<div> <div> <div> <p><strong>Context. </strong>Water is the most proximal concept for all human beings, and yet many of us struggle to realize the importance of proper water resources management, as well as the breadth and depth of growing water conflicts in a warming climate. This is particularly true for young students, since they will see impacts of climate change first-hand.</p> <p><strong>Goal and recipients. </strong>Within “Water and Us”, we educate next generations on the correct (and incorrect) ways in which water is currently managed. This is done to instill the need for a sustainable use of water resources, in the hope that this will help neutralize incorrect policies, economic conflicts and tensions around water. Current recipients are high school students, but we are also experimenting with elementary students and adult audiences.</p> <p><strong>Method.</strong> Rather than providing ready-to-use recipes or a traditional, lecture-style approach, the signature of Water and Us is to put students at the center of a participatory, laboratory- based process geared towards the evaluation of new solutions for water management. Through a process of learning by doing, we reflect on recurring questions like <em>“what does it mean to manage water resources? How do human activities affect the water cycle? What are the expected impacts of climate change and the associated solutions for sustainable development in a warmer world?”.</em></p> <p>Structure. The first module is dedicated to understanding the water cycle – a cycle that will be “rewritten” with the students themselves based on their own experience and knowledge. The goal is to show how the same term “water resource” has many different meanings, sometimes even in conflict with each other. The second module will be dedicated to to sharpen students’ understanding of the most common and recurring terms and expressions surrounding the issue of water resources and climate change: an opportunity to confer a more precise meaning to expressions like the Paris Agreement, droughts, water conflicts, Next Generation EU, which are used almost daily in the media but that are not always easy to place in the overall picture. The <em>third </em>module, finally, is a synthesis of the previous ones and focuses on the still little-known theme of socio-political, juridical, and technical water conflicts and how they are increasingly fuelled by the effects of climate change.</p> <p>Innovativeness. Each meeting starts with a real-life story, lasting about 20 minutes, and then moves on with a workshop lasting about 30 minutes, so that listeners can immediately put themselves at the centre of the problem. This method promotes awareness on the issue of water management and stimulates the design of consensus-based, innovative solutions for community’s benefit.</p> <p>In this presentation, we will share lessons learned by the first pilots of “Water and Us” in Liguria, Italy, as well as plans to upscale and export this experience to other audiences.</p> </div> </div> </div>

Abstract. Climate change and water security are among the grand challenges of the 21st century, but literacy on these matters among high-school students is often unsystematic and/or far from the real world. To contribute advancing education in a warming climate and prepare next generations to play their role in future societies, we designed "Water and Us", a three-module initiative focusing on the natural and anthropogenic water cycle, climate change, and conflicts. The method of Water and Us resolves around storytelling to aid understanding and generate new knowledge, learning by doing, a flipped classroom environment, and a constant link to the real world – such as the archetypal events of the California snow drought or the seeds of conflicts around transnational river basins. Water and Us was established in 2021, and since then has involved 200+ students in a proof of concept to test the didactic approach in small-scale experiments. Results from 40+ hours of events confirm that students are generally aware of climate change (90 %), but have sparse knowledge of the concrete actions that are in place to mitigate or adapt (up to 20 %). Understanding of the water cycle by students is often anchored to a naturalistic, but fictitious view where human interference is minimal. Our approach conveys key elements of the contemporary, natural/anthropogenic water cycle, how this cycle is challenged by warmer temperatures and declining snowpacks, and how education can contribute to avoiding maladaptation and conflicts. While this initiative is being channelled in awareness projects at various levels, the Water and Us team remains interested in networking with colleagues and potential recipients to scale up and further develop this work.

<p>The frequency and intensity of floods in the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) region in Eastern Africa have increased over the years because of climate variability and change. Sudan is one of the IGAD countries most affected by these extreme events. In August 2022, the country experienced the fourth consecutive year of major flooding, which extensively damaged buildings and impacted people’s livelihoods. Floods also cause the displacement of thousands of people every year in Sudan due to direct damage to houses and impacts on livelihoods, critical services, and infrastructure. The effects of these events on people’s lives are worsened by contextual socio-economic, political, and individual vulnerabilities. In this regard, assessing flood impacts on displacement<strong> </strong>is crucial to increase people’s resilience and risk reduction capacities.</p> <p>In this poster, we present the design, execution, and results of a data collection campaign focused on a pilot area in the Khartoum State of Sudan. These data will support the next phase of research, which is an agent-based modeling (ABM) study. The aims of the broader study are to better understand the nexus between flood events and displacement patterns in the area, including flood perception, preparedness, and displacement duration, and to evaluate the impact of different risk reduction policies. The overall goal of the effort is to strengthen local resilience and capacity, and to support policymakers in identifying effective mitigation and management strategies.</p> <p>Considering that there could not be a one-size-fits-all solution for different contexts, first-hand data were collected at the local level to capture specific information about the area and its population. Questionnaires were administered to a statistically significant sample of residents in the pilot area, focusing on household characteristics, their experience regarding floods and displacement, and their risk perception. Among the results, it was found that 67% of the surveyed population was displaced due to flooding at least once, most of them for a period ranging from 1 to 5 months. The main reason for the decision to move was the damage to the house, followed by flood impacting livelihood. Displacements occurred most often during the event itself, showing a lack of preparedness. Data showed that 81% of the respondents perceived that they lived in a flood-prone area, while 56% of them believed they were at high risk of being displaced due to flood events. To gain a broader understanding of flood risk reduction policies and implementation contexts, representatives of Sudanese institutions and relevant organizations were interviewed. Policy options were explored, including housing policy and Early Warning Systems.  Both questionnaires and interviews are being used to inform the construction of the ABM.</p> <p>The research is therefore relevant to understand the main elements that affect displacement decisions and to support the design of strategies for mitigating the risk of involuntary mobility in the area, and for increasing people’s resilience and capacity to cope with flood events and displacement risks.</p>