences, showcasing successful initiatives, and strengthening collaboration among stakeholders.
By working together, we can transform ideas into practical solutions that benefit our societies and future generations.
In closing, I would like to thank the Saudi Green Building Forum and all partners for organizing this event.
I wish you a productive discussions and successful outcomes that will contribute to advancing climate action, accelerating the achievement of the sustainable development goals.
I thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you, Your Excellency.
Thank you for inspiring and thoughtful remarks.
Your message reminds us that achieving the sustainable development goals requires more than ambition.
It requires leadership, partnership, and action, your continued support for volunteerism, youth engagement, and contribution to the civil society engagement, all of us to continue dedicating our knowledge, our time, our efforts to building a more sustainable, inclusive, and resilient future.
On behalf of all of the partners today and tomorrow, the participants, thank you once again for commitment to advancing the global 2030 agenda.
Thank you.
So from commitment today, our message is very clear.
From commitment to impact advancing the 2030 agenda through voluntarism and partnership.
Your Excellency today gathering comes a pival moment.
Tomorrow, member states will convene the high level political forum 2060 under the EcoSg to review progress towards the 2030 agenda.
Today, before those delegations become evidence, we have an opportunity to ask question, how do we transfer the commitment we made in 2015 into a measurable impact in 2030? The world does not lack ambition, it does not lack knowledge, it does not lack innovation.
What we need is a faster implementation, a stronger partnership, greater accountability and broader partnership.
Every month, worldwide, estimated monthly, 862 million volunteers contribute to the time, skills and experience, strengthen community across the world.
Yet there contribution reminds largely invisible in how we measure progress towards the sustainable development goals.
This year HLPF review reminds us that sustainable development cannot be developed delivered by governments only.
It requires member states, United Nations Academia, business and industry, civil society, volunteers, young people like you.
Because of the sustainable development goals are achieved not by institutions acting independently, but people working together.
Today's dialogue has therefore been designed as a particular contribution to the discussion of being tomorrow.
We will hear distinguish intervention from leaders, representative member state, the United Nations Academia and so forth.
Let us be more than dialogue.
Let us be beginning of a new partnership.
New committees, new collaborations, and measurable action because the success of 2030 agenda will not be judged by the promises we make, but by the impact we deliver.
It is now my great pleasure to invite our moderator, miss Gonzale to guide us through today's program.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr.
Chair, Excellencies, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen, good morning.
It is a great honor and a pleasure for me to moderate this really important dialogue.
And as you can see around the room, we're really privileged to have different factions of society, governments, United Nations system representative, academia, business, civil society, and a lot of young people with us, different or youth organizations, volunteer networks from around the world.
Today's program has been designed to encourage dialogue among various sectors that are represented here and various generations to recognize that achieving sustainable development goals require collaboration, partnerships, and leadership from youth.
And so one of the lessons that I learned from my work in working with young people in higher education institutions that no one institution can deliver on green transitions.
So in order to have measurable impact, it is important that we provide opportunities and platforms for young people to be able to take action and use the skills that they learn in our educational institutions.
Today's program has been, as I said, designed to encourage that type of a dialogue.
We will begin with five high level keynote addresses.
Each keynote address will be about 5 minutes.
Following these remarks, we will hear from various stakeholders representing youth organizations, civil society, academia, Um, and then I want to just request to ensure that everybody has ample time to contribute.
I'm going to kindly request all the speakers to make sure they observe their allocated time.
And with that, we will begin with our keynote speaker, and I will invite our very first speaker, miss Carole Shifin.
She serves as the Director of Climate Change and Natural Resources Sustainability Group at the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia.
Through her leadership, she has advanced regional cooperation on climate action, natural resource management, and sustainable development through the Arab region.
So please join me in welcoming miss Shia to deliver her remarks.
Over to you, miss Shia.
Thank you so much.
Good morning, everyone.
Excellencies, distinguished representatives, dear participants.
It's a pleasure to join you today at this important gathering celebrating volunteer impact and youth leadership.
I commend the Saudi Green Building Forum and all partners for convening this timely discussion.
The Arab region is one of the world's youngest regions.
Nearly 60% of its population is under the age of 30.
Its demographic reality presents a tremendous opportunity and also an urgent responsibility.
If empowered with the right skills and opportunities, young people can become the driving force of sustainable growth.
If excluded, the region risks missing one of its greatest assets for achieving the sustainable development goals.
Allow me to highlight three areas where youth contribute to and benefit from transformative change.
First, the just energy transition.
Last year, Esco launched its report on investing in the future, the role of human capital and enabling just energy transitions in the Arab region, which was well received during discussions hosted by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The report underscores that energy transition is not only about technology and infrastructure, it's equally about investing in people.
Yet young people face barriers ranging from skills mismatches to limited training opportunities and insufficient pathways to access green jobs.
The energy transition therefore requires investing in updated school curricula, vocational training, digital skills development, and mentorship programs in renewable energy, energy efficiency, digitization, and sustainable cities, one of the topics being addressed this week at the HLPF among those that empower youth through education as well as through experience.
EsCOs already working with youth on raising awareness, helping with behavioral change, and advocating for renewable energy and renewables.
Second, resilient food system transformations empower youth.
Our regional gathering of National Food System conveners in Cairo two months ago reaffirmed that food system transformations must be inclusive, participatory, and youth centered.
Across the region, young people are already contributing through climate smart agricultural practices, digital solutions, and new business models from field to factory that improve productivity while enhancing environmental sustainability.
