Three University of Connecticut students had the opportunity to attend the United Nations Summit of the Future Action Days in New York City last weekend.
The attendees include Eliana Raes, a seventh semester environmental sciences major, Judith Otunnu, a third-semester environmental sciences major and Alice Sztabinski, a third-semester environmental sciences major.
The event took place over four days which included “Action Days,” where many leaders spoke at the actual summit.
According to the United Nations website, the summit is meant to bring “world leaders together to forge a new international consensus on how we deliver a better present and safeguard the future.”
Collaborating with the youth to create a sustainable future was one of the topics focused on at the action days, according to Raes.
“The summit of the future is really focused on incorporating young people in the UN. Because I think traditionally, it’s older people that are working in the UN, so they’re actually looking to bring younger people on,” said Raes.
Raes, who had attended the summit last year as well, stated it consisted of many different events and speakers, and it was up to attendees to decide what events they wished to go to.
According to the United Nations website, over 7,000 people came to the UN headquarters for the action days, which consisted of 150 events held “in New York and around the world.”
Raes explained there were speakers from across the world and that the summit was a great place for networking, since attendees can talk to anyone. She said she met leaders of corporations, as well as students from around the world.
“I talked to the [vice president] of Lions International. He built a nonprofit, and I’m interested in building a nonprofit, so I was able to pick his mind about that,” said Raes.
According to the UN website, the aim of the summit was to “accelerate efforts to meet our existing international commitments and take concrete steps to respond to emerging challenges and opportunities.”
Raes said that the summit consisted of discussion about these topics and how to get companies involved for plans in the future.
“The action days were a lot of talking about what we want the summit of the future to be,” said Raes.
The UN hopes to achieve these goals through an action-oriented outcome document called the Pact for the Future.
“The Pact will be negotiated, and endorsed by countries in the lead-up to and during the Summit in September 2024,” according to the UN website.
Raes expressed that the Summit was a wonderful experience, and she encourages anyone to attend.
“It’s very environmental sustainability focused, but also very economically focused. It’s an insight into global things, particularly global international relations. I think that would be [a] really interesting perspective for a lot of people, like not just environmental science communities,” said Raes.
More information on the summit can be found on the United Nations website.