Because of the success of a memorable first (Olympic) edition of a Wetskills Water Challenge in South-Korea in February 2018 (read here) and the great successor in August/September 2019 (read here), we were thrilled to organize the third edition of Wetskills South-Korea!
This edition had 16 participants (aged 21 – 32 years) from South Korea and The Netherlands, as well as Mexico, Senegal, France and Indonesia. Again a very international, cross-cultural and multidisciplinary group of participants! In 3 teams they combined their knowledge and experiences to find out-of-the-box solutions for challenging water cases, which they presented with pitches and posters at the Finals and Awarding Ceremony.
Case 1: Water and gender equality in the Asia & Pacific region
Case owner: UNESCO i-WSSM
Women and girls worldwide are dis-proportionally exposed to water-related problems such as waterborne diseases, limited access to water, water scarcity issues, often combined with time poverty & lack of education. In the Asia and the Pacific region, women and girls are key stakeholders to manage and conserve water resources at the national/local/community levels. Considering the regional background and UNESCO’s Call for Action ‘Accelerating gender equality in the water domain’, what would be your action plan to disseminate the water and gender equality agenda in the AP region, including priority areas, target countries, target levels, effective methods, and specific tasks?
Case 2: Fighting climate change on Korean islands
Case owner: Water Authority Hollands Noorderkwartier (The Netherlands)
The Netherlands is facing several climate related challenges that have their impact on the coastal and island landscape, with problems like flood risks, and periods of drought causing an increased salinity in aquifers and fresh waters. All these challenges have technical, spatial and participation aspects. One of the (public) regional water authorities in the country, HHNK, is joining this Wetskills challenge as a case-owner because they are very keen to learn from the South Korean experiences, in particular related to islands. What are the main challenges Korean colleagues are facing? The team of students is asked to dive into the South Korean governance for islands for both flood risk and salination, and advice HHNK and potential Korean partners on further collaboration.
Case 3: South Korea’s dependency on virtual water trade
Case owner: Water Footprint Implementation (The Netherlands)
At the COP-26 in 2021, the Glasgow Declaration on Fair Water Footprint has been introduced and signed by various governmental and non-governmental partners. South Korea imports a lot of agricultural products from other countries. The water that has been used to grow the crops at these production locations is embedded in the imported trade volume and is called ‘virtual water’. South Korea is one of the largest net virtual water import countries for agricultural products worldwide. How can South Korea increase its water- and food-security, while ensuring a Fair Water Footprint of agricultural imports for national consumption?