ESCO supports this process, particularly in least developed countries by ensuring that national food system pathways facilitate access to finance, technology, skills, and markets that can generate youth employment, strengthen food security, and enhance climate resilience.
This opportunity is echoed in the global survey just completed by the United Nations Interagency Network on youth development, which identified the interconnections between food systems, environmental degradation, and youth livelihoods as a top issue of concern among youth.
This brings me to my third point, innovations for a green economy.
Young people across the Arab region have been the strongest voices calling for circular economy solutions and climate action.
Today, we must ensure that their role extends beyond advocacy to implementation.
Stronger connections between young innovators and investors, expanded access to finance and greater support for youth led entrepreneurship can help green societies and economies.
At Escrow through our internships, fellowships, capacity building programs, and forums, students and young professionals contribute to policy discussions and development initiatives.
Their engagement consistently shows that when young people are given a seat at the table, they bring creativity, energy, and solutions that enrich our collective efforts.
Excellencies, distinguished participants.
The theme of today's events, celebrating youth and volunteer It reminds us that meaningful change begins with people willing to invest their time, their talents, and commitment for the common good.
It also allows us to reiterate our commitment to investing in young people.
By doing this, we will help achieve a just energy transition, resilient food systems, and greener societies for generations to come.
Young people are not only the stakeholders in the future, they are our essential partners in building it.
Thank you.
Thank you, miss Chapin, for highlighting the importance of regional collaboration and integrated approaches to sustainable development and to reminding us that when included, young people can be the major driving force for sustainable development.
It is important that, you know, again, we Um, civil society, higher education institutions, we create platforms for young people where we provide them opportunities to take part in moving green action forward, in addition to equipping them with green skills.
So thank you very much for your remarks.
And with that, we move on to our second speaker, Mr.
David Streyer, he is the coordinator of the Volunteers Group Alliance, and he has been a strong advocate for volunteer engagement as a driving force for sustainable development and exclusive partnerships.
So please join me in welcoming Mr.
Streyer and I would want you to start with your remarks.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
I'm honored to be here today representing 100 plus members of the volunteer groups Alliance, including the Saudi Green Building Forum and the United Nations Volunteers.
For the past decade, we have been a global coalition that is working in more than 150 countries to contribute to sustainable development through volunteering in all its forms.
We serve as the voice of volunteers at the United Nations to promote the contribution that volunteers make to sustainable development and to gain recognition for the important role volunteers play at local, regional and national levels and in UN processes.
The United Nations has declared 2026 the International Year of Volunteers for Sustainable Development, IVY 2026, signaling renewed global recognition of volunteering as a critical driver of sustainable development goals, the SDGs.
I remember the first international volunteer year in 2001 and IVY plus ten in 2011 and In the past 25 years, this year's milestone highlights the transformative role of volunteers in advancing the SDGs and underscores the need to strengthen the systems and partnerships that enable volunteer action to thrive.
In the last couple of decades, I have truly seen volunteering go from something that simply is nice to something that is absolutely necessary.
The 2.1 billion volunteers worldwide though, remain too often invisible, undervalued, and under resourced, despite their central role in supporting communities and responding to crises.
In humanitarian contexts, volunteers frequently operate on the front lines of risk, sometimes facing threats and inadequate protection, while in many other settings, they continue to work without safe conditions or institutional support.
We've all seen that on the news most recently in Venezuela, with the earthquake response of just citizens stepping forward to try to help their neighbors recover and find their loved ones.
At the same time, critical gaps in data and evidence limit our ability to fully understand, measure, and invest in the impact of volunteering.
National and local ecosystems that sustain volunteer action are often fragmented, under coordinated, and insufficiently financed.
In many countries, volunteering still lacks strong policy recognition, legal protection, and clear standards and where frameworks do exist, implementation remains inconsistent.
So volunteering has its greatest impact though, when volunteers are recognized, supported, and safeguarded.
Government, civil society, donors, the private sector, and volunteers themselves all share responsibility for building the enabling conditions in which volunteer action can flourish.
We advocate for the recognition of the contribution of volunteerism and community based action in the implementation of the SDGs, including through local service delivery, participation, resilience building, and inclusive partnerships, and encourage their continued support and accelerating progress towards the 2030 agenda.
Our call to action this year to member states and stakeholders is to help build this enabling environment for the future volunteerings, by one, recognizing volunteering as a strategic asset, social capital, and living system for sustainable development.
Two, supporting volunteer action that strengthen civic infrastructures, which allows communities to shape the systems affecting their lives through sustained investment, coordination and professional standards, and three, safeguarding volunteers to ensure their safety, well being, dignity and rights.
And as IVY 2026 unfolds, this is a movement to move from acknowledgment to action, investing in volunteer ecosystems, strengthening partnerships, and embedding volunteers across sustainable development efforts at every level, especially as communities worldwide face interconnected and multidimensional crises.
By valuing and protecting and empowering volunteers, we not only support those who give their time and skills, but also strengthen the resilience and solidarity and shared future of communities worldwide.
My one request for you is to tell your stories.
On our website, volunteer groups alliance.org, we are collecting stories through our share a story forum for how you and your volunteers are delivering on the SDGs.
Add your stories to let the world know of the incredible work you are doing and you can go to the website and see stories from around the world.
I will close with the quote from the sociologist, Margaret Mead that many of you may be familiar with.
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world.
Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.
I thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today and to highlight IVY 2026 as a kickoff for at least the next four years as we continue to advance the 2030 agenda.
I most all want to thank you all for what you do to possibly change the world.
Thank you so much, David, for reminding us that volunteerism and volunteers are the world's greatest implementation resources.
You know what I really was surprised by the number, we don't often think about how many volunteers are around the globe, the 2.1 billion volunteers and mostly their efforts going unrecognizable.
So I think thank you for reminding us to um, again, especially highlight the stories of volunteers because stories go a long way and bring highlighting this, um, contribution that mostly volunteers make to SDG implementation.
With that, I will invite our next speaker, miss Kakesa Paso, who is the founder and president of Green Hope Foundation.
She has inspired young people around the world through her leadership in climate action and sustainable development, and she is an internationally recognized advocate for youth leadership.
So with that, I would like you to welcome miss Basso, and I would hand the floor over to her to make her remarks.
Amazing.
Thank you so much.
And thank you to SGPF for organizing this event.
As always, it's just so wonderful to share the space with all of you.
I have always considered myself very fortunate to have grown up in a family where care for people and planet was the norm.
My parents every weekend would go to underserved communities to distribute food and clothes, and they would take me with them and we would spend time with the communities, we would have breakfast with them, we would learn about their struggles and their challenges, and then we would take actions to alleviate those struggles and challenges the next time that we came back.
The reason they took me with them was because they wanted to teach me that every single person has the ability to care within them for starters, but also that every single person has a moral responsibility to give back, no matter who you are, where you are, what industry you work in.
As human beings, we have a moral responsibility to care for our humanity, our community, and for the planet.
The very first action that I took personally to show my care for people on planet was to plant my first tree on my eighth birthday.
That was my first step to changing the world.
A lot of people laughed at that.
They thought that it was just a childish whim.
But seeing the impact that my parents had being committed volunteers really showed me and made me believe that one single small action could actually be the start of something much greater.
So today, that one single tree has grown into Green Hope Foundation, that is a global organization working in 29 countries, has positively impacted over half 1 million people and has a 3,000 person strong volunteer force.
Working in so many different parts of the world for almost two decades now has really taught me that sustainable development ultimately comes back to people.
If we don't invest in our people, we can't go anywhere.
We can't achieve any kind of sustainable future.
More importantly, it has shown me time and again that volunteerism is one of the purest expressions and forms of our shared humanity because it shows us and it tells us that investing our time and effort in someone else's future matters.
It's not always about the monetary gain or the amount, it is about the trust and the willingness to serve.
At Greenhipe Foundation, I have seen that truth come alive in the most wonderful ways.
For example, in the floating villages of Cambodia, in the small island developing state of Kriis and most recently in the rural communities of the Sundarbans, the world's largest mangrove forest and on the Indian side, our young volunteers are the ones who lead Green Hope Foundation, Aquasul for equity Initiative, where we build solar powered water farms, solar water distillation and filtration systems that provide communities with clean drinking water.
And the Aquasulur Equity Initiative led by our young volunteers has now provided clean drinking water to 4,600 people.
It has caused a 50% decrease in waterborne diseases, and 90% of the children are back in school because they're not staying home sick as a result of the waterborne diseases.
It's also given time, valuable time, hours back in the day to women and girls so that they can then pursue their education instead of walking miles in the sun to fetch water.
In rural Bangladesh, our young volunteers have built agr voltke systems for climate smart agriculture to empower young and women farmers.
They have been able to reach out to 18,200 women farmers.
They have seen a drop of 90% in malnutrition rates and an 80% increase in crop yield.
Our young volunteers also run our solar powered Academy of Hope, where we provide sewing lessons to women and girls so that they're able to earn a stable source of income.
In my home country in Canada, we run the Green Hope Foundation Harvesting Harmony Farm, where students, seniors from retirement homes, and families all come together to grow fresh organic food that's powered by solar irrigation.
Every year, we have 1,000 kgs of organic produce that is then donated to food banks to help resolve food insecurity in the region.
The reason I share all of these examples is that they're all different.
They're all from different cultures, contexts, focusing on different aspects of sustainability.
But the common theme is that it's led by people who care.
It's led by people who genuinely want to make a difference.
As we move towards reaching the 2030 date for Agenda 2030 and as we work to achieve the sustainable development goals, I truly believe that it's imperative that we invest in our young people and that we invest in volunteers and specifically teach our young people that being successful in life is not about the monetary gain, but about being compassionate, being empathetic, and truly knowing that we have this moral responsibility to give back, to support our communities, and to ensure that we leave our natural resources intact for generations to come.
Seeing the work of Green Hope Foundation every single day has made one thing very clear, and it is that true sustainability will be achieved by ordinary people taking and making the choice to have all of these extraordinary actions and take extraordinary actions just to care.
I think that if we truly invest in our young people and see them as leaders of not just tomorrow, but today and really instill this care and this confidence of care in them from a young age, we truly will be able to create a brighter and more sustainable future because at the end of the day, hope is not something that we wait for.
Hope is something that we deliver through our actions.
Thank you.
Thank you very much, Kaag Kishan.
It was a really great way that you started with the role of family in promoting volunteerism in young people and how your organization came to be about.
So going from bigger platforms like David talked about volunteer group alliance to, you know, looking at role of systems in volunteering to looking at role of a family.
It just shows us that, in order to inspire young people to volunteer, the partnerships and systems have to be built within families, within different alliances, government, schools.
So it's great that you brought the lens to that level.
