Category: News & Updates

From the Mountains to the Classroom: Eliana’s Story

Meet Eliana Ituarte Strömberg, a 16-year-old contributor to the Global Youth Council who hiked glaciers in Sweden, crowdfunded for climate education, and presented her experiences to Lund Municipality — all while attending school.

Youth Sustainability Science and Policy Internship Programme | Intern Spotlight

Meet Eliana Ituarte Strömberg — a 16-year-old student at the International School of Lund, Sweden, with roots in both Sweden and Mexico. Her bicultural background has shaped a deep curiosity about how different countries can collaborate toward a greener future — a question that led her to write her first article, Scandinavian Success — Too Good to Be True?, and eventually to contribute to the Global Youth Council (GYC).

Eliana Ituarte Strömberg

How did you first get involved with the programme?

Earlier this year I had the opportunity to attend a human rights conference in London where I was first introduced to a group of immensely insightful people. I got inspired to create an article for the Global Youth Council about the misconceptions around Scandinavian success. Then later in the year I had a chance to work with them yet again, when they reached out with a project where around 20 youth pledged to paddle, cycle or hike 100 km in total in order to raise money and awareness to support education on climate change and biodiversity loss.

Tell us about the article and crowdfunding work.

For the article, Eliana didn’t stop at her own perspective. She reached out to a biotech engineer, a Colombian lawyer, and a Sri Lankan lawyer to gather views on collaboration between developing and developed countries — a first foray into interviewing that she describes as genuinely eye-opening.

The crowdfunding campaign had a different kind of power:

It was wonderful to be able to combine the hobby of hiking in nature with the pressing issue of saving biodiversity, and it felt like each step taken in the mountains was a step towards our end goal in sustainability.

The process itself, she notes, was more accessible than she expected — setting up a JustGiving page and working with a supporting adult to spread the word. As she puts it, it really goes to show how many people could achieve similar results.

What made hiking the mountains feel meaningful?

The journey allowed me to get a very first-hand experience of the urgency and need for action when walking through glaciers that were in the process of disappearing. We were seeing huge cracks coming straight out of the cores of the glaciers with water gushing out like a wound, showing exactly how vulnerable these giants really are.

It is one thing to read about glacial retreat. It is another to stand inside it.

You also attended a conference in Cambridge. What did that open up?

The conference in Cambridge was really the starting point when it came to what I could later do in collaboration with GYC — it paved the way for the crowdfunding, the article, and the editing.

Skills gained — including an unexpected one.

One of Eliana’s proudest achievements was being invited to present her crowdfunding experience to Lund Municipality, showing other young people how to combine personal hobbies with causes they care about.

This helped me greatly develop my presenting skills and proved to be a great way to inspire others to do the same.

What does this experience say about youth and sustainability?

Because today’s youth are the future leaders, and will live the consequences of past generations, youth involvement is key in bringing change to the world. After experiencing the immense support from strangers when crowdfunding, it showed how much power youth can hold and the difference that can be made in the topics of sustainability and sciences.

Her message to young people thinking of getting involved?

Before starting crowdfunding I expected the process to be very difficult and time consuming. However, after completing the pledge and raising the funds, I understood that the hardest part was starting. So to all the youth who are interested — you would be surprised at the difference you can make. Getting involved will also allow you to meet a large expanse of people who are interested in similar topics.

Eliana Ituarte Strömberg is a contributor to the Global Youth Council and a student at the International School of Lund, Sweden.

Call for Stories & Artwork – Futures 2027

Do you know any creative, articulate youth from ages 8-20 worldwide who might be interested in submitting their creative and inspiring 3-5 page stories to be selected, edited and published?

Would you like to help them win awards and have their work published internationally?

Would you like to empower young people to engage with global sustainability, justice, and the future that we want?

If so, the Center for International Sustainable Development Law is encouraging you to share the following opportunity with young people who want to make a difference in building a sustainable future. 

The Voices of Future Generations Children’s Initiative (VoFG), in partnership with the Global Youth Council on Science, Law and Sustainability, is seeking stories by youth about the future they want, inspired by the Sustainable Development Goals. 

At this time, young people ages 8-20 and their families or friends, from around the world, are invited to submit short stories (3-5 pages) about fictional characters from their region of the world and any SDGs of interest, along with a 50-word biography, in order to be considered for awards and publication.

The stories should creatively and imaginatively communicate a message about global sustainability, justice and the future we want. Stories with characters and settings that share children’s culture and unique environment or local realities will be preferred. Importantly, the stories should be about the kind of future that young people would like to see (this can include, of course, stories about dystopian futures they don’t want, and how to avoid it).

The top stories will be chosen to feature in the Anthology, with the young writers winning Platinum, Gold or Silver Awards for their work.

Original artwork submissions will also be accepted. The Gold-winning artwork will be chosen as the cover for the Anthology.

This book will be published internationally, raising the voices of future generations and spreading our messages for a fair and sustainable tomorrow among peers and global networks, worldwide. 

An International Commission of leading experts and agencies, together with youth leaders from around the world including VoFG alumni, will select the winning entries.

Eligibility:

(1) Youth ages 8-20 

(2) Open to all countries or communities

Guidelines for story submissions:

(1) format: entries should be 3-5 pages single-spaced, size 12

(2) submissions must include a 50-word biography of the author written in third person (she/he/they). Please refer to the following example from Futures 2026.

(3) stories should be written with sustainability and our future in mind

(4) language: Stories must be submitted in English or accompanied by an English translation if written in another language.

(5) Teachers involving one or more class groups in the contest should limit submissions to 10 entries.

Guidelines for artwork submissions:

(1) artwork must be the original work of the contestant. 

