01 Jun Youth Reflections from the 10th World Water Forum and World Youth Parliament for Water 6th General Assembly
Image credit: World Youth Parliament for Water
In May, seventy youth water leaders from around the globe congregated in Bali, Indonesia, to participate in the World Youth Parliament for Water (WYPW) 6th General Assembly and 10th World Water Forum (WWF). Taking place every three years in the lead-up to the WWF, the WYPW General Assembly is a unique opportunity for youth to work together, shaping and sharing perspectives for a more peaceful, sustainable and water-secure future.
The overarching message from the General Assembly? We are water. Water is the source of life, sustaining communities, economies and ecosystems around the world. It’s also a resource under threat.
Rivers are a key battlefront in the threats posed by climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss. They are the lifeblood of the planet, and it is vital to accelerate action to achieve healthy and resilient rivers for future generations. Forming an integral part of our Global River Network, we believe that youth are vital actors in protecting, conserving and equitably managing our precious water resources.
Following the General Assembly and World Water Forum, we spoke to members of the WYPW to learn about their reflections and key takeaways. Their important messages are highlighted in this short compilation video. Keep reading to explore their full messages and key recommendations for a more equitable and sustainable water future.
Alyssa D’addio
Some key takeaways from the General Assembly would be that there are so many youth around the world who are creating really important change in their communities and advocating for water solutions to those challenges. Another thing I can take away is that there’s really strength in numbers, and it’s really one thing to have one youth leader to be advocating, but to have us all together to advocate for the same messages makes a greater impact.
From the Forum, I would say that some key takeaways would be that solutions need to come from the communities and that communities need to be involved and leading the projects and the solutions to water challenges. If there’s no meaningful participation from the communities and especially marginalised groups – so women, girls, youth, disabled persons, minority groups – it will never be sustainable and will never achieve effective impact.
Danielle Kamtié (outgoing Vice-President, World Youth Parliament for Water)
So, as we already know, youth inclusion is really important to achieve the SDGs, and for water prosperity. So, what I realised is that at this Assembly we have so many young people from different backgrounds with different experiences, and we should all include them and these experiences in water management because they have… innovative ideas that they can bring to the table when it comes to water management. So, the water sector is not only the water sector, but also climate, education – all these different sectors that we have people that are very active in, so we should all collaborate together.
Rae Landriau
Some key takeaways from the World Water Forum have been to stop it with tokenism – we need youth in these spaces, in the discussions, not just here so that you look good. We need to ensure that we’re collaborating with people on all levels of governance, from local to industry professionals and government as well. Finally, we need creative approaches; where’s the art? We talk about these innovative methods on how to communicate science and then we’re not doing it so that needs to change.
Emily Kroft
My biggest key takeaways from the World Water Forum are, first of all, that solutions for water need to take everyone into account, especially on the local level of small communities – they always need to be consulted with when planning for new water solutions. The other key takeaway is that these solutions need to be holistic in scope. So, it really does need to take into account all places along the water supply chain and also whole water systems.
Gilbert Sandy
I’m super happy to be part of the World Youth Parliament for Water. It’s kind of mind-blowing to be chosen… I’m just from a small island. I really got so many insights and knowledge about what’s happening in the world, [and we learnt] from the local, national and international issues. I learnt that it’s important to include young people’s voices in policymaking.
People in my place, they already did the adaptation and mitigation of climate change and how they deal with water. Now, what we have to do is to support them. The Government must know what happens, so the government doesn’t just come and teach them, but they will build from what people know. Sometimes, we think we know what people want, but it’s not their needs. We have to localise knowledge to the people, and we must know what people need to that the advocacy we’re doing [is effective].
Laili Sabiha Binti Md Saberi
I really love this forum, because by attending I can gather with all water leaders around the world, and what you learn is about how important water is as a way to achieve peace around the world. Water is a human right.
Teddy Katongo Chifumbano (President, World Youth Parliament for Water)
I was really pleased to see youth participation. And not only youth participation, but the youth, they did their best also to be involved. My key takeaway messages are that one, we need to do more, especially at the community level. We can’t go out there and push for policies that people on the ground don’t even know about. There is a common saying that ‘charity begins at home’. If we’re going to push for policies, if we’re going to push for something that involves the community, it’s better that we rehearse with the community and let the community first accept it, and then we advocate for it.
The other thing is that I saw the importance of youth, and one thing I was disappointed in, and this is my takeaway, is that youth were only given five minutes to present on high stakeholder panels, and that never sat well with me. I feel we need to engage more youth because for me I’m a key believer that youth are not the leaders of tomorrow, but they are the leaders of today. So, if you are going to involve youth, let them be there full-time, let them participate with no boundaries.
Ninsiima Alison Linda
One of my major highlights throughout the whole session is that you can’t always do it alone, you have to work together and as a team.
Tania Fu
So, at the World Water Forum it’s been great to meet new people and also learn from the experts in different fields. On of my key takeaway messages is the importance of working with communities. I attended a session on Monday where it was all about touching people’s hearts and really engaging with people through values and culture. I think something that I’ve learnt so far being at the World Youth Parliament for Water General Assembly and also the World Water Forum is the idea of transboundary basins. I come from Aotearoa or New Zealand, and I’ve never heard of this concept before because we don’t border with any other countries, so it was really cool to learn more and hear other people’s experiences.
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