Meet Three Young Canadians Building a More Sustainable Future

Around the world, youth leaders are banding together to educate, bring about change, and champion sustainable development. With a growing network of over 1,000 youth across 60 countries, IISD Next is a global initiative that empowers young people to meaningfully engage in sustainable development policy. 

Led by award-winning Youth Engagement Coordinator Emily Kroft, the program provides youth with the knowledge, skills, and confidence they need to participate in decision-making processes. Through workshops such as the Campus Workshop Series on Sustainability, participants explore topics such as the UN’s 2030 Agenda and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, moving beyond token involvement to informed and impactful advocacy.

Through training, meetings, and discussions on policy through global negotiations and youth organizations, IISD Next has connected with several outstanding youth who are making a difference.

Here are just a few of them…

Rachel Boere, Youth4Nature Foundation

In 2022, Youth4Nature paused external operations for a month of strategic planning and a focus on knowledge sharing and team growth. IISD Next joined to deliver a workshop on policy. “In this engaging session, Emily was able to make policy feel tangible by connecting it to our everyday lives,” shares Rachel Boere with the Youth4Nature Foundation (Y4N). “We covered everything from local policy to international policy, the SDGs, accountability tools, and more. These conversations help us identify our own policy goals, how to identify the policy goals of partners and align with them, how to stay safe when trying to influence policy, and how to identify formal and informal policy all around us.”

Y4N acknowledges that there are challenges preventing youth from leading on solutions in the climate-nature nexus, such as a lack of resources, capacity, knowledge, and access. “Through by-youth, for-youth knowledge-sharing, capacity-building & storytelling initiatives, we strive to educate, equip, and establish youth as the climate-nature leaders we know we already are, on local, regional, and international levels. We focus on solutions that are rooted in traditional and scientific knowledge and grounded in intergenerational justice,” explains Boere.

Since 2019, Y4N has been mobilizing young people around the world to lead on nature and climate action since 2019. The organization has collected over 200 stories from youth in 60+ countries through two global storytelling campaigns, building a lasting community supported with resources, funding, and capacity-building. Y4N has also facilitated nine global delegations—supporting more than 50 young leaders to participate in high-level policy spaces like  UN Climate Change Conferences and New York Climate Week—many of whom now navigate these arenas independently with greater confidence and impact. On the ground, Y4N launched INUKA, a restoration pilot in Kenya supporting youth-led nature-based solutions, which has since scaled into a full program. The organization also co-developed the NbS Global Youth Statement in partnership with GYBN and YOUNGO, engaging over 1,000 youth worldwide in shaping global policy.

Y4N isn’t slowing down any time soon, focusing on creating more policy resources and advocacy tools related to nature-based solutions. 

You can learn more about their work and impact at: youth4nature.org/impact.

Paige Wise, Institute for Management and Innovation, University of Toronto

Paige Wise attended the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-5)—the world’s first international treaty to combat plastic pollution—through the Children and Youth Major Group (CYMG) to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). She was researching the INC process and outcomes for her master's degree in sustainability management final research paper at the University of Toronto. 

“As a youth at INC-5 and a graduate student researcher, I attended INC-5 plenaries, contact groups, bilateral meetings, and side events to learn about the INC process and challenges,” says Wise.

“Participating in the IISD Next session on plastic subsidies helped my understanding of the complexities of the negotiations. It helped me understand that there are many economic mechanisms involved in the artificially cheap price of plastics, and that more studies are needed to understand the full extent and implications of plastic subsidies.”

She’s transforming her experience at INC-5 into presentations for her master's cohort to further the education of the MScSM program on international treaty negotiations. “It has been an empowering experience to present to my cohort on everything I know and experienced at INC-5,” she explains. 

“In addition, I am proud of translating this passion I have into working with professors on related research studies at the University of Toronto and furthering the knowledge of the university and beyond.”

Viewing these international negotiations as a researcher, she came home with ideas for positive changes moving forward. “I would like to see international agreements act more efficiently to ensure systematically thought-through negotiations towards legally binding instruments, that nations can adapt to successfully. Globally, there are nations taking a stance and implementing their own climate programs at a fast pace, affecting international trade. These policies have a big influence on other national responses and programs implemented, and I would like to see lessons from positive sustainable development policies adapted to the international proceedings. Essentially, what can each progressive step take from one another, and how processes and mechanisms improve?”

Wise has been inspired by the negotiation process, propelling her towards new research and continued developments in sustainable development policy in her field. She is sharing her knowledge with other researchers, colleagues, and connections to make a difference at the University of Toronto’s Institute for Management and Innovation.

Amira Shousha, Young Diplomats of Canada

Amira Shousha, a delegate with Young Diplomats of Canada (YDC), has witnessed firsthand the transformative power of youth advocacy in global decision-making spaces. YDC provides a platform for young leaders across disciplines to elevate their voices on international issues from trade and diplomacy to climate action and digital governance. 

“What makes YDC so powerful is the diversity of backgrounds our delegates bring,” says Shousha. “We have people with grassroots experience, policy knowledge, scientific training, and more—each contributing their unique perspective to high-level negotiations.” 

Since 2008, YDC has mobilized nearly 300 alumni, empowering young Canadians to broaden their understanding and impact. “Seeing that spark, the moment someone realizes their voice can make a real impact, is incredibly rewarding,” shares Shousha. “It informs the kind of leader they become afterward.”

For youth wanting to make a difference, Shousha recommends taking the risk, applying to as many programs as they can—and not to let any of your identities hold you back from demanding space. “You can’t wait until someone gives you a turn because it will take too long. Seek enough education to constantly mould your knowledge,” Shousha says. “As the world continues to expand, you’ll notice the differences in International communities and systems.”

Despite the scale of today’s global challenges, she remains optimistic about new ideas and innovations. YDC sees a lot of youth who are motivated to make change, which is a reminder that if you want to see positive change in the world, you should not give up.

Creating More Climate Champions With IISD Next

IISD Next recognizes how youth across our communities are inheriting the impacts of climate change more than any previous generation. From discussions with the youth working on creating change, the knowledge gap around how policy is made and how to influence policy change was a real issue.  Without understanding how to navigate the policy landscape, we can’t expect young people to significantly move the needle on climate policy. 

With the boost of systems know-how that IISD Next offers, youth champions can now begin to engage effectively and initiate real policy-level change in the climate space. 

For youth interested in learning more about sustainable development and policy, IISD Next offers a free Campus Workshop Series on Sustainability beginning in September each year.