Thank you for that.
With that, I will move on to our next speaker, miss Novell Darvish.
Serves as the Chief of the UN System Affairs and New York Office at United Nations here.
And as most of us are familiar with the United Nations volunteers work, it continues to demonstrate that volunteerism strengthens communities while accelerating the implementation of sustainable development goals worldwide, and they serve in some of the hardest places doing really tough work.
So I would welcome miss Noel, and I want you to join me in welcoming her.
I will hand the floor over to you to tell us about your work.
So over to you.
Thank you very much, Your Excellency, distinguished guest, their volunteers.
Good morning.
I am honored to speak on behalf of the executive coordinator of the United Nations Volunteer Program, Mr.
Tony Korbanov, who regrets that he cannot join you in person today.
Let me thank the Saudi Green Building Forum and its partners for placing youth and volunteers at the center of this conversation on climate action and the goals.
We meet in a year that belongs to volunteers.
By proclaiming 2026, the International Year of Volunteers for Sustainable Development, United Nations member states affirmed something that is essential.
That the sustainable development goals are delivered by people in communities one commitment at a time and young people are at the front of that effort.
Our panel asks how youth leadership can advance the goals through climate action.
The answer begins with recognizing that volunteerism is a powerful enabler of sustainable development.
It brings the ambition to life scales action and connects institution to youth and communities.
Young volunteers brings exactly what climate action needs new ideas, digital skills, and a direct stake in the future.
They are already organizing communities, testing solutions, and turning ideas into results on the ground.
In climate action, they are not waiting to lead, they are leading now.
For example, in the Arab States region that is already visible, Our 2026 State of the Word volunteerism report highlights youth volunteers acting as the bridge between policy and people, turning national climate goals into action on the ground.
Across the region, including in Saudi Arabia, they are supporting adaptation responses in areas such as water conservation, disaster preparedness, and green urban initiatives, demonstrating that youth volunteers are a core part of localizing and advancing the SDGs.
But youth energy alone does not sustain change.
It has to be anchored.
This is the power of volunteer networks.
When young people are connected to institutions, to experienced volunteers, and to one another, their ideas outlast a single event or grant.
The drive of the young meets the continuity of those who came before.
That is how a good idea becomes a lasting result.
So the question is how we empower these networks.
Three things matter.
First, recognitions.
Volunteers, especially young volunteers must be treated as partners in delivery, not as an afterthought.
Our 20 2026 States of the World Volunteerism Report shows that around 2.1 billion people volunteer every month.
Yet most of that contribution goes unrecorded.
When we recognize the contribution volunteers make, we can invest in it.
Second, partnership.
Durable results come when government, academia, the private sector, and volunteer organization work together.
Climate action succeeds when these partnerships connect policy ambition with community leadership.
Third, support.
Young volunteers need well being, mentoring, and a real path to stay engaged.
Today volunteer should be tomorrow's leader.
Saudi Arabia is well placed to show what this looks like.
The Kingdom is among the member states leading the international through the National Center for the nonprofit sector.
Guided by vision 2030, it is investing in young volunteers at scale.
According to the 2025 National volunteer work indicators, 19% of its population aged 15 and above take part in volunteer activities.
That is the significant scale of participation and a growing culture of volunteering across the kingdom.
Your Excellency's distinguished guest, dear volunteers, let me close with a line drawn from today's own theme, volunteerism scales action, and youth secures the future.
Our shared task is to empower the networks that connects the two.
Every contribution matters.
Together, let us make 2026 a year that belongs to volunteers and to the young people driving the SDGs forward.
I thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you, Noel, for sharing the global perspective of United Nations volunteers and the transformative power of volunteerism and reminding us that SDGs are delivered by people in their communities and volunteerism is a powerful enabler of achieving sustainable development goals.
With that, I would like to move on to our last speaker.
Um, doctor Ada Anger, she represents one of the world's leading academic institutions advancing sustainable development goals through education, research, and partnerships.
Doctor Anger serves as the Director of Education Sector at the Center of Sustainable Development at Columbia University's Climate School.
So please join me in welcoming doctor Anger.
You have the floor.
Please, go ahead.
Thank you, Madam moderator.
Such an honor to be here just to also show that soon we will be hearing from the youth volunteers and youth climate activists that are here.
I'm eagerly awaiting more than all our words, I think, to hear from all of you and all of our eco ambassadors who are going to take the stage and are going to share their wonderful stories.
But I just wanted to start by saying thank you, Mr.
Chair, Mr.
Fazal, and the Saudi Green Forum for this wonderful opportunity to celebrate youth.
We don't get a lot of opportunities to celebrate youth because everyone is very busy working and doing all the action on the ground.
So it's great that we are here together and in celebration for all the wonderful work that you've been working on.
Um, I also every year, a couple of us, including my colleague Maria Ruby, who's here, who's sitting, Maria is here.
Maria Ruby is here.
We work on this program called Echo Ambassador Solutions Lab.
If you go on the website dgstay.org, which my colleague Maria Ruby manages, directs, we get hundreds of applications of young people wanting to join our program.
What does it show? It shows that the young people are very eager.
You guys are very eager to learn about how to bring about change.
As the university mandate, Columbia University's mandate, we provide the skills to make sure that that happens.
Over the years, we've slowly grown from a few students joining the program to over hundreds of students joining the program.
A lot of different students from UAE, India, Nigeria, and the best part about it is as Sarah, one of our alumni says that it's great to learn from each other because where is a platform where we get to learn from a student who is there in UAE sharing his work on microplastics and avoiding plastics to students in India and students in the US.
