The 3rd annual RCE SDG Youth Challenge 2020 "Youth for the Goals: Resilient Communities and Planet" was hosted by RCE Greater Western Sydney (Western Sydney University). It focused on localised action to address SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production) and SDG 15 (Life on Land).

Organised by RCE Kano, the Sustainability and Youth Leadership Conference was held from 1-2 November, 2020 with more than 170 registrants for the two-day event.

The second Digital Youth Forum focused on leadership, and was designed to complement the first Conference held in October 2020, empowering youth to take leadership roles in promoting and driving the SDGs.

Today's youth face extraordinary global challenges. Worsening modern conflicts, climate change, increasing gaps of inequality, and now COVID-19. The pandemic has brought with it a lot of uncertainty for young peoples' futures.

RCE Hangzhou recently organised an experiential learning activity in which junior-high and high-school-age 'River Angels' engaged in a public interest lawsuit in a mock environmental court.

'ESD Platform WILL', a youth organisation working in collaboration with RCE Hyogo-Kobe, was built in 2019 as a collective body of various young people and volunteer groups to promote ESD and create a sustainable society.

The RCE Youth SDG Challenge ‘Youth for the Goals’ 2020 series launched this month, with 19 youth-led sustainability projects focusing on SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities, SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production, and SDG 15: Life on Land. Led by the RCE Asia-Pacific Regional Youth Leaders (RCE Greater Western Sydney) via the global RCE network, projects for this year’s challenge include poster and design competitions, tree planting, justice forums, waste management solutions and more, all targeting youth at the grassroots level. All projects are underpinned by SDG 4/ESD.

On 1-2 February, 2020, UNU-IAS and RCE Hyogo-Kobe held a Japanese RCE Youth Meeting in Kobe, Japan. Twenty-five youth members from seven Japanese RCEs, Ministry of the Environment, Government of Japan (MOEJ), and UNU-IAS attended the meeting over the two days, whilst some other members from each RCE also joined the field visit and workshop on the second day.

The 2019 Asia-Pacific SDG Challenge 'Youth for the Goals' aimed to inspire and mobilise on-the-ground projects led by youth, centred around social sustainability (SDGs 1, 6 and 10).

Collectively it achieved an engagement of nearly 8,000 youth participants across the Asia-Pacific region and beyond.

The 2020 RCE Youth SDG Challenge ‘Youth for the Goals’ is an exciting and unique youth-led initiative focused on delivering the SDGs at a local level. This year, the Challenge will be focusing on SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities, SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production, and SDG 15: Life on Land. Projects are welcome from any RCEs interested in participating.