“Cecilia, an 11 year old girl from Uruguay wants to tackle all the SDGs. She writes: “Everybody has to have an opportunity of living well and having a peaceful life with all basic needs covered. Because we only live once and that once is when we have to improve. We, children, can tell adults that don’t realise what is happening the importance of the effects that we have on people’s lives and on Earth, and try to convince them to make the world a better place. If we want to help we can also teach others what they have to do, for example if someone throws a paper on the floor we have to tell him/her what to do with it, in this case to put it in the litter bin.””

“Shiwa, a 17 year old girl from Afghanistan, is concerned with a cross cutting issue: child labour. She tells us that we need to “Raise children’s voices in order to stop child abuse, gather and strengthen the voice against child abuse and child labour. Child labour and abuse should be stopped and proper mechanisms should be provided in order to prevent this action against children and make them enable to defend their rights. like proper legal frameworks...””

“Arianna, a 9 year old girl from Italy, wants to achieve SDG 10: Reduce inequality within and among countries. She tells us “Many countries are very poor and in those countries children have less chance at success at proper lives, which is really unfair since everyone should have a chance at a fair life. We can gather all the children who also think the same thing and we could gather up money and donate it to UNICEF and they can help us. Some young women teachers could go and and teach them themselves.””

“Miyu, a 9 year old girl from the United States of America prioritises SDG 2: End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture. She tells us “This global SDG is important for me because I feel that it is unfair that I get to eat 3 meals a day when so many children all over the world do not manage to even get 1 meal a day. I feel that everyone deserves to get 3 meals a day. I think us children should not waste food, remember that there are children who do not get the chance to eat and not be so picky when we eat as well. I think children should learn to respect people’s religions and cultures, so that they do not get into fights with other countries when they grow up, because that eventually turns into war. “”

“Shahee, a 10 year old boy from India, is concerned with SDG 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. He writes: “Everything in the world will become great when both men and women , boys and girls will work together. They will work together when they become equal. They will become equal when girls get everything like boys. Without equality no change will occur. No goal will be achieved. Earth belongs to us, me and my sister. If only I care for it, nothing will change. All the brothers should go to school with their sisters. When all girls and boys will go to school they will help build a very nice place to live on this earth. All the men should care and respect the women. Give them equal rights. Give them participation in everything. Don’t keep half the world away from the other half. Boys and girls, man and woman will together keep the earth going.””

“Yubeen, a 9 year old girl from South Korea worries about SDG 2: End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture as well “because we are all human and to live we need food. Knowing the fact that everyday a person dies from hunger just feels wrong that some people just waste that food when someone else doesn’t even have food. Don’t waste our food and organise food drives. No murder. Everyone has a life and for that to be taken away when that person did nothing is just wrong.””

“Nesisa, a 12 year old girl from Zimbabwe is focused on SDG 2: End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture. She writes “If l am hungry l can’t focus at school therefore my development is hindered. It leads to a great number of fellow children dying from malnutrition and other related diseases / disorders. Hunger pushes us to bad practices such as stealing, corruption etc cultures that we grow up with thus leading to degradation of the national systems. We can engage in a go green campaign pushing for afforestation especially of indigenous edible trees. We can act out dramas in communities encouraging the promotion of sustainable agriculture. We can volunteer at public places to teach our communities the importance of nutrition and sustainable agriculture. We need to create relations so that we learn from children in China and Japan that make things at school that are sold to the world to help their economy.””

“Haninditya, a 13 year old girl from Indonesia, is concerned with SDG 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. She tells us “As I notice in my society and watch in the news, there is still unfair treatment for girls. I am lucky as the daughter of a scientist and a big family where girls are the majority so I am sure it will be good to be shared. I want to tell the story of how my Mom and my Auntie reach good careers in their lives and the substantial factor that differentiate them with other female’s experience in achieving a good life. I plan to make a script to make an inspiring movie””

“Timothy, a 13 year old boy from Nigeria, believes that SDG 7: Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all is important because “I believe that I can help make a difference towards this particular challenge. As a child, I have experienced different power challenges like: power failures, insufficient power supply and rare power supply. As children we are also affected by this problem so we too can help solve the situation. Children can assist by watching the use of power consuming appliances in the home, by doing so we can save energy. Another way for children to assist is by switching of all appliances that are not in use to save energy. The government should ensure that there is adequate power supply and that we should have access renewable sources of power like solar plants, wind power and even hydro-electric power. Power plants should be built in different states and according to their climate conditions for example in hot places solar plants are the best option for power generation and supply, in rainy and riverine areas hydro-electric power plants can be used and in windy areas wind generators can be used. The government should ensure proper maintenance of power plants by funding them to ensure the generators are in good shape and are working perfectly. Maintaining power plants are very expensive but the government should try make it possible for all citizens in different countries.””

“A Grade 6 student from Canada is invested in SDG 6: Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all: “This is important for children because water is one of the most important parts for our body, animals, nature and many more. Some children around the world are getting sick, dehydrated and even dying. As for other children like me, I have as much water as I want. We can help the world meet this goal by not wasting water, making donations to places with a small amount of fresh water so they can make wells and other water resources, making websites to show that we care and that other people can help too like this website, making posters in popular places like a library or near a school or you could go downtown where the news happens and create a poster for people to see on TV. You could share this all over the world to get others involved and go to different places to share your goals with other people so we can make a change in this world.””

“Hugo, an 11 year old boy from the United Kingdom and Portugal worries about SDG 13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts. He writes that this goal is important “because we are the world’s future and if we don’t fix this then no living thing will have a future. We have no power over adults, but we can change our own habits to build a better world when we are grown up. Learn better habits and teach them to our parents too. Have ideas for alternate fuel sources. Get countries to agree to put a very high tax on carbon use - by coming to this conference and getting publicity for this urgent need. I would like rich countries to pay a percentage of their tax to help people in poor countries. I would destroy all nuclear weapons. I would stop countries getting into debt that can only be repaid by the next generation - us.””

“Leandros, a 13 year old boy from the United States of America is passionate about SDG 15: Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss. He writes: “Without trees, we will have no air, without air, we will all die. Then economics and all of the other goals mean nothing. Without healthy ecosystems, everyone will suffer. Pay more attention to the world around us. Take responsibility by creating projects which will make a small or large difference. Don’t believe adults that things have to be this this way... kids can make a difference whether adults agree or not. Stop chopping down our forests, start planting trees everywhere. These are not your trees- they are the world’s Trees- The world, OUR world needs them.””