So over the years, I've realized a couple of points which we've actually published a report at one of the Conference of Parties that we had met and this report states a couple of things that are very important to note.
What have we realized over the five years or six years of this program is that the young people are not just beneficiaries.
They are essential stakeholders and change agents in achieving the SDGs.
Young people up to 24-years-old.
I don't know if the statistics resonates with you, comprise of 40% of the population.
It is a huge number.
When we do volunteer work, we feel that we are alone in this task, but you guys have a lot of different groups, different actors, different organizations that everyone is working with.
So please consider yourself as a big collective and not alone.
Young people lead innovations that are currently under resourced and overlooked.
Despite the unique talents, creativity, and entrepreneurial spirits the young people possess, this has been very underrepresented.
Policymakers should create enabling environments for youth innovators by establishing innovation hubs, incubators and accelerators, extending programmatic support, including funding, mentorship, and connections.
Going back to mentorship, it is really important, as we know, I have had multiple mentors throughout my life, starting from my first mentor, my mother, to all the teachers that we had which who went beyond their work, beyond their day to day work to really help me mentor and to make me reach to come to a place where I'm very proud of being received such great mentorship opportunities.
So the young learners are eager and enthusiastic and as adults, we must provide them with mentorship models in and out of schools.
Internship opportunities.
I would say internship opportunities have become a tokenistic thing, currently, which only happens during summer.
I think this internship opportunities needs to expand over the year and over many years so that you can gain in depth knowledge and not just some project that you do and finish and write in your resume.
Hoping that we can create more mentorship opportunities throughout the year and not just during summer months.
Strengthening intergenerational bonds and creating meaningful professional relationships.
I think that's where the eco ambassadors program is, that we create long term relationship with students, creating these intergenerational bonds that have that have depth in it so that we are thinking creatively together and thinking out of the box.
These are some things that we've observed.
Over the past couple of years.
I want to end by doing a call of action to all the youth members who are here, who are the reason why we have gathered here is to join our echo ambassador program.
It is for free and you get to tell your stories.
There was some discussion here on sharing stories.
That's what we do, learn from each other, give some skill that will help to take your learning to a next level and also to hear from everyone on your own journey, climate activist journey.
Maybe some of you may not consider yourself to be a climate activist, but I think that everyone here is a climate activist and they've been able to do at least one single thing which needs to be documented and narrated to everyone to give inspiration to many other students across the globe.
So definitely visit dgsday.org, see the eco Ambassador Solutions lab program and see how we can collectively take all these voices forward and not just going from one event to the other event, but actually throughout our journeys and connecting with each other and supporting one another.
Thank you, Madam Moderator.
Thank you very much, Professor Anger, for your remarks and reminding us that while it's important to teach young people skills, it is also important to provide opportunities for them to use those skills, and that's why internship, mentorship and partnerships are so important because they create that bridge between young people learning skills and them getting the opportunities to use those skills and to contribute to solving today's challenges and moving climate action forward.
With that, Excellencies, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen, please join me in thanking all of our distinguished keynote speakers for their inspiring and thought provoking remarks.
Thank you, everyone.
And Mr.
Chair, with that, this keynote speaker addresses portion is concluded, and I would respectfully invite you to open our next stakeholder intervention session.
Thank over to you.
Yeah.
Thank you, moderator.
I'm so grateful that our panelists, the speakers have spoke widely of the expression of sincere appreciation from all of us to the distinguished keynotes.
I know our opportunity is really hearing from the youth, and I think that's why we're here and I'm so grateful to all the youth in the room.
Your remarks has reminded us that achieving sustainable development goals requires leadership, partnership, and collective action, which is what the honorable panels have discussed.
Now, because of the time, I still feel that the most important of the session is coming.
Which is hearing your questions and your interventions.
I know we have a few for the moderator to help us to bring in.
Please allow a short time as possible so we can engage as many as possible into the discussion.
Back to you, moderator, please, Azale, thank you.
Yeah.
Thank you, Mr.
Chair.
Now we will begin the stakeholder intervention segment of today's program.
These interventions bring together different perspectives from people who are represented here from civil society, academia, youth demonstrating how partnerships and volunteerism are advancing implementation of sustainable development goals at So each speaker has 3 minutes.
I would respectfully request that you stick to your 3 minutes.
And at the conclusion of each intervention, the person will ask one Our keynote speakers, so we will entertain one question.
Anybody on the panel can answer that question, and then we'll move on to the next intervention.
Our first intervention, I would like to invite miss Polka.
He works bring together youth empowerment, mental health, and climate action.
So Pollack would be there.
I think she would be there.
Oh, she's not here.
Sorry.
Then I will call on to Haifa Al Ismayo.
She's the special assistant to the Secretary-General of the Green Building Forum and she will talk about measuring volunteer impact.
Haifa, over to you.
Thank you very much.
My name is Haifa Mayer.
I am innovator and volunteer leader at the Saudi Green Building Forum.
Since member states adopted the sustainable development goals in 2015, annual pattern applications have increased by more than 30%, reaching a record 3.7 million applications in 2024.
Yet one of the greatest challenges of SDG nine is not creating more inefficients.
It's turning more of them into a measable impact.
While we can measure how many innovations are registered each year, there is no globally recognized indicator showing how many are successfully implemented, commercialized or scaled to benefit people and communities.
