The ‘Youth4Water India’ 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 get displaced.
<p>“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 – cum – Mentor of the ‘Youth4Water’ campaign. </p>
“Odisha is one of the most highly vulnerable geographies in the world when it comes to climate change impacts, and sea-level rise and related impacts could displace thousands of people from more than 300 villages. While many villages are already submerged under the sea, many more are on the verge of being taken over. Developing a strategy to deal with such a situation has become essential. With this manifesto, we urge upon each political party to support a ‘Strategy for Inclusive Rehabilitation of Climate Displaced Communities,’ that we have already suggested to the state government,” added Panda, informing, this manifesto’s relevance is for the entire country.
<p>“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.</p>
“The youths who were covered under this survey have demanded several layers of protection, including employment guarantees with dignified income, health insurance, the 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 huge areas of concern for policymakers, and Odisha is a hotspot in this regard,” added Pati.
Dhaneswar Mallick of the Astaranga area, a youth actively involved in this survey, demanded 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.
<p>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.</p>
“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,” added Pati.
“We are also proposing local climate resilience building in an ecosystem-based approach and adhering to a ‘commons policy’ that takes care of conservation of all local common property resources—like freshwater ecosystems, marine ecosystems, coastal forests, sand dunes, etc.—so that people who prefer to stay in their respective areas can be assured of local protection from climate change impacts,” added Panda.
We sincerely hope the political parties will pay attention to this ‘Youth Manifesto,’ said Panda, informing them that this will be shared with all leading political parties in the state.