YOUNG MEDITERRANEANS CHANGING VIEWS AROUND WATER AND MIGRATION

  Marrakech, Morocco, April 1^st  2018 – 44 passionate young water professionals from Algeria, Congo, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Portugal, Spain, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey and Yemen have gathered last week in the Terres d’Amanar eco-resort in Marrakech, Morocco, to attend the Center for Mediterranean Integration’s third World Water Day Youth Workshop, focused on the theme of Water and Migration, an essential aspect of the United Nations “Leaving No one Behind” 2019 World Water Day theme.  The 2019 World Water Day Youth Workshop is led by the Center for Mediterranean Integration (CMI) and organized jointly with the World Bank and the CMI-managed Mediterranean Youth for Water Network (MedYWat), with the support of the Global Water Partnership Mediterranean (GWP-Med), the International Center for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies (CIHEAM), the German Development Agency (GIZ), CEWAS Middle East and the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM). Since 2017, this regional event has highlighted the pivotal role of Mediterranean youth in fighting the region’s ever-worsening water challenges. With this initiative, CMI and its partners are seeking to amplify the voice of youth in the Mediterranean water agenda and showcase the value, and innovation that they bring to the debate. Young participants attending the event were selected through third Mediterranean Water Heroes, a contest organized by the Center for Mediterranean Integration and targeting the region’s young water professionals working on creative and innovative projects focusing on Water and Migration. Since its creation in 2017, the contest has received over 300 applications from 18 Mediterranean countries and has connected over 182 youth participants. Alumni of the 2017 and 2018 Mediterranean Water Heroes editions also participated in this event as members of the CMI-managed Mediterranean Youth for Water Network (MedYWat), a community of young water professionals from different backgrounds working on water in the Mediterranean. Reaching beyond Mediterranean borders, CMI also invited representatives of youth water networks operating in Central Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa as well, thereby expanding MedYWat’s horizons for future collaboration. During this 4-day-workshop, participants connected with experts from international development organizations and exchanged knowledge and ideas on the links between water scarcity and migration, notably water governance and forced displacement, climate change and migration, the water-employment-migration nexus as well as water entrepreneurship for Mediterranean migrant youth. The event also saw the launch of a series of five CMI-led working papers on water and migration, resulting from a pairing between young researchers and senior experts. The papers are the following:

• The Impact of the New Refugee Discourse on Water Governance in Lebanon and Jordan by Hussam Hussein, Alberto Natta, Abed Al Kareem Yehya and Baha Hamadna
• The Impact of the Wall on Water Access and Human Migration in Palestine by Kholoud Al Ajarma, Faissal Aziz, Ghadeer Arafeh, and Lamis Qdemat
• Addressing the Water-Migration Nexus: The Role of Water Governance In Migration Policy, by Fatine Ezbakhe, Anas Tallou and Jamal Mabrouki
• Water Stress and Human Movement: Eco-camps as Exemplary Solutionsby Kholoud Ajarma, Ines Gasmi, Amr Madi and Stefano Basso
• Water Crisis, Unemployment, and Forced Migration inside Palestinian Refugee Camps, by Ghadeer A. Arafeh, Faissal Aziz, and Baker M. Abu Rjelah

  More about the event: bit.ly/WorldWaterDay019 Mediterranean Water Heroes Videos: http://bit.ly/MedYWat  Media Contacts: (Ms) Zein Nahas, Senior Communication Officer at the Center for Mediterranean Integration, (cell) 00 33 6 04677242,znahas@worldbank.org (Ms) Myriam Ben Ghazi, Communications at the Center for Mediterranean Integration, mbenghazi@worldbank.org, (cell) 00 33 6 59 03 52 83