Around the world, committed young people are addressing this acute issue and researching options for action to implement sustainable water conservation concepts at the local level. At the international youth conference projects and needs will be presented, Berlin best practices will be discovered together and experiences will be exchanged.

Welcome to the International Youth Conference WATER

Bezirksamt Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf | 30.10. to 3.11.2023

Dear participants,

We are glad that you are with us. Here you can find all important information for our conference and excursions in Berlin.

THE EVENT

The district of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf invites you to the international youth conference IYC WATER from October 30 to November 3, 2023. Water is the basis of all life. Due to environmental pollution and human-induced climate change, water resources are becoming alarmingly scarce worldwide. This is compounded by the unfair distribution of water resources and the exploitation of groundwater resources by multinational corporations.

Around the world, committed young people are addressing this acute issue and researching options for action to implement sustainable water conservation concepts at the local level. At the international youth conference, to which we invite our European partner communities and our cooperation partner of the Education Box #2030 from Kalpitiya Sri Lanka, projects and needs will be presented, Berlin best practices will be discovered together and experiences will be exchanged.

The International Youth Conference on Water is organised by the Department of Education for Sustainable Development in cooperation with the European Commissioner of the district and the Youth Department of the district Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf in Berlin.

YOUR HOSTS

Oliver Schruoffeneger (District Councillor)
Svenja Arenz (Conference Coordinator/Team SBNE)
Juliane Brix (Team SBNE)
Gunnar Betz (Distric Europe Representive)
Josué Almeida (Support/Team SBNE)
Leonie (Volunteer)
Luca (Volunteer)
Sophia (Volunteer)
Emma (Volunteer)

VENUES

In Teams of the IYC 2023 we’ll discover specific issues about Water. During the week you will interact with your teammates, discover exciting initiatives and places, and explore common questions. These are the teams:

TEAM RAIN

Regenwasser Agentur/Rain Water Agency

A better urban climate, cleaner waterways, less flooding and healthier urban greenery – there are many reasons why we should manage stormwater on site rather than simply dumping it down the drain. The Rainwater Agency is here to help you along the way.

TEAM LAKE AND SMALL WATERS

Ökowerk e.V/Ecoworks Association

The nature conservation center Ökowerk Berlin is a place of learning and experience in a historic industrial plant, the oldest still existing waterworks in Berlin in the middle of the forest Grunewald. In the red brick building from 1872 with its distinctive chimney, various rooms are available where education is fun: forest hall, library or laboratory. In the WASSERLEBEN (waterlife) information center, visitors can learn a lot about the vital wet. At interactive models you can build rivers, measure groundwater, imitate frogs and much, much more.

TEAM INLAND WATERS

Leibnitz-Institut für Gewässerökologie und Binnenfischerei/Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries

IGB is Germany’s largest and one of the leading international centers for freshwater research. It is also one of the oldest institutions in this field. Today, science at IGB covers a wide range of disciplines – from hydrology, physics, geography, ecology and evolution to

socio-ecology, from molecular biology to the study of entire ecosystems and catchments, and from microbial ecology to fish behaviour. Their findings and methods provide an excellent basis to train young scientists and to promote an open knowledge exchange with

society. Thus, the institute contributes to coping with ecological and societal challenges, such as the adaptation to global change, the conservation of aquatic biodiversity and the sustainable use and management of inland waters.

TEAM SEA & OCEANS

Merijaan

In the past 10 years, we humans have produced more plastic than in the entire 20th century. We should learn from this for the next ten years. 80 million tonnes of plastic are currently lying at the bottom of the ocean, slowly turning into microplastic. If we produce, consume and dispose of plastic waste as we do now, the annual amount that ends up in the ocean will increase 2.6 times by 2040. Without our oceans, human life on Earth would not be possible. It’s time for us humans to give back and protect the oceans from plastic pollution. Merijann deals with plastic as a resource and raises awareness for sustainable use. Merijaan is acting today for a better tomorrow.

