According to the World Food Programme, (WFP), 108 Million People in the World face severe food insecurity. And yet, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) estimates that one-third of the world’s food production (1,300 tonnes) is lost or wasted. Despite having a population of 5.7 million, the small island state of Singapore wasted about 810 million kilograms of food in 2017.
Goal 12 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, aims to halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels by 2030. In the spirit of Goal 12, here is a humble effort I made to raise awareness about the food waste issue in Singapore and the simple steps all of us can take to reduce food waste.
Please share the video with the hashtags #act4sdgs #reducefoodwaste #sdg12 #responsibleconsumption #singapore
1 man, 1 woman, 2 bikes, 10,000 km and 9 months to complete it in.
Inka, 19 years old, and Fabian, 18, are two teenagers with a mission: cycling across Europe and discovering people engaged in making a difference for our climate. They are setting an example to many and their message is clear: a sustainable and carbon neutral way of travelling is possible and it does not take too much effort.
These young advocates are the Ambassadors for Climate Neutral Now, a project run by the UNFCCC. They visited our Global Campaign Centre to learn about the SDGs, and tell us their story of how they became passionate activists for Climate Action. Meet them and be ready to be inspired!
“People shouldn’t be scared of doing things just because it’s not what is expected. Just do it if you think it is important! ”
Inka – Climate Ambassador
They have so far cycled over 4,000 km to reach Germany from Porto, Portugal on their way to Greece, after which they will return to Bonn in time for the annual UN Climate Change Conference COP23 (6-17 November).
Along the way they are interviewing people from key projects and initiatives, focusing on the UNFCCC secretariat’s Climate Neutral Now and Momentum for Change initiatives but with a view to also seeing what key NGOs such as C40 Cities, their respective mayors and city administrations are doing in terms of climate action.
They agreed to record our chat in a live interview that went on line on the same day on Facebook and that is now available on YouTube as well.
The planned trip of Inka & Fabian Credit: Europe on four wheels
They are still travelling through Europe and they will be spreading the word and raising awareness on what can people do to be Climate Neutral and try to combat climate change.
Follow them on their trip on Facebook, Instagram and their blog
If you wish to know more about the project and about Climate Action visit : UNFCCC Newsroom
Inspired by this story? Discover other stories of how people are taking action for SDGs (Humans of MY World) or take action!
(Top image: UN colleagues & Young Leaders with Her Majesty Queen Mathilde of the Belgians / UNRIC)
Organised by the European Commission, the European Development Days (EDD) is Europe’s leading forum on development since 2006. The development community comes together every year to share ideas and experiences in ways that inspire new partnerships and innovative solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges. This year’s edition took place on 6-8 June, 2017 in Brussels.
Young Leaders & UN Colleagues with Amina Mohammed, UN Deputy Secretary-General / UNRIC Visitors experience virtual reality at the UN stand at European Development Days / UN SDG Action Campaign
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals stand at the European Development Days included a wide range of exciting and innovative features such as the #SDGstudio, virtual reality films, touch-screens showcasing data visualizations and polling mechanisms on the SDGs, and a selfie photobooth to invite visitors to show their commitment and take action on the Goals.
Her Majesty Queen Mathilde of the Belgians & Alexander De Croo, Deputy Prime Minister of Belgium, explore MY World 2030 data / UN SDG Action Campaign Anand Kantaria, UN SDG Action Campaign, shows MY World 2030 to Queen Mathilde of the Belgians & Alexander De Croo, Deputy Prime Minister of Belgium
The UN stand is organized by the UN SDG Action Campaign, the UN in Brussels (25 UN entities), UNECE and the World Bank. Occupying a central space at the European Development Days global village, the UN SDG stand is a convening space to engage thousands of visitors on the Sustainable Development Goals and showcase the efforts of the United Nations and its partners around the implementation of the 2030 Agenda.
Amina Mohammed, UN Deputy Secretary-General takes the MY World 2030 survey: myworld2030.org / UNRIC
During the European Development Days:
Thousands of people visited the United Nations stand, with active participation of several hundreds per day (in total there were 8000 participants attending EDDs)
There were 35 #SDGStudio dialogues! 16 on Day 1 and 19 on Day 2.
