Turning Point Dialogues: Recent Episodes
UN SDG Action Campaign
The Turning Point Dialogues are an integral part of the #ACT4SDGs campaign and aim to inform and inspire participants about key issues like climate action and poverty alleviation, human rights, combating global inequalities. Through the Dialogues, change-makers from across the world share their vision for how we can turn it around, and will issue a call to action for audiences to take action in their own lives and through their spheres of influence.
The latest IPCC report issued stark warnings of humanity’s current direction of travel towards a post-1.5 degree C global temperature rise. Nowhere in the world is more vulnerable to the impacts of this trajectory than Small Island Developing States and Least Developed Countries. Through the lens of a Pacific Climate Warrior, this important Dialogue will convert rhetoric into reality and issue a clear call to action for decision makers and the global community as we head towards the most important upcoming opportunity - COP26 - to turn it around for the future of people and planet.
The realities of the climate crisis are keenly felt by communities on the frontline of the climate fight across the world. In this climate edition of the Turning Point Dialogues, we’ll focus in on climate action in the Latin American region to understand the most pressing challenges within the context of environmental defenders and Indigenous wisdom and shine a spotlight on what action must be taken now. Through the lens of a young climate activist who advocates for most affected people and areas (MAPA), we’ll unpack the vision for what could truly create transformational change at this turning point for people and planet.
The realities of the climate crisis are keenly felt by communities on the frontline of the climate fight across the world. In this climate edition of the Turning Point Dialogues, we’ll focus in on climate action in the Latin American region to understand the most pressing challenges within the context of environmental defenders and indigenous wisdom and shine a spotlight on what action must be taken now. Through the lens of a young climate activist who advocates for most affected people and areas (MAPA), we’ll unpack the vision for what could truly create transformational change at this turning point for people and planet. This dialogue is in Spanish.
Following the incredible mobilisation we’ve seen for the Sustainable Development Goals, as world leaders gathered this September, the global community is now rapidly heading towards another critical global moment – COP26. The latest IPCC report, according to the UN Secretary-General, is a ‘code red for humanity’. We must act now to tackle climate change and use the trillion-dollar pandemic recovery to ensure all actions are green, fair and just. Join this special launch edition of a Climate Series of Turning Point Dialogues to unpack what is urgently needed to ensure we mobilise to leave No One Behind and fight for the transformational action on climate that the realities of this crisis demands.
The 2030 Agenda and the SDGs are very ambitious frameworks that set the bases for a sustainable future. In this context, Local and Regional Governments around the world are advocating for the SDGs as a roadmap to recovery, making these ambitious commitments a reality on the ground. Local and Regional Governments are playing a key role in the implementation of the SDGs by making sure that the world that we construct is built on the expectations, aspirations, and dreams of the citizens and communities. As cities and territories are being unique enablers of this transformation, localization of the SDGs remains a core aspect for sustainable development. Join this Turning Point Dialogue to know more about how local governments are turning around and advancing with daring actions towards the definition of a new social contract while imagining and building more inclusive, innovative, and caring cities and territories with their communities.
Bold and urgent action is needed to put us on track towards the Sustainable Development Goals, whilst allowing people and the planet to prosper. The SDGs are more relevant today than ever as they are a shared agenda for a better future for all. To commemorate the 6th anniversary of the SDGs this special conversation, with the Administrator of UNDP, Achim Steiner, unpacks what it will take to undo the devastating reversals of progress that we’ve seen as a result of the COVID 19 pandemic - so we can keep the promise of the SDGs and ensure an equal, fair, green and just post-COVID world.
The first ever global Food Systems Summit comes at a sobering moment. More food is being produced than ever before, yet around a tenth of the global population was undernourished last year, with numbers higher due to the pandemic. Current food systems suffer two major deficits. They are not inclusive, as shown by COVID-19, where food scarcity and insecurity increased particularly for those already poor or marginalized. Current food systems are also not sustainable, leading to land degradation, greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity losses, obesity, poor nutrition and hunger. Climate change is both a driver and a consequence of hunger. And hunger drives conflict. This special edition of the Act4SDGs Turning Point Dialogue series will explore the intersection between food systems and climate, gender, COVID-19 and conflict – to unpack what it will take to transform food systems as a vehicle for change for people and planet.
Creative education has the power to transform the lives of young people to overcome trauma, grow artistically and gain skills to enter the global marketplace. Visual story-telling provides a vehicle for empowerment that can open new opportunities and provides a tool for tackling sustainability challenges by capturing the reality of the photographer’s lived experience, whose work in turn can spark positive and sustainable change. Canon and Lens on Life are turning it around for youth empowerment through visual storytelling.