Every year more than 400 representatives from the 57 Organisation of Security and Cooperation in Europe-States, civil society, business, and international organizations participate in the OSCE Economic and Environmental Forum. The Forum is the main and highest level annual meeting of the OSCE dealing with economic, environmental and security questions and provides a platform for multi-stake holder dialogue.
In 2015 the theme of the Forum is “Water governance in the OSCE area – increasing security and stability through co-operation.” Different issues related to water governance will be discussed with a special focus in water governance for disaster risk reduction. Ultimately the forum aims at promoting dialogue in good water governance within the OSCE area through sharing best practices and lessons learned, and to involve key stakeholders including the civil society.
Why is this needed?
The Forum is focusing on governance in the water sector as the OSCE members believe good governance contributes to a safer world. They call for increased cooperation, and want to know how to best do this to reduce the impact of expected water disasters. The main reason to discuss this are the floods of last year which heavily affected countries in the Balkan-region (please find more info here).
Why is youth involved
The Water Youth Network is invited to the 2nd preparatory meeting for the Forum that is being held in Belgrade on the 11th -14th of May. We will be sharing our experience in youth participation in water governance in a session especially dedicated to discuss public participation from different stakeholder’s perspectives. The underlying idea is that increased participation will contribute to a safer Europe.
Our contribution will cover the youth activities already undertaken by the OSCE (read the youth action plan here), the outcomes of the stakeholder engagement at the OECD, and the youth outcomes of the Sendai meeting of Disaster Risk Reduction.
These international outcomes are meant to create an enabling environment for local youth organisations, and also to share experiences. We are reaching out to local youth organisations, such as the youth of the Red Cross, to include their local experiences.
Please let us know if you want to contribute!