Sahel

Building on two public debates bringing together Young Voices of the Sahel (100 young people from 10 Sahelian countries) and political decision-makers and experts, the session aims to hear the testimonies of young people around the issue of water in their daily lives, and to promote an exchange with political actors and experts to outline solutions, particularly by putting these young people in the position of actors of change, and supporting their access to courses and green jobs.

Sustainable groundwater management to increase community climate resilience represents an opportunity for innovative investments and management choices that can also contribute to improved household livelihoods and poverty reduction among dryland communities. Since 2018, the World Food Program has been implementing an integrated resilience package across the 5 G5 sahel countries + Senegal under BMZ funding.

Aligned with the ambition of the WWF, UNICEF RO for West and Central Africa propose t a dialogue between young people from the Sahel, who are deeply affected by water issues and policy makers, as part of the 9th World Water Forum.This dialogue could be one of the panels on Day 3 o water and climate or Day 4 on water, sanitation and gender.From 2021, UNICEF has successfully engaged young people of the 10 countries in the Sahel in inclusive public debates on key issues affecting the region.

The Sahel is characterized by drastic climatic conditions, recurrent droughts, land degradation, poverty, malnutrition, forced migrations. The Great Green Wall Initiative was created in response to this contact with the vision of restoring the viability of the natural capital and productive systems of the Sahelian lands and transforming them into areas of economic prosperity that are perfectly integrated into the economic fabric of the countries. The Initiative integrates the three paradigms of Restoration / Development / Security.

Les zones humides jouent un rôle important dans la sécurité de l’eau, la résilience des communautés, la réduction des risques climatiques et la sécurité humaine. Les gouvernements Africains s’engagent pour leur sauvegarde à travers des plans et politiques nationaux et internationaux comme la Grande Muraille Verte et la Convention des Nations Unies sur la Lutte Contre la Désertification.

The session will bring together stakeholders from both water and security sectors and scientists working on analyzing water-security linkages, with the objective of sharing insights and identifying next steps in actions to tackle water-related security risks based on a shared understanding of water-security linkages. With examples from ongoing work in Mali, Niger and Chad.