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Peace Boat, the world’s largest passenger ship sailing around the world for peace and sustainability, visited New York City on October 29-30 as part of the 99th Global Voyage for Peace. As a committed campaigner for the Sustainable Development Goals, sailing with the SDGs logo on our hull, a range of events in relation to the SDGs were held during these two days.

Last summer, a group of youth from Fiji, Palau, Timor-Leste, Seychelles, Mauritius, Singapore, and Barbados joined Peace Boat to take part in the second edition of the Ocean and Climate Youth Ambassadors Programme. During the programme, Peace Boat filmed a short documentary directed by the social impact filmmaker, Ryan Carl. This 6-minute video, ‘The Ocean and Climate Youth Ambassadors - A Short Film by Peace Boat' aims to contribute to the Talanoa Dialogue for Climate Ambition, a process to take stock of collective efforts to reduce emissions and build greater resilience, in line with the long-term goals of the Paris Agreement.

As part of its 99th Global Voyage, Peace Boat dropped anchor off the coast of Male, Maldives, on September 17, 2018. In partnership with Save the Beach Maldives and JCI (Junior Chamber International) the Maldives, Peace Boat participants took part in the third annual joint initiative to help clean local beaches and raise awareness about the effects of waste on the Maldivian marine ecosystem.
 

Today, hundreds of people gathered at the port of Yokohama to say goodbye to the Peace Boat's 99th Global Voyage, the first to sail in collaboration with the UN SDG Action Campaign. The ship is departing from Japan with the purpose of inspiring and mobilizing people to take action for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In collaboration with the UN SDG Action Campaign, Peace Boat's Global Voyages will conduct education, advocacy, capacity building and awareness raising for the SDGs.

Japan is often mistakenly cited, by both foreigners and nationals alike, as an example of a monocultural country. This not only neglects the experiences of the many Japanese people with mixed heritage, but also the experiences of ethnic minorities indigenous to Japan, such as the Ainu people of the northern part of the country. The Ainu people have a distinct culture, religion, language and historical trajectory, and have historically suffered great marginalization due to the idea that they are not "Japanese".

Peace Boat is proud to be a member of ICAN, the International Campaign for the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons, a group of NGOs dedicated to achieving a nuclear-free world, and the recipient of the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize. Joining Peace Boat for his third time, former Australian Senator Scott Ludlam gives an overview of ICAN, the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, and the talks he's given on the 98th voyage.

Small Island Big Song, a music project created by Tim Cole and BaoBao Chen, joined Peace Boat for the second time on its 98th global voyage. Inspired by the history of indigenous seafarers who set out from Taiwan 5,000 years ago to explore and settle the islands around them, Cole and Chen conceived the idea for a collective experiment uniting musicians in the region over a love of the ocean, islands, and traditional cultures.

In the modern world, people in cities tend to live lives quite removed from nature. Many people in urban spaces have never had the experience of growing their own food, or tending to a garden at all. Yet as the movement to counteract climate change and build more sustainable living spaces grows, some people are seeking ways to rekindle their communities' relationships with the environment.

Peace Boat will visit the Port of Seattle, Washington for the first time on Tuesday, August 7, 2018 as part of its 98th Global Voyage. To celebrate the inaugural visit of the Peace Boat to the one of the most sustainable cities in the United States, Peace Boat will host a special event onboard the ship entitled "Sailing for Sustainability", in collaboration with the Impact Travel Greater Seattle, Adventure Travel Trade Association and the Port of Seattle.

From June 25 to July 13, Peace Boat organized the second edition of the Ocean and Climate Youth Ambassador Programme. With this programme, Peace Boat brings young people from the Pacific Ocean, Indian Ocean, and the Caribbean to travel onboard its ship to engage in capacity training and raise awareness about the impact of ocean degradation and climate change issues affecting their regions, spreading their messages to civil society organizations and governments across the world. 

Though the seven Ocean and Climate Youth Ambassadors remained onboard for a relatively short portion of Peace Boat's 98th Global Voyage, they made quite an impact while they were on the ship. The group kept busy with discussions and lectures on climate change, attending social and artistic events, and of course, getting to know each other better through their shared commitment to fighting for a safer and more sustainable future for their countries and the world.