The United Nations was involved in more than 50 out of the 120 EDD sessions
More than 90 UN colleagues were hosts at the UN Stand, inviting delegates and showcasing SDG innovation
Around 350 people took a selfie at the photobooth
#SDGstudio / UN SDG Action Campaign UN colleagues with Professor Muhammad Yunus, Founder, Grameen Bank & SDG Advocate / UNRIC
The #SDGStudio was a new and exciting feature of the United Nations stand, which is a unique platform to generate informal and insightful inter-generational dialogues between young leaders and high-level officials from the United Nations, the European Commission and a wide range of other institutions present at the EDDs. The #SDGstudio was proud to host the following dialogues:
Amina Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations & Suman Kumar, EDD Young Leader, Nepal
Role of Youth for the SDGs: Alexander De Croo, Deputy Prime Minister of Belgium & Minister of Development Cooperation, Digital Agenda, Telecom and Postal Services, Belgium & Esenam Amuzu, EDD Young Leader
Health and SDGs: Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General elect, WHO & Vytenis Andriukaitis, European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety & Kalaba Nkonde, EDD Young Leader
Discussion on SDG Advocates and promoting the SDGs: Thomas Gass, United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination and Inter-Agency Affairs in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) & Laura Hildebrandt, Programme Specialist, UN SDG Action Campaign
Canada and the SDGs: Hon. Stéphane Dion, Special Envoy to the European Union and Europe & Ambassador of Canada in Germany & Laura Hildebrandt, Programme Specialist, UN SDG Action Campaign
The Role of Private Sector in Achieving SDGs: Marcos Neto, Director, Istanbul International Center for Private Sector in Development, UNDP & Nishchal Banskota, EDD Young Leader
Data and SDGs: Paula Hidalgo-Sanchis, PhD, Manager, Pulse Lab Kampala & Anand Kantaria, Programme Manager, UN SDG Action Campaign & Chinenye Ezeakor, EDD Young Leader
Signing Ceremony of the Memorandum of Understanding between UNDP & the African Guarantee Fund (AGF) with Barbara Pesce-Monteiro, UN/UNDP Director in Brussels and Felix Bikpo, CEO of AGF
Financing for the SDGs: Yves Guicquero, Head of Development Agenda and International Partnerships, French Development Agency (AFD) & Elias Habbar-Baylac, UNDP
Partnerships and the SDGs: Thomas Gass, United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination and Inter-Agency Affairs in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) & Leonardo Parraga, EDD Young Leader
Risk Reduction and its role for the SDGs:Robert Glasser, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction and Liudmyla Palamar, ONE Youth Ambassador
The Informal Economy: Luis Frota, Senior Social Security Specialist, ILO & Fleur Rondelez, ILO
In addition to the above guests who visited the #SDGstudio, the UN stand also welcomed the following visitors:
Her Majesty Queen Mathilde of the Belgians & SDG Advocate
Professor Muhammad Yunus, Founder, Grameen Bank & SDG Advocate
Paul Polman, Chief Executive Officer, Unilever & SDG Advocate
Ambroise Fayolle, Vice-President of the European Investment Bank
Amina Mohammed, UN Deputy Secretary-General and Dr. Alaa Murabit, SDG Advocate hug each other at the UN stand, as Thomas Gass, UN Assistant Secretary, DESA looks on / UNRIC UN Colleagues at the photo booth Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General elect, WHO & Kalaba Nkonde, EDD Young Leader & Vytenis Andriukaitis, European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety. They put their hands together in solidarity for the SDGs / UN SDG Action Campaign UN stand / UNRIC Professor Muhammad Yunus, Founder, Grameen Bank & SDG Advocate, learns about MY World 2030 from Anand Kantaria, UN SDG Action Campaign / UN SDG Action Campaign Rebeca Grynspan, Secretary-General, Ibero-American Conference (SEGIB) at the #SDGstudio / UNRIC Xavier Longan, UN SDG Action Campaign welcomes Her Majesty Queen Mathilde of the Belgians to the UN stand / UN SDG Action Campaign Leonardo Parraga, EDD Young Leader takes a selfie with Alexander De Croo, Deputy Prime Minister of Belgium / UNRIC Nadir Nahdi, BENI Founder & Youtube Creator for Change Fellow, presents at the #SDGstudio / UN SDG Action Campaign Dream team! UN family with colleagues from the UN SDG Action Campaign, UN Brussels and UNRIC / UN SDG Action Campaign
The UN SDG Action Campaign collaborated with YouTube to invite seven YouTube Creators to the UN for a full day forum on the Sustainable Development Goals, and gender equality.
The recently appointed YouTube Change Ambassadors included seven international YouTube creators who are passionate about global issues. These included Jackie Aina (US, lilpumpkinpie05), Taty Ferreira (Brazil, AcidGirlTestosterona), Hayla Ghazal (UAE, HaylaTV), Ingrid Nilsen (US, missglamorazzi), Louise Pentland (UK, Sprinkleofglitter), Chika Yoshida (Japan, cyoshida1231) and Yuya (Mexico, lady16makeup).
The young women received briefs from several UN agencies, including UNFPA, UNOCHA, and UN Women, plus Project Everyone. They discussed the possibilities and challenges as female YouTube creators, and also spoke about the opportunities for empowering and inspiring women around the world through YouTube. The Creators committed to integrate the advocacy language into their own content programming on an ongoing basis and to activate these topics through various angles.
The 17 Sustainable Development Goals are a remarkable opportunity to build a more sustainable and equitable world for present and future generations. This project empowered influencers in new media with the proper knowledge and confidence to further messaging around the SDGs to their respective audiences in their own words. The aim is to convert young influencers into long term activists for the SDGs and the issues they feel most comfortable in championing.
