The Swedish Youth Parliament for Sustainability (Ungdomens Miljöriksdag – UMR)

The Natural Step started the Swedish Youth Parliament for Sustainability in 1989 to promote and teach Swedish high school and junior college students a

scientifically based approach to sustainable development. 

The SYPS uses a series of fun and action-oriented activities in the classroom plus every year there’s a ‘Global Lokal’ conference in a different Swedish city.  This student Parliament gives youth an opportunity to discuss sustainability issues affecting the host community and results in a full-scale sustainability assessment for the community. 

Over the years, more than 500,000 students and 10,000 teachers have been involved with SYPS activities.

This summary was written Shawn Westcott, a 2008 graduate of the Master’s in Strategic Leadership Towards Sustainability Program in April of 2008.