Water is a fundamental resource to ensure future sustainable and inclusive economic growth; and access to water is vital as a basic human right. Therefore, the First Aral Sea summer school had been held under the banner of «no one is left behind”, and aimed to service youth – one of the most vulnerable groups as specified in the 2030 Agenda.
We view young water leaders as future decision-makers, who are going to influence development of both the Central Asian region and beyond. Thereby, we aim the summer school to become a tool to empower and inspire youth to choose nature-based solutions when addressing environmental challenges.
The event was organized by “Central Asia Youth for Water” (CAY4W) Network in cooperation with the Kazakh-German University, Almaty, and International Secretariat for Water, Canada (ISW) with the support of Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), World Bank (WB), “Barsakelmes” State Nature Reserve (SNR), The International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea (IFAS) and Global Water Partnership (GWP).
The Summer School took place in a period of August 10-18, 2019 in the form of field trips around the Aral Sea Basin and thematic trainings from experts from Central Asia, as well as Germany and Japan. Introductory and conclusive parts of the event were held in Almaty and hosted by the Kazakh-German University (DKU).
Among the main topics covered in details during the expert sessions and discussions were:
Here you can find the detailed program of the school: The I Aral Sea Summer School Program
Photos of the Aral Sea Summer School may be downloaded here.