TEAM DRINKING WATER

A tip:tap e.V./A tip: tap Association

a tip: tap (ein Tip: Leitungswasser/tap water) is a non-profit association that campaigns for tap water, against packaging waste and thus for an ecologically sustainable lifestyle. The association is campaigning for a water turnaround that aims to make tap water the main beverage in society. At 177 liters per person, bottled water consumption in Germany today is 15 times higher than in the 1970s. People in Germany buy bottled water, although we have top quality tap water and drinking tap water can save plastic waste, CO2, money and transport distances. Tap water is a wonderful example of sustainable consumption: a regional product, packaging-free, low-emission and healthy – and thus an easy start to a more sustainable lifestyle for all people in Germany.

YOUR TASK

Your Question Guide for the week and your finale presentation on Friday, 3rd at Rathaus Charlottenburg. Plan about 15 minutes for your team presentation. The most creative team presentation will be awarded on Friday evening!!! 🙂 Slides and Templates you can find here:

SBNE_Master_IYC-1 Herunterladen

Guiding questions:

1. TEAM
We present our team!

2. PRESENTATION WATER DESTINATION
Where we have been? We present our water destination (Tuesday) and special focus on water.
Where is it located?
Who received us? (short video, interview, photos, audio, whatever you like)
What does the institution or initiative work for?
Why is their work important/relevant for our planet?
What did we particularly like?

3. LOCAL AND GLOBAL MISSION
If we had any influcence on the water policy of our city and the global level, we would:
a. …
b. …
c. …
…

4. NEXT STEPS
Our visions, wishes, questions?
Ideas for future joint cooperation?

5. OUR MOOD BOARD
Our feelings and impression after our IYC week in Berlin:
Design your IYC mood board!

CONFERENCE PARTICIPANTS AND THEIR PROJECTS

Young people and supervisors from:

Kalpitiya/Sri Lanka
Project: Goodbye Plastics – Building a Plastic-Free Future for the Sustainable Fishing Village of Kandakuliya, Kalpitiya

The Goodbye Plastics project empowers the Kandakuliya community to address plastic pollution. We transform waste into art, raise awareness, reduce waste, and advocate for change. Together, we build a sustainable future for our fishing village, preserving coastal resources and securing thriving industries for generations to come.

Ratsgymnasium/Minden

Project: Continuing long-term monitoring of biota and fish communities to evaluate effects of intervention to rehabilitate River Bastau

Free passage for fish and other aquatic organisms and near natural water bodies are important concerns in nature conservation and environmental protection. Our goal is to support the recreation of a natural habitat for both animals and plants living in our brook Bastau.
For our project, we made use of monitoring to supervise the ascension of the fish upstream. The hypothesis was to prove whether a repopulation is possible for the fish in the Bastau

Herder-Gymnasium/Minden

Project: Water Resources in the Global Perspective
As part of our twin school in Tanzania (since 2009) we take a global perspective on the question of water resources. Comparing the situation in our municipality and in Malibwi/TZ, a remote and rural are where our twin school is located, we strive for a better awarenes of the importance of SDG6. With local partners, a parish with partners in Malibwi, the Welthaus for fair trade we cooperate with experts. Together we learn and improve our intercultural skills and mutual understanding with our partners in the global south. The project also contributes to the Herder-Gymnasium taking steps to be a UNESCO project school (process since 2021).

Şişli-Istanbul/Turkey

Project: Value Your Water
As part of the project, five students, along with members of the Environment and Climate Club, will install water-saving devices in their kitchens and bathrooms. Colorful tags promoting water conservation will be affixed to the sinks and a seminar on the value of water will be given to family members who participate in the project. Water consumption rates before and after installing the devices will be examined, and the impact will be measured in cubic meters. The project’s outputs will be shared with stakeholders, including Şişli Municipality, parents, and all other schools in the Şişli district. The project aims to spread the message of water conservation far and wide, reaching every school, public building, and residence in the district

Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf/Berlin
Project: Installation of Public Water Dispensers at Schools

Children’s and Youth Parliament/Environment Working Group

Our project originates from one of our group members, who saw the sheer amount of plastic bottles in front of his school gym, drawing his attention not only to the excessive usage of plastic but also to water sustainability. The overarching goal is to raise awareness about water and plastic usage for different purposes. With the approach of making water easily accessible for the students as well as teachers, and saving plastic that would have been used for the bottles, we aim to raise awareness about these two topics. The water dispenser has an extra function that shows how much water has been consumed and how much plastic saved, so the people can see how much plastic would have been used for the same amount of water in bottles, which will hopefully inspire them to stop buying plastic bottles every day.

