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SPLASH! Issue n°14 - March 2004 CLOSING ISSUE
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Editors note:
“You can’t cross a river merely by standing and staring at the water”
March is the time of the year when unfortunately many of our new years resolutions have been long forgotten. But as the days get longer and warmer, and spring draws near, a renewed sense of energy and commitment is felt.
The key to a more sustainable future is education. Formal and informal education of our youth and children will bring up new informed, aware and active generations more committed than ever to our environment. Over the past year SPLASH has tried to play its role in educating the global community by bringing out the work being done by governments, NGOs, the private sector and in particular youth groups, and sharing their stories and ideas with the world to encourage others to get involved. It has also aimed at providing additional tools and resources on different water related topics to help.
Thank you for all of your support! SPLASH was sent out during the Year to over 40,000 people around the world in English, French and Spanish and has been viewed online by over 30,000 people. It has won various awards and has been mentioned as an example of best practice. Thanks to YOUR resources and projects around the world, we were able to help inspire others to take action.
The Secretariat of the International Year of Freshwater 2003, on the occasion of the closing issue of SPLASH (now that the Year is over), wishes to thank all the people around the globe who made this newsletter a success, and acknowledges with thanks the key role that Giselle Weybrecht, Marie-Aude Bodin and Eliza Bennett played in the publication of SPLASH! The International Year of Freshwater 2003 has been made more memorable by the newsletter and its readership.
Contents - Beyond 2003
 In Focus: International Year of Freshwater 2003
Water Events:
- World Water Day 2004: Water and Disasters
- International Year of Rice 2004
- International Decade for Water for Life 2005-2015
- International Decade for Education for Sustainable Development 2005-2015 How to stay involved: Ideas for Fundraising
How to stay informed: Facts and Figures, Education Corner and Water Library
Take action!
- Argentina – Visitors to a national park learn about water
- Brazil – National newspaper brings out the voice of youth
- Canada – Volunteers help save a pond, along with its frogs and turtles
- Kenya – Students and their communities study the health of local rivers
- Italy – Students create a DVD on water and languages
- Peru – Pumped up for Peace helping the native community of Huacaria Water Talks Myths and Stories
IN FOCUS: International Year of Freshwater 2003!
 The year was officially closed by the Director General of UNESCO Mr Koïchiro Matsuura on the 20th of January 2004 in a ceremony at UNESCO headquarters in Paris. More than 2,200,000 visitors have clicked through the wateryear2003 website and the numbers keep going up! With on average 6,000 visitors a day, the website will continue to be an important resource for those looking for information on water.
The Photo Library, prepared for the Year by the World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP), has also seen a huge success! With over 30,000 visitors in the past couple of months and many contributions from the public. Here you will continue to find a wide selection of photos from all over the world illustrating issues related to water resources. Most of these photos can be used freely.
(Photo provided by Colegio de Educación Secundaria Básica Camilo Torres in Cuba)
WATER EVENTS
>> World Water Day 2004 - Water and Disasters
The UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction and the World Meteorological Organization have been charged with co-ordinating events for the 22nd of March, World Water Day. For more information visit the official website as well as the International Year of Freshwater website for facts and figures sheets, resources and websites related to water and disasters (ie. desertification, drought, floods, pollution, etc.)
 >> International Year of Rice 2004
Devoting a year to a commodity is an unprecedented step in United Nations history. In 2002, the government of the Philippines, along with 43 other countries, formally requested that the UN General Assembly declare 2004 the International Year of Rice. Increased hunger, malnutrition, poverty and conflict in the coming decades were the reasons for this decision. For more information visit their website, available in 7 languages.
>> International Decade for Water for Life 2005-2015
The General Assembly proclaimed the period from 2005 to 2015 as the International Decade for Action, "Water for Life", beginning on World Water Day, 22 March 2005. The Decade's goal will be a greater focus on water-related issues, while striving to ensure the participation of women in water-related development efforts, and further co-operation at all levels to achieve water-related goals of the Millennium Declaration, Johannesburg Plan of Implementation of the World Summit for Sustainable Development and Agenda 21. For more information and updates visit the International Year of Freshwater website.
>> International Decade for Education for Sustainable Development 2005-2015
In September 2002, the World Summit on Sustainable Development recommended to the United Nations General Assembly that "it consider adopting a Decade of Education for Sustainable Development starting in 2005". In December 2002, resolution 57/254 introduced by Japan on the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development beginning 1 January 2005 was adopted by consensus. In developing the draft International Implementation Scheme for the decade, UNESCO is engaging in wide consultations with as many partners and stakeholders as possible in developed and developing countries. For more information visit the official website.
HOW TO STAY INVOLVED: Ideas for Fund-raising
The number one most asked question over the past year has been "we have a great project, but we need funding!" Some ideas to get you started:
- People won't give money unless you ask for it! Put together your project, your budget and start fundraising.
- Find volunteers to get involved in your projects. Try to contact the WorldVolunteerWeb.org for more ideas.
- Approach your local businesses. They might be able to provide materials free of charge ie. an office supplies store donating a computer.
- Look at government, global corporations, international and national organizations, embassies, cultural centres etc. Many have contests or other programmes in place to fund projects like yours.
