On 31 January – 1 February 2025, UNU-IAS co-organized the 11th Japan Youth Environmental Activity Contest. This annual event provides opportunities for high school students to share their innovative solutions to environmental problems, empowering the next generation of sustainability leaders. It brought together students from 16 high schools across Japan, who introduced their projects addressing local and global sustainability challenges.
The UNU-IAS Director’s Award was presented to the SDGs Lab Team at Toyo University Ushiku Senior High School for their project on recycling wine pomace, grape seeds and skins into compost for soybean cultivation. Their innovative approach to expanding soybean products from a local specialty to space food and disaster emergency food were highly evaluated.
The event was co-organized by UNU-IAS, the Ministry of the Environment, Japan (MOEJ) and the Environmental Restoration and Conservation Agency, Japan (ERCA).