Międzyrzecz /Poland

Youth City Council in Międzyrzecz

Project: Rain Water Project Development „Gardens of the future“
Our plan is to implement rain gardens on a wider scale in cities. Due to its special structure, the garden is like a retention system. It is composed of layers of varying permeability and moisture absorption, so it allows rainwater to be filtered and collected. Thus, it prevents its direct runoff into the sewage system. The plants that are used have high water absorption and are resistant to periodic flooding from heavy rains. The structure will allow water to be gradually returned to the ecosystem. Through proper selection, the style of construction can be adapted to green areas to fit thematically into the neighborhood. For larger areas, afforestation can be used, and for smaller areas, shrubs and free-standing plants can be used.

Ludwig Frank Gymnasium/Mannheim

Project: yEUr Water – Row on It, Care for It

Our project is part of an Erasmus+ project supported and financed by the European Union. The origin of the idea was to support and boost student mobility and concentrate on digitalisation and environmental education. The main goals of ”yEUr Water” are social inclusion of students from different countries (our partner schools are from Spain, France and another school from Germany), to strengthen the European identity, enjoy water sports as a team sports beyond national borders and raise awareness for our (sustainable) water usage and treatment.
The project has helped us to get a better understanding of the limited resource water on our planet and how every European city/country has to work together in order to make a difference.

Gladsaxe-Kopenhagen/Denmark

Project: Pollution of our Groundwater with Pesticides

Trento/Italy

Project: Youth Conferences on Climate in Trentino

The project, promoted and financed by the Provincial Agency for the Protection of the Environment and implemented by the Viração&Jangada Association in collaboration with the Jean Monnet European Centre of the University of Trento, involved young people under 35 years of age residing in the provincial territory interested in the topic “climate change and adaptation solutions” in the organisation and holding of 4 Territorial Youth Conferences on Climate, 20 Free Youth Conferences on Climate and, at the end of the whole process, 1 Provincial Youth Conference on Climate, a day during which all the work carried out previously was returned and summarised. It involved 345 young people who, after participating in training sessions with experts and group workshops, drew up 254 policy recommendations on the topic. There were then 5 events to give back to the territory and a Provincial Conference as the final activity.

PROGRAM IYC WATER

MONDAY, 30th of October 2023
Town Hall Charlottenburg

8 am Pick-Up at Aletto Hotel (Samuel, Annika, Marleen)

8.30 am Registration at the Town Hall (Festival Hall, 3rd floor)

9.15 am Welcome District Counselor Oliver Schruoffeneger, Gunnar Betz (Commissioner of European Affairs), Team SBNE, a tip:tap and Pati Keilwerth (UNWATER)

9.45 am Speed Dating

10.15 am Project Presentations by Twin Cities and Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf
10 minutes Presentations + 5 min Q&A (open audience)
1) Gladsaxe
2) Mannheim
3) Kalpitiya
4) Minden – Herder Gymnasium

11.15 am Healthy Break

11.45 am Project Presentations by Twin Cities and Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf
10 minutes + 5 min Q&A (open audience)

1) Sisli Belediyesi
2) Międzyrzecz
3) Trento
4) Minden – Ratsgymnasium
5) Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf

1 pm Overview of programme in the afternoon

1.15 pm Lunch provided by Culinary Kiosk

2.15 pm Workshops & Team Building

1) Team Rain: Festival Hall Vorraum (Juliane)
2) Team Lake & Small Waters: Festival Hall (Gunnar, Luca)
3) Team Inland Waters: Bürgersaal (Svenja, Leonie, Sophie)
4) Team Drinking Water: Bürgersaal (Samuel, Annika und Marleen)
5) Team Sea & Oceans: Minna-Cauer-Saal (Gianna, Josué, Emma)

5 pm Walk together to the restaurant

5.30 pm Dinner at Asude Restaurant, Bismarckstraße 63-64, 10627 Berlin
(Svenja, Samuel, Emma)

20 pm Accompaniment to the hotel (Svenja and Emma)

TUESDAY 31st of October 2023
Aletto Hotel Zoologischer Garten

9 am Warm Up, greeting and let’s go!

