The One Young World Lead2030 Challenge for SDG 15 seeks ideas and innovations aimed at restoring ecosystem services and biodiversity by combating deforestation, countering desertification, and ensuring the conservation, restoration and sustainable use of terrestrial and inland freshwater ecosystems. Business and ecosystems are connected. Companies affect ecosystems because they rely on their provisioning services, such as freshwater, food, land, to name a few. The world’s ecosystem services have been degraded over the past 50 years and we continue to deplete our natural resources at an alarming rate. While many of the effects are felt locally first, the long-term consequences are global and the scale of change is highly relevant to business, presenting risks and opportunities. Expanding human requirements and economic activities are placing an ever-increasing pressure on land resources, creating competition and conflicts in acquiring natural resources, resulting in their suboptimal use. By examining all uses of land in an integrated manner, it is possible to minimize conflicts, to make the most efficient trade-offs and to link social and economic development with environmental protection and enhancement, thus helping to achieve the objectives of sustainable development. SDG 15 aims to protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems to benefit, now and in future, from this natural ecosystem-service. This Lead2030 Challenge is specifically focused on SDG 15 targets.
Benefits
- A US$50,000 grant from Novartis
- 12 months of mentorship from a team of Novartis professionals.
- The mentorship team will work to accelerate your solution based on the needs of your initiative or organisation, such as: Business strategy, best practices for data collection, monitoring and evaluation and product design
Eligibility
- The challenge welcomes solutions from young innovators (18-30 years old), Solutions must have a positive social impact, for example generating employment, or developing skills.
- Impacts of solutions must have been adequately measured and/or be measurable.
- Solutions must be able to achieve efficiency and to survive independently through the resources they generate and/or the investments and donations they attract and potential to perform as well or better after expanding in scope or size and/or being transported to other regions
The application deadline is on 18 December 2020