Closing this implementation gap should become an important key performance indicator for SDG nine.
Helping member states measure not only innovation outputs, but also real world outcomes.
As an innovator and volunteer leader, have seen promising solution developed to address sustainability challenges.
However, many move by the pilot stage because they lack partnerships.
Testing opportunities, technical support, and pathways to implementation.
Innovation should not be measured only by the number of ideas created, but by the number of solution that improve people's lives.
By strengthening collaboration among government, academia, industry, civil society, and volunteers, we can ensure that innovation deal with tangible progress toward the sustainable development goals.
My question is, how can we better support volunteer innovations in transforming promising ideas into measurable and scalable solutions that accelerate progress toward achieving SDG nine? Thank you.
Thank you very much for your remarks.
Now you can go ahead and ask your question.
Thank you, Haifa, for the great if you allow me.
Innovation becomes extremely part of daily volunteerism because innovation comes up out of a need.
I leave it up to one of my panelists if one of the distinguished anything about innovation.
I know West Asia we talk about innovation a lot and they have a lot of record in that.
So if someone wants to entertain that innovation, would you like? Yeah, please.
Oh.
A ESQ, which is a regional commission serving the Arab States, we actually have an environmental Technology Center that engages very often with youth and we have something called the SME Summit, which helps to encourage youth and entrepreneurship with new ideas, particularly on environmental sustainability across the region.
That's one of the issues and I would like to highlight collaboration we've had with Capsark in Saudi Arabia, the King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center that really has a quite ambitious program for generating and empowering young people to work on the energy transition and a I've been delighted to work with them on looking at transformative ways that go through and I'm sure the partnerships that exist in Saudi Arabia to move that forward as well.
I would like to respond to that question.
I think that especially when we're talking about young volunteers and younger volunteers, there is an urgent need to have greater investments in creating the infrastructure and just the ability for our volunteers and young volunteers to be able to go out there and innovate.
That's the first part.
United Green Home Foundation, for instance, we are entirely run by young people, young women and young women of color and many people say that, oh, yeah, we support youth.
But when it comes to funding and actually providing that investment, then they're gone.
They're not there.
That is a huge challenge that as a grassroots NGO, we face as well because unless you invest in creating these spaces for young people to go out there, to innovate, to volunteer, you won't be able to actually turn those innovations into ground level actions and especially with young people, not a lot of them have the resources to be able to go out there and be able to give their time.
So that is a systems change that needs to happen, and I think that is one of the very first steps that needs to be taken in order to ensure that young people and young volunteers are able to go ahead and actually create that change that is already innate in them.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Should we go to the second? Sure.
Thank you, Kas.
Our next representative is doctor Marie Theresa Sef.
She's the President of Human Environmental.
She's not here.
Oh, she's not here either.
Okay.
Then we will move on to Basma.
Bas Inazi she's the representative of Saudi Green Building Forum.
Basma over to you.
Well, I'm BsminnZ.
I'm a scientist in molecular microbiology and a volunteer advocate with Saudi Green Building Fm.
In my country each year, hedge bring together nearly 2 million pilgrims from more than 170 countries.
While the pilgrim image itself completed in just a few days, it succeeds depend on a year round cycle of planning, preparedness, implementation, surface deliver monitoring, reporting, evaluation, and continuous improvement.
How to provide one of the world's most available living example of how sustainable development goal can and should be implemented through a coordinated action across public health, resilient infrastructure, water, sanitation, mobility, a digital system, and 1,000 of volunteer.
Every service delivered from transportation and safe drink water to healthcare, sanitation, emergency response, and accommodation, food service, and information contributes directly to the health, safety, well being, and dignity of pilgrims.
Through this cycle, volunteers do far more than supportive event.
They help and deliver essential service, engage communities strength resilient, supported data collection and drive continuous improvement.
During HAGE 2025 alone, 34,540 volunteer contribute more than two point million volunteer hours.
Demonstrating that volunteerism is not additional to implementation, it's essential part of it.
This lesson is clear, mass gathering demonstrate that sustainable development goal are most effective when public health resilient infrastructure, and a volunteer action are planned, implemented, and measured together.
By transforming this lesson into the measurable implementation frameworks, Mmpo state can strengthen resilience, improve a public service, and accelerate a progress towards achieving the sustainable development goal.
My question to the share, how can a global community transform a lesson learned from mass gathering into a miserable implementation framework, that recognize a volunteer contribution and accelerate progress toward sustainable development goals through the year.
Thank you.
Yes.
Thank you.
Thank you, Besma.
I think it's a very good point.
When we have a large amount of gathering like 1 million, 2 million in five days or in six days, maybe sometime in some of the events, they come to become tens and thousands of people.
Volunteers really shine up.
It seems like they come across to to bring in services, volunteer services, whatnot.
We know Alhaji like you mentioned, it's one of the major occasion for Saudi Arabia and I think we can learn so much from it.
I think as things can progress.
I would like to leave to some of the youngest in our room if they have any idea to entertain some of these questions on how can you manage a gathering of millions of people in a couple of days? How do you feel You volunteers can engage in those situations.
Please just voice yourself if you'd like to integrate with this.
Would you like? Yeah, please.
Yeah.
Just like how you feel like volunteers can contribute to this opportunity if someone wants to speak or just anything you guys want to bring into the table.
You guys hear me? Yes.
Yeah, I think it's definitely tricky for the larger scale the people that you have to organize, the trickier it gets.