Field Trips (packed lunch)
11 am Workshops & Talks at the institutions

1) Team Rain (Juliane)
Rummelsburger Bucht with Rainwater Agency, Hauptstraße 4b, 10317 Berlin
2) Team Lake & Small Waters (Luca)
Experiments at Ökowerk e.V., Teufelsseechaussee 22, 14193 Berlin
3) Team Inland Waters (Svenja, Leonie, Sophie)
IGB and exchange with Dr. M Venohr, Müggelseedamm 310, 12587 Berlin
4) Team Drinking Water (Samuel, Annika)
Drinking Water Street Walk with a tip: tap, pick up at Aletto Hotel
5) Team Sea & Oceans (Josué, Emma)
Workshop with Merijaan OHG, Workshop with Merijaan OHG, Haus der Materialisierung, Berolinastraße, 10178 Berlin

2 pm Free time and accompaniment to the guided walk meeting point

4 pm Guided Walk Berlin Wall
Meeting at Infomobil, Mühlenstraße 73, 10243 Berlin-Friedrichshain

6 pm Dinner at Peter Pane/East Side Mall, Tamara-Danz-Straße 11, 10243 Berlin
(Svenja and Marleen)

8 pm Accompaniment to the hotel (Marleen)

WEDNESDAY, 1st of November 2023
Town Hall Charlottenburg

8.30 am Arrival at the Town Hall (Festival Hall, 3rd floor)

8.50 am Welcome Tainá Guedes

9 am Workshops and Exhibition UNWATER with Tainá Guedes & Friends

1.45 pm Lunch provided by Culinary Kiosk (Festival Hall, 3rd floor)

2.30 pm Free Time

4.30 pm Optional: Accompaniment to the TV Tower, meeting point Aletto Hotel (Juliane, Emma and Annika)

5.30 pm Visit to TV Tower, Panoramastraße 1A, 10178 Berlin

7.30 pm Dinner at Hofbräuhaus, Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 30, 10178 Berlin (Juliane, Emma and Annika)

9 pm Accompaniment to the hotel (Annika)

THURSDAY, 2nd of November 2023
Aletto Hotel Zoologischer Garten

8.45 am Greeting and let’s go! (Svenja and Marleen)

10 am Boat Tour
Schloßbrücke, Charlottenburger Ufer 1, 10587 Berlin

11 am Arrival Berlin-Mitte
Friedrichsstraße/Reichstagsufer 18 (in front of the Tränenpalast)
Walk Together to Bundestag

1 pm Lunch at the visitors’ restaurant Lower House of Parliament
Paul-Löbe-Haus, Konrad-Adenauer-Straße 1, 10557 Berlin

3 pm Discussion in the parliamentary group room of BÜNDNIS 90/DIE GRÜNEN

5 pm English-language guided tours of the House, ending on the dome of the
Reichstag building (for the young people outside of Berlin only)

6.15 pm Meeting point visitors’ entrance Reichstag, joint walk to the restaurant (Svenja)

7.15 pm Dinner at Amrit, Ebertstraße 14, 10117 Berlin (Oliver, Svenja and Samuel)

8.45 pm Accompaniment to the hotel (Samuel)

FRIDAY, 3rd of November 2023
Town Hall Charlottenburg

8.30 am Arrival at the Town Hall (Festival Hall, 3rd floor)

9 am Welcome, division in groups and overview for the day

9.15 am Work in teams – preparing presentation

12 am Lunch provided by Milidia

1 pm Final presentation, 15 minutes + 5 min Q&A (open audience)
1) Team Rain
2) Team Lake & Small Waters
3) Team Inland Waters
4) Team Drinking Water
5) Team Sea & Oceans

3 pm Closing words and joint Coffee Break

3.30 pm Free time

5.30 pm Meeting at movie theater delphi Lux (next to Aletto Hotel)
Yva-Bogen, Kantstraße 10, 10623 Berlin

6 pm Filmreihe #2030 at movie theater delphi Lux
„Aquarela“ by Wiktor Alexandrowitsch Kossakowski
Talk with Oliver Schruoffeneger and Audience
Delphi Lux, Yva-Bogen, Kantstraße 10, 10623 Berlin
(Oliver, Juliane and Annika)

8 pm Evening reception with sandwiches provided by “die Stulle”
Delphi Lux, Yva-Bogen, Kantstraße 10, 10623 Berlin
(Oliver, Juliane and Annika)