At the 7th United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-7) in December 2025, youth were explicitly recognised as "agents of change," establishing a global consensus for their meaningful participation in sustainability processes and actions. Similarly, Japan's 2024 policy revision under the Act on the Promotion of Environmental Conservation Activities emphasises youth engagement and multi-stakeholder collaboration to tackle the triple planetary crisis. However, while progress has been made in formal education, there still has not been enough practical on-the-ground implementation and genuine engagement.
Against this backdrop, IGES, in collaboration with several youth organisations, launched the youth capacity-building programme "Green Future Makers" in 2025. This session will showcase Action Plans developed through the 2026 programme, which synergise local problem-solving with global sustainability, alongside various IGES-youth collaborative initiatives across Japan.
The core of this session is to facilitate professional feedback and networking with policymakers, businesses and researchers. By fostering synergies between innovative youth ideas and established social systems, we aim to transform youth participation into collective action. We will explore pathways to scale local initiatives to the international level, identify systemic barriers, and propose collaborative models to strengthen collective resilience against planetary crises.
Panel Discussion
Moderator
FUKUDA Miki
Chief Policy Researcher / Lens Facilitator, Integrated Sustainability Centre, IGES
Panelist
TBC
Panelist
TBC