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Excellencies, Friends, Young leaders and changemakers.

We are here because our food systems are not working the way they should.

But we are also here because young people are changing that story with courage, with creativity, and with conviction. From policy to protest, from farming to filmmaking, you are reshaping what leadership on food systems looks like.

I thank the Governments of Ethiopia and Italy, and the UN SDG Action Campaign, for creating this space to celebrate that leadership. To do it here, in the Africa Hall — a place built on solidarity, purpose and the pursuit of self-determination — carries great meaning.

Today, we honour that legacy by lifting up a new generation of changemakers.

Young people are confronting hunger, inequality and climate breakdown, and building systems that are more just, more inclusive, and more sustainable — and you are doing this against the backdrop of a profound contradiction.

We produce enough food to nourish every person on Earth. Yet tonight, over 750 million people will go to bed hungry.

As is the story we see time and again in so many of the crises we face, it is women who bear the greatest burden.

Despite growing more than half of the world’s food, women account for two out of three of those facing hunger.

Women are excluded from land, credit and decision-making, even as they nourish families and communities.

Food systems are not just about food. They are about everything we value: health, livelihoods, climate, biodiversity, culture and community.

They are about sustainable development and human dignity. At a time of geopolitical division and rising distrust, food can be a rare source of unity: a rallying point for peace, for solidarity, and for renewed multilateralism.

This is the spirit that animated the Rio Conventions – the recognition that food, environmental protection, social equity, and sustainable development are all connected. I speak to young people in every part of the world.

What I see, what I feel, is a generation that understands these connections instinctively.

A generation that connects the dots in ways mine took far too long to learn. A cohort of leaders that refuse to accept injustices as inevitable.

You know that climate action and food systems reform go hand in hand. That agriculture cannot be separated from nature. That land, livelihoods and dignity are not competing priorities, but part of the same struggle for fairness and resilience.

You are also playing to your strengths to solve this challenge.

As the first truly digital generation, you are using every tool available — including data and artificial intelligence — to reimagine systems from the ground up.

You do so with a deep sense of purpose, refusing to be defined by the limits of the present, and choosing instead to shape the possibilities of the future.

Young people are primed to see not just the challenge but the immense opportunity. We know that sustainable food systems could unlock more than five trillion dollars in economic value each year.

Beyond the numbers, they represent something more powerful: a vision of dignity, of equity, and of a future where no one is left behind.

We see that opportunity being seized across the world.

From Brazil’s call for ���ܳپ���ã�� — shared action for the common good — to the wisdom of Indigenous communities and the innovation of youth-led agroecology, a new model of leadership is taking shape.

What makes this generation truly unique is that for the first time, we are seeing art and creativity not only as expressions of culture, but as catalysts of transformation.

Art tells the truth, even when it is uncomfortable.

It exposes injustice.

But it also stirs the soul.

It lights the way toward the world we want to build.

In murals, in music, in movement, young people are using their personal creativity to shift narratives, challenge silence, and awaken solidarity.

Never forget that your creativity is not a side note — it is the spark that ignites change.

So keep creating, keep provoking, because your art is not decoration, it is disruption, and disruption is how transformation begins.

Few artists embody this as powerfully as Rocky Dawuni, a Grammy-nominated singer, songwriter and activist whose music speaks to justice, unity, and global citizenship.

Through his art and advocacy, Rocky has championed the rights of youth and communities across Africa and beyond, reminding us that music can be a rallying cry for change.

Very soon we will be lucky enough to hear his music in person. There is a lyric of his that stays with me, it’s about agency and hope and it echoes the energy in this room today.

He sang: “Light up the darkness with a positive spirit… Oh, I’m gonna let my whole light shine.”

That is exactly what you are showing the world today and the world must listen.

It is time for leaders to match your imagination and determination. We need new forms of collaboration across governments, civil society, the private sector and financial institutions.

We need to scale up investment in small-scale producers, Indigenous communities and youth-led enterprises. We need policies and financing grounded in rights, rooted in equity, and designed to deliver justice.

Ladies and gentlemen, young changemakers,

Those who carry hope do not wait for the world to change, they roll up their sleeves and change it themselves.

So, let us roll up those sleeves, build systems that nourish every person, restore our planet, and honour the creativity that lives in every community.

In simple terms, light up the darkness, and keep it burning.

Thank you.