But yeah, I think definitely through my time volunteering with my organization, I realized that it really comes down to maybe splitting into groups, finding leaders and really finding people who are ambitious about the cause, and then just going for it and just taking impact and starting is the best way to really combat these issues.
If I may, I want to say a little bit about what I do in my vaulting.
Okay.
So first of all, thank you so much for having this event, and it's an honor being with you all here today, and I love the points that you guys are all making.
I'd love to thank all of you for highlighting the importance of volunteerism and advancing the UN SDGs, particularly youth volunteerism.
So my name is Isabel Mehmed, and I'm here as a representative with the Global Colab Network, which is a global network of teens who meet weekly to work on projects that advance the UN SDGs.
And I've been a part of the colab for more than four years and I was an ambassador of the Climate Hub for two years.
Over my years with the Colab, I've truly come to realize that youth can make a difference once given the platform.
I think that's the key the key part of empowering youth to really make a difference is giving them the platform to get together and make an impact.
I've also learned the importance of taking a global approach as I've learned the stories and motivations of the teens who join from all areas of the world.
I had the privilege of working on a variety of projects over the years from webinars to social media campaigns and it was through these programs and actions that I took that I truly got to deepen my understanding of climate change and further my passion for the importance of advancing the SDGs.
One of our largest and most recent projects is the change our climate social media and website campaign, which encourages people worldwide to pledge to take at least one action for the good of the climate, which in doing so creates a collective impact.
It's through projects like this and through collaborating with youth from all over the world that I've really gotten to realize the impact of volunteerism.
As teens, we at the Climate Hub harness the power of social media, which I think is really huge in this day and age to encourage volunteerism by creating weekly Instagram reels showcasing sustainable actions that people can take.
Over this past year, we've been able to culminate over 400 global pledges and are hoping to keep growing it to a much larger number.
I'd like to end by extending an invite to the Global Colab Network side event this Wednesday, July 8th, 930-1030, where all of the teens will be presenting on the work of their hubs on the UN SDGs.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Good job.
Very good.
Very good.
Excellent.
Yeah.
Can we go to the next very fast because I think we're so exciting.
We have so many.
We have 10 minutes left.
We'll hand the floor over to Sarah Zo who will talk about her participation in youth Echo ambassadors of the Columbia University Center for Sustainable Development that Radhika was talking about earlier.
We get to hear from somebody who participated in the program.
Over to you, Sarah, without wasting much time.
Hello.
Sorry.
Hello, Charon, everyone.
Thank you so much for having me today.
My name is Sarah and I am representing the Youth Eco ambassadors.
Less than two weeks ago, I graduated from Stuyvesant High School, which is around 20 minutes from here and in a little bit over a month, I will be a freshman at Yale University.
But if you were to ask me five years ago where I thought I thought I would be today, I would have probably told you that it didn't matter because climate change would probably have doomed us all.
For a long time, I did not believe that there was anything to be done about climate change because I did not know that there was anything to be done.
It's not just me that feels this way.
In 2024 UNICEF survey, nearly one in five young people reported not knowing what opportunities were available to them to volunteer and even advocate for climate action.
Less than one fifth said that their education is properly preparing them for a greener future.
I think what us youth need is hope and the hope that both comes from and drives action.
To have hope, we need education and community.
For the past two years, I have been working with the National Wildlife Federation's Climate and Resilience Education Task Force as a student leader and advocate to bring equitable and interdiscipinary climate education to New York State.
Together with my fellow youth changemakers, We have lobbied held vigils, organized campaign, written letters to our elected representatives, facilitated civic engagement workshops, and spoken on the steps of City Hall, even in the face of opposition and setbacks and while scared, stuttering and shaking as I am right now.
I'm proud to say that thanks to our advocacy as of March this year, New York State is now officially the second state after New Jersey to require crossurricular K to 12 climate education.
But we cannot stop acting.
Even today, we are still fighting for funding to provide training and resources for school administrators, educators, and under resourced schools in order to properly teach about climate education.
The mandate currently remains unfunded in the fiscal year 2027 budget, and that is delayed our implementation to 2028.
As the international community reviews progress on the SEG six, seven, 911, and 2017, we must remember that quality education under SEG four is the foundation that enables progress across all of them.
Climate literacy empowers young people to protect water resources, advance clean energy, drive innovation, build sustainable communities, and strengthen partnerships for a more sustainable future.
In advancing sustainable development goals, I ask that we continue to invest in education and family and community programs in spaces like libraries and community gardens where I currently volunteer in youth.
My question to the chair is, what does meaningful implementation of SEG four, particularly youth climate literacy look like in supporting the sustainable development goals under review and what concrete actions are world leaders taking right now? Yeah.
Thank you.
Thank you.
What a great question.
I think we have to move to the second because we'll get back to you to the question.
Thank you so much.
Much.
Thank you, Chair.
Good morning, everybody.
I'm Pollack.
I'm representing the Children and Youth International here and I'm the founder of a nonprofit, which is called Break the ice, where we work to literally break the ice about conversations that matter, but often get ignored, we do this with foreign by young people.
I work at the intersection of youth empowerment, mental health, and climate action in India, and of course, globally as well.
We often talk about scaling youth and volunteer engagements.
But scaling assumes two things that are already in place.
First, that people feel like they belong and that they're equipped to sustain that work over time.
I think in my own journey as a youth change maker, the hardest part has never been the work itself.
It has been doing it without a community that understands its weight and without acknowledging how easily burnout also happens.
At break the ice, we did a climate and mental health roundtable.
