The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) has worked on water for food issues for over four decades, and therefore the decision to join the Water ChangeMaker Awards as a Knowledge Partner was a happy one, says Claudia Ringler, Deputy Division Director of IFPRI's Environment and Production Technology Division. According to her, all water decisions affect climate resilience in one way or another.
Any experience on water management is worth to be shared, says Shamila Nair-Bedouelle, Assistant Director-General for Natural Sciences of UNESCO: “Water managers need to understand the different journeys that have been taken, so that we collectively can promote sustainable water management.”
"We're interested in the Water ChangeMaker Awards because we understand that climate resilience is an active leadership. It is something that requires bold thinking and bold actions, and we need the Water ChangeMaker Awards as a signal for aspirations, for hopes, for what positive change can really look like," says John Matthews, Executive Director of AGWA.
GWOPA’s Julie Perkins talks about the role of water operators and explains why everyone should submit their change journey to the Water ChangeMaker Awards, get recognition and share their solutions with the rest of the world. “The very courageous and visionary people and institutions, who have taken bold leadership to climate action should really be credited with this”.
“Water, sanitation and hygiene are absolutely critical for resilient societies. Whether you are talking about resilience to diseases like Covid-19 or resilience to climate change. And for resilience, you need a strong sector and for good water decisions to be made”, says Virginia Newton-Lewis, Director of Policy and Advocacy at WaterAid Sweden.
On the question why youth should submit their change journeys to the Water ChangeMaker Awards, Lindsey Aldaco-Manners, President of World Youth Parliament for Water (WYPW) says: ”We have a unique opportunity to be a solution, and I think that is also why the Water ChangeMakers Awards exists, because youth are on the rise and that is something to be seen”.
Commenting on the COVID crisis, and whether youth will be thinking about climate resilience now, Maitreyi Koduganti Venkata says: "In times of crises like this, what everyone thinks of is to keep our loved ones safe, keep our families safe. The idea of climate resilience is perhaps not even on the agenda, but that doesn't mean that it's not there at all. The climate protests are still happening, people are still voicing their concerns, it's just on a different platform. An abandonment of this issue has the potential to worsen certain circumstances.”
“Environment is where climate change makes its first impact. It’s either in the air we breathe, the temperatures we live in, the water we drink, the environment we are surrounded by. So environment is the front and center to climate change response, and that’s why environment of conservation needs to be in the discussion around change in water management,” says James Dalton, Director of the IUCN Global Water Programme.
Eddy Moors is the Rector of IHE Delft Institute for Water Education - why they have joined the Water ChangeMaker Awards: “I think it's quite important that we learn from one another and I think the ChangeMakers programme and awards is offering the possibility to exchange with an even wider community than the alumni at IHE has already.”
"One of the most important water-related decision being taken today by communities worldwide is the creation of legal and governance regimes on managing freshwater resources", says IWRA President Gabriel Eckstein.