Fifteen-year-old Kinohi Souki remembers the birth of her political conscience. Fittingly, it happened on the same beach in Hawai’i where her family released her umbilical cord into the ocean, as is custom for Indigenous Hawaiians after birth. It is here, too, that the ashes of her deceased loved ones have been spread. “This might be just some beach to some,” she says. “But this is where my ancestors lived and died.”  

So when construction plans threatened to disrupt the beach and its surrounding ecosystem (SDG 14: Life Below Water), Kinohi gathered there alongside hundreds of other community members to protest. One of her teachers was arrested, she recalls. For Kinohi, it was a pivotal moment. 

In addition to being Native Hawaiian, Kinohi is also Native Unalaskan, so she understands more than most why equity and justice are critical for unlocking and upholding progress for everyone, everywhere — especially communities that have been marginalized, mistreated, or exploited. Knowing what her ancestors experienced — colonization, displacement, disease, poverty, and  more recently, climate change — has shaped who she is today. It’s why, as a member of the Hawai’i Youth SDG Council, SDG 16: Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions is so important to her. “People think of islanders often as victims, but we are really survivors,” she says.  

Kinohi recently joined representatives from 42 other islands across the Pacific, Indian, and Atlantic Oceans to discuss the unique and shared challenges each island is facing at this year’s Local2030 Islands Network conference. This year focused on data for climate resilience (SDG 13: Climate Action) and sustainable and regenerative tourism (SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production), topics that are particularly relevant for young people like Kinohi. “I think these island connections are what’s going to strengthen us,” she says. 

At this year’s Hawai’i Sustainability Summit, Kinohi also worked with other students to draft policy language advancing the Global Goals that will be submitted to state legislators. In describing emerging young leaders like herself, she points out: “We’re not just the future, we’re the present.” 

By M.J. Altman, United Nations Foundation