We co organized that and it brought together experts and young people at the intersection of the conversation, and the message was really, really clear.
It reflected the global evidence that 59% of young people are very or extremely worried about climate change, and 45% of them say those feelings negatively affect their daily lives.
If volunteerism is to be a measurable driver of SDG implementation, partnerships must invest not only in those outcomes, but also in the well being and retention of those that are delivering them.
I would love to ask the chair, how can partnerships better support the well being and long term engagement of young people and the volunteers that are on the ground.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Well said.
Of course, well being and integrating the education SDG with other SDGs.
It's a very fundamental approach.
Could we go to the second, please? The next Yes.
Please go ahead from S Mission, yes.
Thank you.
Thank you very much, Excellencies, for the panel and distinguished guests.
I heard a couple of keywords today that really resonated with me and inspired me to shed some light on a couple of initiatives that we're doing in Saudi that could be also adopted elsewhere to inspire climate action.
I heard innovation, climate action, as well as climate and anxiety.
Uh, in Saudi, we have championed the circular carbon economy since 2020.
It builds basically on the typical circular economy, but it complements it with additional pillars that make addressing emissions more comprehensive and can be tailored to any country's circumstances or different contexts.
So that key pillars to the circular carbon economy are reducing emissions through deploying, for instance, cleaner energy technologies, uh, so on.
There's also reuse, which is very much interesting.
There's a lot of innovation in this pillar where we basically capture the emissions from the atmosphere or from any existing infrastructure, and then we reutilize them in other applications, be it in beverages, and cosmetics, and also in buildings as well.
I must say that since we're speaking about green buildings, this pillar in particular has inspired a company in Saudi Arabia to basically introduce carbonated cement, which is now being deployed at scale.
So the framework itself, the institutionalization of it in Saudi has inspired so many young people to launch startups and businesses and help implement the framework not only in Saudi, but also contribute to global climate action in so many different ways.
Um, so perhaps the main message I would echo here is that such frameworks, they turn carbon from a liability into a commodity or an economic asset.
This is where I think youth could play a very vital role in basically innovating in such technologies.
I don't want to take much of your time because I also want to hear from you.
I'll be available if you want to chat about the circular carbon economy in detail after this session.
Thank you so much, Kevin.
Now we'll give the floor to our last participant, Al Mign.
Please go ahead and Oh, okay.
That was her date.
Sorry.
I think we concluded, right? So we concluded this portion of the program and I think we are at time, right? Yeah.
No.
I mean, we just right on time.
But let me take it from here.
Yeah.
Thank you.
Sure.
Thank you, Va.
You've been great.
Thank you for great moderating the sessions.
I really appreciate it.
Thank made my life very easy.
For the carbon and the Saudi intervention on the, for sure.
I mean, we have as a matter of fact, Esqui Saudi Gree Building Forum, we have announced a recommendation uh, which includes that in the Arab world, there is a lot of good demonstration on carbon, carbon credits and carbon for buildings and for cities.
I think we calculate about 312 in the Arab world was documented by Salih Gmb Forum.
But yes, the carbon, it's like Professor Radke, she said about, you know, the challenge of how we document ourselves, document our our experience.
It becomes very important.
That's why we feel this session is all about 2015, which is the commitment.
Then we've got another five years of making those commitments happens.
But again, we're going to 2030 and it's not about more commitments.
It's about measures.
It's about documenting what you have and one of the things that we're leading with a new concept on environment, which is the sufficiency first, before even sufficiency, are we sufficient enough to have what we have not have access of consumption and production? This is one of the topics that we work very closely with Asia and also with the volunteers trying to make it happen.
But first, I just want to conclude my great sincere gratitude to all of you being here today.
I mean, I couldn't really express it in words.
But also my great appreciation for the support that we got today from the mission of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
It's amazing and also from the UN champions as well as from all of you as a youth.
I want to leave you with one question.
The sustainable development goals will not be achieved by commitment only.
It's about you being there, you coming, you're making the effort.
That's what volunteers do.
They make the initiatives.
That's why they are always trusted.
As the high political forum begins tomorrow, I hope all of you to enjoy it and going forward, let us strengthen partnership across whatever we say in any section we attend.
Let us recognize volunteer as the strategic force for implementation, like David was mentioning earlier.
Let us empower young people.
You being here, you speaking, you making your interventions.
This is what we need.
We need more of you as to be supportive, but as leaders and really being on the table and taking the lead on that and not really having other people do it for you.
Today's dialogue has inspired one new partnership, one new collaboration.
I know now we have new partners from the lab Network, which is I'm very grateful they join us today.
On behalf of the Saudi Green Building Forum, on behalf of UN volunteers, UN National Economic Associate Council of West Asia in Lebanon, also the volunteer Group Alliance, which is a great champion supporting all of us.
Also my great support and thank also to the Center of sustainable development at Columbia University champion and also the Green Hope Foundation is such a great example.
Thank you all for participating.
We wish you productive and successful high level political forum 2026 and hopefully that discussion will bring in a lot of success story.
Thank you very much from me on behalf of everybody.
Back to you, Ma.
Thank you.
Thank you, Rosal.
Yeah.
Thank you, Mr.
Chair.
Thank you, ladies and gentlemen and on behalf of the organizers, thank you once again for participation and engagement in such an important dialogue.
Please enjoy the high level political forum and remember these conversations as you participate.
Thank you very much.
With this, we conclude this event.
Thank you for coming here.