World Water Day 2022

It has already been one month since World Water Day 2022! The YELL Network has a number of partners who are doing exciting work on the ground to address water challenges here in Malaysia. However, we need more than groups of passionate environmental activists—youth or otherwise—to get where we want to go. Societal-level behaviours are at the root of many water and other environmental challenges—so we need societal-level change in awareness, attitudes and actions.

In conjunction with World Water Day, partners in the YELL network put together a series of reflections and provocations about how we might change people’s relationships with water:

Reflection Pieces

Youth Environment Living Labs

World Water Day: The Sungai-Longkang Problem

Benjamin Ong (UNDP Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei Darussalam) and Affan Nasaruddin (Water Warriors, Universiti Malaya)
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Youth Environment Living Labs

World Water Days: Hidden Waters

Adzmin Fatta (Green Semporna) with David Tan (UNDP Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei Darussalam)
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Youth Environment Living Labs

World Water Day: River as a Social-Ecological System

Kennedy Michael and Syuen Toh (Alliance for River Three) with David Tan, Ng Yong Sin, and Zayana Zaikariah (UNDP Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei Darussalam))
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Youth Environment Living Labs

World Water Day: Solving People’s Problems through Rivers

Kennedy Michael and Syuen Toh (Alliance for River Three) with David Tan, Ng Yong Sin, and Zayana Zaikariah (UNDP Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei Darussalam)
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Youth Environment Living Labs

World Water Day: Telling Stories

Chong Kah Yee, Kaw Pai Yeow, Chia Yien Jiax, and Leong Kevin (KaKaCauCau)
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In these features, we see a (non-exhaustive!) range of entry-points for reconnecting people with water and water bodies. There is no silver bullet solution. Rather, as we build and strengthen a variety of reasons for people to care about water, we hope to create a tipping point where concern for the environment and for our neighbours becomes the status quo.

If these features have whetted your appetite for more, we have added deeper dives on changing individual and community attitudes towards water bodies through A Tale of Riverine Placemaking at Two Sites and A Systems Approach to Connecting People with Rivers.

During our World Water Day media campaign, we also caught a glimpse of the rare — almost mythical — Green Shark. Watch this space to find out what this means for water, environment, and the YELL Network.