JANUARY 2023
NEWSLETTER

 

“Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.”
– Martin Luther King Jr.

 

UNEP YEA! Member Spotlight

SOS-International

Each month we profile a member of the UNEP Youth and Education Alliance (YEA!). The Alliance is the global network of higher education sustainability networks committed to delivering environmental, economic and societal transformation through education in partnership with UNEP. Read more about YEA! here. This month we are delighted to profile Students Organizing for Sustainability International (SOS-International), a key partner representing student groups around the world.

***

SOS-International is a network of 28 student-led organisations working on sustainability. It was created three years ago by three founding members, DSF, NUS and USI, to get student organisations collaborating more effectively on tackling the climate emergency and ecological crisis.

In 2022, SOS-International ran their regular solutions-dating calls for members to facilitate collaboration, leading to transnational work on carbon reduction, climate action and climate education. This included members amplifying the #ActOnYourClimateScience campaign which is run by the Climate Students Movement. It also included a collaboration with UNEP, which aimed to support SOS-International members to engage with their governments on climate education and included the development of a manifesto for climate education.

SOS-International also hosts the Green Office movement. From a single Green Office ten years ago, the movement has grown to over 80 Green Offices around the world. SOS-International also delivers the Green Impact model across mainland Europe, run by their member NUS-UK.

At COP26, SOS-International helped to run the education ministers summit. This year they ran the pre-COP for COP27 in Ghana for the Global Students Forum, and supported 12 young people to attend COP27 in Egypt, including their board member Kelo Uchendu, who facilitated a youth-led session with the UN Secretary General (see photo above).

SOS-International is actively looking to grow its membership, especially in countries where they have no representation. Their current geographical distribution of members is as follows:

  • 3 local organisations: Denmark, Kuwait and Netherlands;
  • 18 national organisations including Austria, Bangladesh, Denmark, Ecuador, France, Germany, Ghana, Ireland, Japan, Kenya, Nigeria, Philippines, Romania, Switzerland, UK, USA;
  • 3 regional organisations, covering Africa, South Asia, Asia;
  • 6 global organisations.
For more info, please reach out to SOS-International directly via the form on their website: www.sos.earth.

What else is new? 

Reminder to check out our new Playbook for Change

Aggregating insights from the world’s first ever global survey of young environmental leaders – engaging more than 600 young leaders across 67 countries – this playbook provides insights for adult allies and decision-makers into the key trends of the youth environmental movement so that they may effectively make space for them, not as a symbolic gesture, but as active participants in today’s policy decisions, that will dictate our shared future.

This playbook aggregates our secondary and qualitative research into a compendium of insights about the state of the global youth environmental movement and its support network, and presents recommendations intended to encourage meaningful, intergenerational engagement across the spectrum of adult stakeholders – in service of a bright, green future for us all.

Read it! Share it!

RCE Youth Biodiversity Art Challenge Awardees Announced 

The Global RCE Service Centre at the United Nations University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS) is pleased to announce the awardees for the RCE Youth Biodiversity Art Challenge! Held earlier this year in partnership with UNESCO, the challenge was open to anyone age 35 or younger.

This year, the challenge sought to put a spotlight on the species, habitats, and ecosystems that we need to work to protect, and asked participants to create works of art with a focus on SDG 14 (Life Below Water) or SDG 15 (Life on Land). Submissions were received across two categories (Animals & Plants and Habitats & Ecosystems), with 39 entries coming from 15 countries. Artwork was expressed through a range of mediums, including drawings, paintings, craft work, digital art, and photographs. See the awarded artworks here, and watch the video celebrating the challenge.

The 2023 Keeling Curve Prize is now live –
Apply Today!

The Global Warming Mitigation Project’s 2023 Keeling Curve Prize Application is now live!

The team is looking for projects with a proven track record of reducing, avoiding, or eliminating greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. They award solutions across five categories including: Carbon Sinks (Natural & Engineered), Energy, Finance, Social & Cultural Pathways, and Transport & Mobility. This year, they’re awarding over $35,000 to two projects in each category.

The application deadline is Thursday, 10th February 2023! You can read the full details on the website.

Get In Touch With Us

We would love to hear from you! What would you like to hear more about in these newsletters? Let us know and we’ll do our best to share content to your liking.
Do you have any interesting calls to action, research asks or helpful information to share with others? Please don’t hesitate to send them to [email protected]  and we will select a few to include in our next newsletter.