Presenting at World Youth Forum 2018

From the 3rd to the 6th of November 2018, under the auspices of His excellency President Abdel Fattah El Sisi, President of the Arab Republic of Egypt, in the beautiful city of Sharm El sheik (City sof Peace) saw the coming together of over 5000 youths, leaders, community drivers, entrepreneurs, business men and women, advocates from all over the World for the 2018 Edition of the World youth forum.

This year’s event as impactful as it was, had many sessions and discussions where these youths could learn, share their works, experiences and help inspire hope and change by sending a message of peace to the rest of the world.

Harrison Ashangwa, National Director of the International Student Environmental Coalition for Cameroon was selected to take part in this event and represent our voices and those of our members and environmental youth advocates in over thirty countries as a delegate and Panelist in the Work Shop “Day Zero ( Water Security in the wake of Climate change)”. This workshop saw the participation of water professionals, scientists, activists, leaders, teachers and those who are just curious and passionate about the environment and environmental issues from around the World, this session and workshop was graced by the presence and facilitation of Egyptian minister of Water resources and Irrigation and the Egyptian minister of Environment where we learnt much on how Egypt is managing its water crises and their effective use of irrigation especially along the Nile River, the minister also learnt about the challenges we face in our countries especially with water security and scarcity worsened by the devastating effects of climate change , suggestions and recommendations were made that will be channeled to the right channels to effect change in our communities and countries. Interactions, presentations, theme discussions were made and given concerning water security in the wake of climate change and the significant role of young in ensuring this.

Harrison’s presentation and talk was centered around the situation of water scarcity in Cameroon in the wake of climate change, the variability taking place , how this water scarcity and shortage is affecting smallholder farmers in Cameroon, practical solutions that can be implemented in Cameroon adapting to climate change and ensuring that mitigation is also a priority, getting the youths involved in environmentalism, the fight against climate change and environmental issues involving decision making forums where they can also share their ideas and thoughts was center to his talk/contribution. With Regards to the this, Harrison also gave an extensive summary of what the international student environmental coalition (ISEC) is doing in Cameroon and other countries to ensure grassroots environmentalism and getting young people involved in the fight against climate change, while our work was applauded and served as an inspiration to many and we were encouraged to keep inspiring change and sending the message of hope to young people and the rest of the world through our work.

I was privileged to be on the same round table discussion with the Egyptian minister of water resources and irrigation where we learnt much on Egypt’s situation and shared back our situation in our various countries to the minister where he proposed things we could do as young people to enhance solutions to the challenges we face.

While the youth forum gives a unique opportunity and platform of learning from other people’s experiences ( one of such was Day Zero in Cape Town, South Africa and how they successfully managed the water crises) World Youth forum also allows us Network and partner with each other to enhance and foster our individual works and actions. Such partnerships will be beneficial to ISEC and member countries subsequently and we hope to use it to foster our work and get many more people involved