Young People's Vision for a Sustainable, Resilient and Inclusive Asia Pacific

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2017

“Sustainable Solutions to Eradicate Poverty and Promote Prosperity”

In 2017, ARROW in collaboration with Youth LEAD, the Youth Constituency of APRCEM, organized the first-ever APFSD Youth Forum. The forum witnessed more than 60 activists, advocates and representatives from youth-led, youth-serving, and youth-allied organisations of diverse constituencies in Asia and the Pacific region. The APFSD Youth Forum 2017 Call to Action was developed as a result of this engagement, which captured the needs and demands of young people in terms of implementation and accountability of SDGs through an intersectional analysis and participatory approach and was used for policy advocacy engagements by young people attending the APFSD 2017.

Key Reference Documents

Gallery

The final day was dedicated to finalising and adopting the Youth Call to Actions and discussing ways forward for youth engagement in regional and global forums. Representatives from five national APFSD Youth Alliances (Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Mongolia, and Papua New Guinea) shared their experiences of establishing country-level platforms to advance SDG implementation and youth engagement at the national level.



The second day centred on climate action and SDG 14 (Life Below Water), with high-level opening remarks from UNDP, UNFCCC, UNICEF, ARROW and the Embassy of Sweden.



Plenary presentations highlighted critical challenges in the Asia-Pacific region, including:
  • Rising greenhouse gas emissions with the region accounting for approximately 60% of global emissions
  • Significant regression on SDG 13 (Climate Action)
  • Disproportionate climate impacts on women and girls
  • Ocean pollution with approximately 80% of global ocean plastic pollution originating from Asia

Access the APFSD Youth Forum Abstracts here →

An Innovation Walk showcased 18 youth-led innovations addressing various SDGs through technology, indigenous knowledge, and community-based approaches.

Access the APFSD Youth Forum Innovation Booklet here →



Day one focused on gender equality, and health including sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). The opening session featured addresses from co-conveners and a video message from Dr Felipe Paullier, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Youth Affairs.



Plenary sessions included presentations from UN agencies and experts on the status of SDGs 3 and 5 in the region, highlighting alarming statistics on maternal mortality, HIV infections, mental health issues among youth, and barriers to SRHR access.