Sustainability is something we can't stop talking about. It's at the forefront of conversations and dialogues. So was the case for my volunteer assignment—promoting sustainable development guidelines in project planning and execution.

Raymonda Chamoun, Ghiwa Farah and Youssef Saab serve with UNDP Lebanon in water and irrigation engineering. Together, they support the Environment, Climate and Energy Programme to better manage the country's natural resources. They operate in collaboration with local municipalities and civil society organizations.

I was working for the Irrigation Bureau of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Japan (currently the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries) when I was invited to speak at a symposium hosted by the United States Consulate in Fukuoka. At the event, the Principal Officer gave me a book entitled The Good War: the U.N.'s World-Wide Fight Against Poverty, Disease and Ignorance. That chance encounter, in the summer of 1969, changed my life.