(2) accepted artwork include: paintings, drawings, collages and/or digital illustrations

(3) file formats accepted: jpeg, png & jpg

(4) Photos or scans of physical artwork must be clear and evenly lit. Blurry, too dark, too bright, or otherwise hard to appreciate artwork will not be considered. 

(5) ensure no copyrighted materials are used in the artwork

(6) artwork suspected to be produced by Artificial Intelligence (AI) will not be considered.

(7) contestants can participate in both the story and artwork contests.

How to Apply:

Please submit your entries via our online forms. Applications sent via email will not be accepted.

Submit a Story                    Submit artwork

Deadline: June 15, 2026

Criteria for Awards:

The stories will be judged for:

(1) originality,

(2) creative thinking,

(3) link to key messages from the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

(4) specific focus on achieving one to three of the most crucial UN Sustainable Development Goals that addresses the most important problems and solutions special to the young writer’s culture, community or country.

To get a sense of the kind of stories we are looking for, please read previous editions here: Futures 2025 & Futures 2026If you have any questions about the contest, please contact GYC Vice Chair and Futures editor Nico Roman at nico.roman@vofg.org cc’ harmony.online.journal@gmail.com;  ela.martinez@vofg.org

2025 Sustainability Science & Policy Youth Action

Building the Bridge Between Science, Policy, and Youth Action

By Annabel Koven (BSc Candidate, Brown University) and Stella Baek (3rd Year, University of Oxford)

Introduction

What does it look like when sustainability science and policy move beyond lecture halls and into the hands of young people ready to act?

From July to September 2025, we had the privilege of coordinating and mentoring the first-ever pilot Sustainability Science & Policy Internship Programme, jointly delivered through the Centre for Energy, Environment and Natural Resource Governance (CEENRG) at the University of Cambridge and the Global Youth Council on Science, Law and Sustainability (GYC-SLS). Supported by experts from CISDL, IUCN, UNEP-WCMC, WWF, and the UK Environmental Law Association, the programme was designed not simply to teach sustainability—but to practice it.

As early-career scholars working at the intersection of law, science, and governance, we were motivated by a shared belief: youth engagement in sustainability must be rigorous, meaningful, and connected to real policy processes. This pilot programme became our collective experiment in making that vision real.

From Training to Practice: A Youth-Led Model

Over the course of the summer, we worked with a diverse, high-performing cohort of youth leaders. Rather than assigning abstract tasks, we co-designed a series of hands-on, policy-relevant assignments, guiding participants step-by-step through the skills that sustainability professionals actually use.

Under our mentorship, interns collaborated directly with experts and peers to tackle pressing sustainability challenges, such as learning how global environmental governance works not just in theory, but in practice. This meant balancing ambition with precision: learning how to write clearly for policy audiences, how to translate science into public communication, and how to engage communities ethically and effectively.

One of the first assignments invited participants to edit and refine a professional sustainability biography, grounding their academic interests and lived experiences within the broader field of sustainability science and policy. For many, this was the first time they had articulated their role in the sustainability ecosystem, particularly as emerging practitioners rather than students.

Biodiversity, OECMs, and Global Treaties

A central focus of the programme was biodiversity governance, particularly Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures (OECMs)—an area where science, law, and community engagement intersect in powerful ways. With mentorship from experts at UNEP-WCMC and IUCN, interns developed both technical understanding and public-facing communication skills.

Participants designed and published social-media content to raise awareness of local biodiversity and OECMs, learning how digital platforms can support conservation outcomes when used thoughtfully. These campaigns were not symbolic: they connected global biodiversity frameworks to local realities, demonstrating how youth-led communication can amplify under-recognized conservation efforts.

At the same time, interns built practical skills in treaty analysis and legal writing, engaging directly with international environmental agreements and their local implications. This culminated in a major achievement: interns authored treaty summaries for inclusion in the online companion to Sustainable Development Law: Principles, Practices and Prospects (Oxford University Press, 2025). These contributions were reviewed, accepted, and will be published–marking many participants’ first formal entry into global legal scholarship.

Publishing, Fundraising, and Collective Impact

Beyond research and writing, the programme emphasized the importance of communication, leadership, and financial sustainability. Interns authored articles on their selected treaties for the GYC online journal, serving as senior editors, junior editors, or contributors. Through this process, they learned editorial responsibility, peer review, and collaborative publishing—skills often missing from early sustainability training.

Equally important was learning how to raise awareness and funds responsibly. Participants led social-media and JustGiving campaigns, achieving their pledges in support of GYC-SLS and UNEP-WCMC. These efforts demonstrated that youth engagement can be both values-driven and effective, contributing tangible resources to institutions working on the frontlines of sustainability.

Mentorship as Co-Creation

For us, mentorship was not a top-down exercise. Throughout the programme, we coordinated and facilitated online and hybrid planning, training, and action workshops, adapting the programme in real time based on participant feedback. As this was a pilot, co-development was essential, and the interns rose to the challenge.

What stood out most was the cohort’s collaborative spirit. Participants supported one another across time zones, disciplines, and lived experiences, embodying the kind of global cooperation that sustainability governance demands. Our role was to guide, edit, challenge, and encourage while trusting youth to lead.

Looking Ahead

Being part of the inaugural Sustainability Science & Policy Internship Programme was both a responsibility and an honour. As confirmed by programme leadership, this experience reaffirmed the power of youth-led, expert-supported education to generate real global and local impact.

This pilot was not an endpoint, but just the beginning. We hope it serves as a model for how universities, international organizations, and youth networks can work together to build the next generation of sustainability leaders: grounded in science, fluent in policy, and committed to equity.

To every intern who contributed their time, energy, and ideas–thank you! You reminded us why youth empowerment is not a side project of sustainability work. It is the work.

—
Annabel Koven & Stella Baek