Within several decades, Sustainable Development has evolved from a mere slogan to a worldwide movement, including not only governments and international organisations, but likewise individuals, local communities and initiatives. Long-term concepts and mechanisms on the local level, developed and implemented by the people, are crucial to tackling today’s global challenges. Educated young people around the world have ambitious aims which can significantly contribute to engaged civic participation.

Asia, the world’s most populated and diverse continent, is severely affected by the impacts of climate change, water, food, energy and resource scarcity, and geopolitical tensions, rapid industrialisation and urbanisation. The Hong Kong-America Center (HAC) and the Regional Project Energy Security and Climate Change in Asia-Pacific of Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS) are therefore conducting a webinar for passionate and engaged young people from all over Asia to deal with these challenges. With the guidance of experts, the participating teams are developing holistic and long-term solutions for selected challenges in their home region by applying local knowledge and experience.

The event consists of two parts. As an introduction to the topic, the participants engage in an online webinar course to discuss the implications and possible implementation of four selected UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):

• SDG 7 – Affordable, clean energy
• SDG 9 – Industry, innovation and infrastructure
• SDG 11 – Sustainable cities and communities
• SDG 13 – Climate action

In the second part, the teams compile multimedia essays which they will present at a summit of the Asian environmental ministers. The Sustainable Asia project gives young participants a voice in the development of their future, and a place to tell their stories of how development has worked, or not worked, or could work, in their communities. It seeks to facilitate the exchange of perspectives and ideas across regions and cultures, incubate further development of solutions, and provide an online platform for the global recognition of innovation. The webinar not only equips the teams with a broad understanding of sustainable development and practical experiences in multimedia production but also gives participants the chance to support their local communities, enhance their existing activities and build cross-border cooperation networks. HAC and KAS will make the final products available to the public, including a broad range of activists and political decision-makers in Asia and beyond.

At the beginning of the year, young people from the Asia-Pacific region were invited to submit project proposals for the webinar. The proposals included a detailed description of the project’s topic, motivation and aims, as well as a production plan. Over a dozen groups from all Asian subregions sent their proposals covering a broad array of sustainable development issues. Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS RECAP) and Hongkong American Center (HAC) selected the five best groups to participate in the webinar.

These proposals convinced us as they have a clear understanding of the SDGs and presented visually interesting and communicative ideas. They involve communities and have the potential for further improvement. The following projects have been admitted:

• Mitigating Climate Change through bio-char agriculture in Nepal
• Sustainable slum development in Pakistan
• Sustainable college campus and cities in India
• Innovative Waste Management in Indonesia
• Restoring public spaces in Mongolia

The webinar started in May 2018 with online courses and discussion the four SDGs and what they mean for a sustainable future development in Asia. The teams examine online resources and enrich the extant material with their own contributions. They exchange their opinions, experiences and ideas with the organisers and external experts. A special focus is on how to implement the respective SDGs in their home countries. In each session, participants meet face-to-face online to review the discussions and results.

In summer, the creative-productive part follows. Based on what the participants learnt, each team makes a multimedia product (“the essay”) about a selected topic. This can be videos but may include other issues such as audio, text etc. The essays deal with sustainability projects the teams have previously started to implement in their community. They tell these stories by highlighting the human dimensions of the problems that communities grapple with in achieving the goals of the SDGs.

In January 2019, representatives from each team will attend the Asia-Pacific Ministerial Summit on the Environment 2018 in Singapore. Ministers and other high-ranking government representatives will meet to coordinate their countries’ joint efforts in climate-related sustainable development policies. Nongovernmental and civil society organisations from Asia-Pacific will seize the opportunity to join the Summit. The five project teams webinar will present their multimedia products to the ministers and participants. They further will take the opportunity to get in touch with other NGOs and build networks around Asia.

For further information see our project website.