Youth4Water Manifesto Targets Climate Displacement

BHUBANESWAR: The ‘Youth4Water India’, a campaign initiated by Water Initiatives, WaterAid India and sixty-eight other organisations, has just released a 23-Point Manifesto for political parties contesting in these general elections urging upon them to commit to special rehabilitation and support programmes for the youth who are most vulnerable to climate change impacts such as Sea-level Rise and are forced to migrate.

“This Manifesto was prepared based on interviews and focus-group discussions involving 100 youths from Odisha coasts, especially from villages that are facing the wrath of an invading sea, conducted by our volunteers, it was then supported by inputs from experts. Our experience of working with such villages for the last more than three decades also helped strengthen this Manifesto,” said Ranjan Panda, Convenor of Water Initiatives & Co-founder as well as Mentor of the ‘Youth4Water’ campaign. Odisha, being a coastal Indian state, is highly vulnerable because of the impact of climate change. Consequently, parts of the state are becoming increasingly uninhabitable. Thousands of people are facing forced migration due to this issue. The government has been trying to rehabilitate these people and provide other support systems. What’s missing is the political will and targeted policy action from our political leaders.

“Besides covering a host of suggested initiatives that can help vulnerable youths get their rightful support from the system, this Manifesto also covers provisioning of ‘Water, Sanitation and Hygiene’ for both the people who choose to stay and the ones who choose to move,” says Bikash Pati, Technical Specialist – Water at the WaterAid India, who was also involved in guiding the survey.

The youths who were covered under this survey have demanded for several layers of protection including employment guarantee with dignified income, health insurance, right to education, and so on and so forth. We are sure the political parties will support this manifesto as ‘climate displacement & migration’ have already become a huge area of concern for policy makers; and Odisha is a hotspot in this regard.

Dhaneswar Mallick of the Astaranga area, a youth actively involved in this survey, demanded for safe drinking water, safety for girls who are migrating out, involvement of youths in all the eco-restoration initiatives and provisioning of local employment opportunities for youths who don’t want to move out of their native areas.

For Manjulata Swain from Satabhaya area—another youth involved in the survey—safety of girls and equal wage opportunity for them must be the priority of all political parties contesting the elections. She emphasised on the inhuman condition of transport modes which carry migrant workers and suggested better and dignified ways of transport with all basic amenities provided.

All the 23 points put together in this Youth Manifesto point to a positive transformation in policy making and plan-designing to help people displaced by climate change, and the ones who have to resort to further distressed migration. If the political parties support this manifesto, they can actually help the state, and eventually the nation, build climate resilience.

The proposal includes building local climate resilience through an ecosystem-based approach and adhering to a ‘commons policy’ that ensures the conservation of all local common property resources, such as freshwater ecosystems, marine ecosystems, coastal forests, and sand dunes. This approach aims to provide local protection from climate change impacts for those who choose to remain in their areas. Panda expressed a sincere hope that political parties will take notice of this ‘Youth Manifesto,’ which will be distributed to all major political parties in the state.

The manifesto also talked about creating a fund to provide support to the youth aiding their relocation or finding jobs. Climate Finance could also be one of the sources for this fund.