Peace Boat in support of the Climate Action Summit and SDG Summit

United Nations (UN) Secretary-General António Guterres is hosting a Climate Summit in New York on 23 September to ramp up global efforts to tackle the climate crisis. In the same week, the first UN summit on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) since the adoption of the 2030 Agenda in September 2015 will be held 24-25 September. In support of the Climate Summit, SDG Summit and New York Climate Week, Peace Boat will host events in Manhattan to introduce our climate programmes and our Ecoship Project and bring partners together to build momentum and share best practices. 

On the morning of September 20, just before the global mass day of action to demand action on the climate crisis, the Global Climate Strike, Peace Boat will hold an event at the UN Plaza just opposite the UN Headquarters. Before joining the New York Climate Strike organized by Fridays for Future, Peace Boat and Ecoship will host the event “Creating the Future We Want - working towards the 2030 Agenda and Climate Action”. The event will start at 10 am with talks and panel discussions about the climate. Ambassador H.E. Dr Satyendra Prasad, Permanent Representative of Fiji to the United Nations will be the keynote speaker. The panel discussions will feature different youth delegates from SIDS nations and youth working for the climate and oceans; activists including Komal Kumar, of Alliance for Future Generations in Fiji, Lea d’Auriel of Oceanic Global and artists like Kristin Hettermann. From 11.30 am, a networking luncheon will take place with sustainable chefs. Read more details of the event and register here. Peace Boat will also participate in the Global Climate Strike organized in Tokyo where people of all ages will gather outside the United Nations University at 5 pm. 

On September 24, in collaboration with Nature’s Climate Hub, Peace Boat will introduce the Ecoship in the ‘Natural Thinking’ talk series at 1 pm. In this space, different speakers will introduce different nature-based solutions. Later, at 5.30 pm, Peace Boat will screen ‘Against the Tide, A Journey for Climate Hope’, an award-winning documentary about the first edition of the Ocean and Climate Youth Ambassadors Programme in 2017. You can find more information about the event and register here.

On September 26, Peace Boat and Action for Climate Empowerment (ACE) of the UN Climate Change Secretariat (UNFCCC) will host an event with a panel discussion during the UN General Assembly. It will be the occasion for the UNFCCC to announce the winners of the Global Youth Video Competition run by the UNFCCC. The event will feature an intergenerational panel and focus on youth and older generations working together for climate action, as well as South-South cooperation and North-South cooperation. The speakers will include youth who are themselves actively working on climate action internationally and in their own communities with a particular focus on youth from the Global South, as well as speakers from civil society, the UN and government addressing the role of each sector in youth empowerment for climate action. Examples will include Peace Boat’s Ocean and Climate Youth Ambassador Programme, which brings young leaders from states on the front line of the climate crisis who are active on issues related to climate change and ocean degradation onboard Peace Boat’s ship for capacity development and to raise with stories and experiences from their island communities. The event will include artwork and displays and will be followed by a reception. You can find more information about the event and the speakers here.

In addition, a series of activities focused on the climate crisis and the SDGs will take place onboard Peace Boat ship to be shared on social media. When Peace Boat is docked in Manzanillo, Mexico on 22 September, a Festival for Peace and Sustainability an SDGs action corner will be held Peace Boat and local participants taking part in various activities for the SDGs as part of the UN SDG Action’s #ACT4SDGs campaign in support of the SDG Summit.