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

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2018

“Transformations Towards Sustainable and Resilient Asia Pacific”

In 2018, ARROW and the Youth Constituency of APRCEM YouthLEAD and YPEER convened the second APFSD Youth Forum before APFSD 2018, to review the implementation status of Sustainable Development Agenda through a dialogue process. The forum enabled a multi-stakeholder dialogue involving United Nations agencies from the region as well as regional organisations to discuss the rights of young people and sustainable development in the region. The APFSD Youth Forum 2017 Call to Action and the Regional Roadmap for Implementing 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development were used as primary frameworks for reference during the review and dialogue process with relevant stakeholders. As a result, the APFSD Youth Forum 2018 Statement was developed to fully integrate young people’s issues for policy advocacy at the official APFSD 2018 and related regional processes.

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.