Background:

The last time the United Nations (UN) held a water conference was back in 1977. Although there have been other events over the years, a global agenda and policy framework under the UN has been missing. Many countries have formulated policies on water resource management but continue to struggle with implementation and monitoring due to unmeasurable impact-driven research intended for practice. In addition, anthropogenic practices have worsened and accelerated climate change impacts which have brought many challenges related to water resource availability and extreme natural disasters such as drought, flooding and typhoons to name a few. Noting the risk climate change is posing to the future generation especially extremely vulnerable communities with limited resources to implement adaptive and/or mitigative measures.

Disasters have significant impacts caused on water and impact our water resources, leading to disruptions in the availability of clean drinking water and water supply for day-to-day activities. It is imperative that after 46 years, this UN water conference captures the role of inclusive and transformed research practices and children and youth’s role in ensuring policies are formulated in a way that ensures they have the opportunity to sustainably develop and build a resilient society for all.  Hence, this session will be an intergenerational and interactive dialogue which will focus on research to practice, policy formulation, water resource management and disaster risk reduction. Risk Reduction and prevention with an all-of-society approach is paramount in achieving SDG 6 on clean water and sanitation. Lessons, shared knowledge and commitments made in this session will contribute towards transforming research and shaping policy formulation starting from the local level to the global stage. 

The side event will present innovative case studies that showcase how 1) youth and local communities are key stakeholders for inclusive and transformed research to ensure sustainable implemented practices, 2) policy can meaningfully engage children and youth and 3) how they can influence policy formulation. After presenting these case studies, there will be an intergenerational panel discussion with questions closely following some of the key messages from the case studies. The panel will consist of children and youth actors, researchers, policymakers and practitioners.