News Headlines

On May 9, SGI Europe held a general meeting at the Frankfurt Ikeda Peace Culture Centre in Germany. SGI Europe Cochairs Suzanne Pritchard and Robert Harrap gave the welcome address. They encouraged members across Europe to work for peace through the power of dialogue. Soka Gakkai President Minoru Harada and SGI General Director Yoshiki Tanigawa attended the meeting that brought together some 450 people from 31 European countries. At the meeting, new leadership appointments were announced: for the Soka Gakkai in Germany Carola De Decker as general director and Julia Lohrmann as women’s leader, and for SGI-Netherlands Gina Hameeteman as general director and Beatrice Sterna as women’s leader.

On April 29, Bharat Soka Gakkai hosted its fifth annual Sustainability Conclave in New Delhi, India. Titled “Building Resilient Futures: Climate, Communities and Collective Strength,” the event brought together over 400 participants including educators, students, media representatives and changemakers. Veditha Reddy, director of Education and Sports for the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi, delivered the keynote speech. The program included youth performances, presentations by local students and a panel discussion. The "Seeds of Hope & Action: Making the SDGs a Reality" exhibition, a joint initiative of the Earth Charter International and the SGI (Soka Gakkai International), was on display after the event.

On April 28, the Toda Peace Institute and Pasifika Communities University cohosted the book launch of Climate Change in Pasifika Relational Perspectives at the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat Conference Hall in Suva, Fiji. The book, the outcome of a collaborative project between the two institutions, challenges Western framings of climate change and affirms the role of Indigenous Pacific worldviews—the understanding that people, land, sea and cosmos are deeply interconnected—in shaping global climate futures. The event brought together some 200 diplomats, policymakers and community leaders. Prime Minister of Fiji Sitiveni Rabuka attended the launch. He commended the collaboration, expressing his hope that the book will serve as an important resource in addressing the climate crisis. The Toda Peace Institute was founded by President Daisaku Ikeda in 1996.