The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) have launched a worldwide campaign to assist young people uncover expertise and profession alternatives that may contribute to a sustainable future.
The initiative, christened “See It, Be It,” was introduced on Thursday on the sidelines of the continuing seventeenth session of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP17) in Yerevan, Armenia.
The campaign seeks to showcase the people, expertise and profession alternatives shaping a nature-positive, low-carbon future, the United Nations stated in an announcement.
It will characteristic young professionals making a distinction throughout science, expertise, enterprise, agriculture, communications, finance, the artistic industries and group management.
From scientists restoring ecosystems and entrepreneurs constructing sustainable companies to innovators growing new applied sciences and group leaders defending native environments, their tales will reveal how young people can construct careers that profit each people and the planet.
“Young people need more than new opportunities to build a sustainable future: they need to know these opportunities exist, understand how to pursue them and see people with whom they can identify already making a living through them,” UNICEF stated.
The company famous that analysis, together with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) Cultivating the Future report, highlights how young people’s profession expectations stay concentrated in a comparatively slim vary of conventional professions.
It added that analysis by UNICEF and the European Training Foundation additionally discovered that profession steerage failed to showcase alternatives rising from the green transition adequately.
“These gaps underline the importance of making a wider range of career pathways visible, particularly to young people in developing countries who have fewer opportunities to access career guidance and professional networks,” the UN stated.
Objectives and prospects
According to the UN, the “See It, Be It” campaign goals to broaden young people’s horizons by presenting various, relatable position fashions and exhibiting how their pursuits, expertise, and ambitions will help construct a extra sustainable world.
The campaign goals to attain 500 million young people worldwide by the tip of 2027.
It brings collectively organisations, youth networks, educators, employers, communicators, and sustainability professionals to share tales and develop their attain.
Early supporters embody the Global Youth Biodiversity Network, a world community connecting young people working to shield biodiversity; the Nature Working Group of YOUNGO, the official kids and youth constituency of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change; and the Youth Negotiators Academy, a youth-led organisation that trains young people to take part in multilateral negotiations.
The UN stated it was inviting companions to contribute tales, amplify profiles by way of their networks, and assist guarantee young people from completely different international locations and communities can entry a broad vary of position fashions and profession alternatives.
Silvia Mestroni, UNICEF’s performing consultant in Armenia, stated the initiative would assist young people recognise their potential and discover methods to contribute to a extra resilient world.
“Every child and young person deserves the chance to imagine a future full of possibility and see how their interests and talents can make a difference sustainably,” she stated.
Ms Mestroni added that connecting young people with various position fashions and tales of change may broaden their horizons, construct confidence, and encourage them to discover alternative ways to contribute to a sustainable future.
Similarly, Midori Paxton, UNDP’s international head of biodiversity and ecosystems, pressured the necessity to make sustainable profession alternatives extra seen to young people.
“Science tells us we’ll need three earths to sustain us by 2050 if we carry on the way we are,” she stated, emphasising the necessity to transition in direction of nature-positive and low-carbon life and economies.
Ms Paxton stated youthful generations have important potential to form a future the place people and nature thrive. Still, she pressured that this potential requires entry to alternatives and the power to envision what’s doable.
“Through See It, Be It, we want to make the people and pathways driving change far more visible and help many more young people recognise that there is a place for their talents in building a sustainable future,” she stated.
CBD COP17
PREMIUM TIMES earlier reported that representatives of governments, Indigenous peoples, native communities and different stakeholders had convened in Yerevan, Armenia, for CBD COP17.
The convention, scheduled for 19–30 October below the theme “Taking Action for Nature,” brings international locations collectively to speed up efforts to halt and reverse international biodiversity loss.
The 2026 UN Biodiversity Conference additionally contains the twelfth assembly of the events to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety and the sixth assembly of the events to the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit-sharing.
Discussions are centered on reviewing collective progress, strengthening implementation help, advancing scientific and coverage steerage, addressing the monetary and financial elements influencing biodiversity outcomes, enhancing biosafety and selling the honest and equitable sharing of advantages arising from genetic sources.
At COP17, international locations will undertake the primary international overview of collective progress below the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
The overview is anticipated to assess how far international locations have progressed in direction of their commitments and establish gaps requiring pressing motion.
Other priorities embody mobilising finance, strengthening capacity-building and worldwide cooperation, and increasing the participation of indigenous peoples and native communities in biodiversity conservation.
Financing stays essential as a result of implementing biodiversity commitments requires sustainable sources, particularly for international locations dealing with competing growth priorities and restricted institutional capability.
The convention will even look at the coverage and financial situations that affect biodiversity outcomes, together with how governments and different stakeholders can align growth actions with conservation targets.
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