- Don't forget that donors are not bank machines. Be sure to thank them and keep them updated about the projects that they have agreed to fund. Provide them with the information they request, who knows, they might fund you again!
For more ideas visit the Water Library for resources on fundraising. Remember, for ideas on how to get more involved and some successful projects, visit the How to Get Involved section of the website (first steps, in your community, in your everyday life, in school, in the garden) and past issues of SPLASH.
HOW TO STAY INFORMED: Facts and Figures, Education Corner and Water Library
 Step 1: FACTS AND FIGURES to learn about the issues in 5 minutes
16 facts and figure sheets to learn about Water and Culture, Bottled Water, Women and Water, Water and Cities, etc. in just a couple of minutes. Check out the Facts and Figure sheets on Desertification and Drought, and Floods to learn more about this year's theme for World Water Day: Water and Disasters.
 Step 2: EDUCATION CORNER to learn more about the basics, for parents, teachers and students
Educational resources for teachers and students on different topics. Don't forget to visit the games section, the water comic book and the colouring corner. Check out the educational material on water and disasters for World Water Day and the material in the agriculture section for the International Year of Rice.
 Step 3: Visit the WATER LIBRARY if you want to know the whole story
Want to learn even more about a particular water related topic? Visit the Water Library for links to important documents and websites. Check out lots of new resources on water and disasters for World Water Day 2004.
TAKE ACTION!
>> ARGENTINA - Visitors to a national park learn about water
Fundacion Temaiken (meaning "Land of Life" in Tehuelche, an indigenous language in Argentina) is a Argentinean NGO founded in 2001 with a strong commitment to the preservation and protection of natural resources and species in particular in a 34 hectare park/zoo named Parque Temaiken. About 1.3 million people visited the park during 2003, 10% of them were students from primary and secondary schools who received a booklet, "Practical and Theoretical Manual for
Teachers for the IYFW 2003", a publication dedicated to inform and sensitize the students between 6 and 14 years old and their families (and also the teachers) about water. For more information, visit their website.
>> BRAZIL – National newspaper brings out voice of youth
For the third consecutive year, the Brasilia office for UNESCO has developed a partnership with O Estado de Sao Paulo, one of Brazil's largest newspapers, consisting of a contest that encourages young journalists to write articles on a particular topic. This year the topic was freshwater. The articles were published on the 5th of December 2003 in a special 8 page newspaper supplement. For more information visit their website.
>> CANADA – Young volunteers helped save frogs from a pond to be filled to become a parking
In Petrie Island (Ottawa, Canada), a kids’ run club called the Amphibian Conservation Club (ACC) took the initiative to save and translocate the frogs from a pond to be filled to become a parking lot. After a lot of hard work, volunteers convinced city officials to delay filling by a few weeks only. The kids adopted a protected habitat nearly 1km away and worked during the summer and the fall of 2003 to move the frogs (135 were successfully translocated). For more information visit their website.
>> KENYA – Students and their communities study the health of local rivers
The Stroud Water Research Center in Pennsylvania, USA, had an opportunity to partner with the Green Belt Movement in Kenya, Africa. Three primary schools in Kenya studied their local streams including history, aquatic insects and land-use. The elders, who were invited to speak to the students about the history of the rivers, touched on such issues as the size of the river, its cleanliness, and how it has changed over the years. By involving the entire community from the beginning, the process ensured ownership of the project and established community interest in its outcome. For more information visit their website.
>> ITALY - Students create a DVD on water and languages
Students from the Faculty of Languages of the Universitio of Torino created a DVD which focuses on water and languages. For more information contact Mariagrazia Margarito
>> PERU – Pumped up for Peace helping the native community of Huacaria
Pumped up for Peace aims to encourage teachers and students around the world to raise money to help communities install filtration systems that will remove organisms (for example, bacteria, parasites, viruses, and cysts) that are contaminating their water or to install water pumps that will allow them to access clean water that is underground. The first community being helped is the native community of Huacaria located in the Amazon rain forest. For more information visit the Cyber School Bus.
WATER TALKS
"The Juruna Indians lived close to the forest where there was no river. A bird called Juriti owned the drinking water, which she kept in three barrels. One day, the children of chief Cinaa were thirsty. They went to Juriti and asked her for water. But Juriti wouldn't give them any. 'Go back to your father', she said, 'after all, he is the Page, the big chief. Why doesn't he get water for his own children?'
"The children went home crying from thirst and told their father what had happened. 'Don't ever go to Juriti again,' said the chief to his children, 'Her water barrels are full of fish. It's too dangerous.' But they were tempted by this story and a while later they went back. When Juriti was not looking, they broke the barrels so that the water flowed out. When Juriti realised what had happened, she got very mad. The children were afraid and jumped back, but for one of the brothers, Rubiata, it was too late. A big fish flowing out of one of the barrels swallowed him..."
For the rest of the story visit the Water Myths and Stories page. Special thanks goes out to the International Water and Sanitation Center for offering extracts from their book Water Stories.
 The Water Talks section of the website also contains
- The word Water in different languages
- Water postcards to print and send to your friends
- Water proverbs from around the world.
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