Organised by the Hungarian Government in cooperation with the World Water Council, the mission of the Summit is to make water a source of cooperation, peace and development for all the countries committed to sustainable development.
To this end, participants of the Budapest Water Summit 2016 will lay down their proposed solutions for the relevant international bodies by adopting the Budapest Statement 2016.
Youth focus
GWP will be participating in the Women’s Forum, Civil Forum, with a strong focus on the Youth Forum.
Trends like internal migration towards cities and transboundary migration where youth are key actors are among the most urgent and complex challenges currently faced by governments. Along with awareness raising, training and capacity building activities, empowering youth by involvement in decision making processes and governance mechanisms is key to raising the importance of the challenges faced by youth.
The Youth Forum, organised by GWP Hungary, convenes future decision-makers for an exchange of ideas. Youth representatives will share the results of efforts to implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the local, regional and international level. Sessions will connect cross-generational professionals in order to improve capacity building efforts. Participants will provide input towards the Budapest Declaration and stand-alone Youth Declaration. By fostering space to create linkages, the Youth Forum aims to promote future international cooperation on solving pressing water issues.
Since 2015, GWP together with its partners, such as World Youth Parliament for Water (WYPW), Water Youth Network (WYN), and L’Office franco-québécois pour la jeunesse (OFQJ), etc. has been very active and started a process during COP 21 by producing a white paper of recommendations by youth on climate change action. Implementation of recommendations has begun at ground level and shows huge potential for upscaling. The messages have been echoed since then in the Nantes Summit 2016 (Climate Chance) which issued a declaration explicitly recognizing the inclusion of Youth; World Water Week in Stockholm; and COP22.
With the water community coming together in Budapest, it is necessary to include the role of youth in the Budapest Declaration, recognising their important role and ensuring support for their initiatives.