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【JWF News Vol. 202】18 August 2021
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◇ Contents ◇
・Foreword Our Eager Hopes for the Youth
・Announcement from the Japan Water Forum
- JWF co-organizes 4 sessions in the Stockholm World Water Week 2021 Online, 23-27 August 2021
・Report from the Japan Water Forum
- APWF 26th Governing Council Meeting
- AQUA PROGRAM 2020 Completed!
- The Outcomes of the 3rd JWF Webinar
・Bulletin Board
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・Foreword Our Eager Hopes for the Youth
By Dr. Kotaro Takemura, Secretary General of the Japan Water Forum
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Launch of the Youth Water Forum
As announced on the JWF website, the Japan Water Forum (JWF) has launched the Youth Water Forum this year. We felt that the 4th Asia-Pacific Water Summit would be a good opportunity for the youth to join us and become leading actors in solving water issues. The program was also endorsed by Prof. Tsugihiro Watanabe and Associate Prof. Naoto Tanaka of Kumamoto University, and Associate Prof. Satoquo Seino of Kyushu University, who were involved in various activities in the Kyushu region.
As one of our initiatives, we call on the youth (aged 15 – 18) to create videos in English with a maximum duration of three minutes and submit them to the JWF. We will show these videos at various international events in Japan and abroad.
In preparing for the 4th APWS, the JWF has set out a policy for supporting a variety of activities by young people in Japan. I would like to explain the motivations behind this support program clearly in my own words.
It is the youth who can overcome global crises in the future.
The crises we expect over the next 20 to 30 years are all global crises, including shortages of energy and mineral resources, environmental degradation, and extreme weather events. In 20 to 30 years, those now in their late teens will be in their forties and fifties. They will be playing a central role in society.
Currently, since the youth have not yet been fully assimilated into the social organization, they are not cogs in the social machine. In contrast, people in their thirties and forties are embedded in the social organization. They serve as an engine for the society to which they belong. This is natural, as they are central members of society. There is nothing wrong with this.
In the face of global crises, however, the only solution is to realize a sustainable society. We need youths who believe in this with all their heart. It is the youths who are still relatively free from social constraints. However, young people have one problem: in order for them to become a central engine of society, they need good mentors.
By mentors, I mean the preceding generations. Here I come to a theory of generations. As it is difficult to have a universal approach to this theory, I would like to express my personal opinion about it.
Mentors for the young generation
I have drawn up Figure 1 to make my generation theory clear. The bar graph depicts Japan’s nominal GDP, which shows the growth and changes in Japanese society. I have added to it the life-spans of three generations:
- The longest curve shows the life-span of my generation, which was born in the 1940s, and played a central role in rapid economic growth in its twenties to forties.
- The second curve shows the life span of the people who were born in the 1980s. They have never experienced rapid economic growth.
- The top, pink line illustrates the younger generation, which was born in the 2000s. This figure clearly shows that the mentor generation for the youth is that of the 1980s.
The predecessors of the young generation are definitely those born in the 1980s. They are calm and mature adults, not wild destroyers of the earth’s environment. They can understand the rich sensibilities of the young people.
People born in the 1980s, however, have their weaknesses. They were not involved in the establishment of the existing social system. Therefore, they don’t know the secret of its origins, main characteristics, or weaknesses. They tend to be unsure about where to start in reforming society. This is where their predecessors, born in the 1940s, can play a role.
Elder mentors
People born in the 1940s played a central role in the destruction of the natural environment and rapid economic growth. The youth may feel they don’t share the same feelings or sensibilities with such elderly people. The boisterous generation born in the 1940s created various social systems in the process of pursuing economic growth. They knew the secrets, characteristics, and weaknesses of the social systems they had created, but they kept going forward, turning a blind eye to inconvenient truths.
The older generation can no longer play a central role in constructing a sustainable society. However, its accumulated knowledge and the information it can provide will help young people change the existing society and create a sustainable one. Because they know all about the origins, characteristics, and weaknesses of the existing system, they also know the key to changing the system. Their role is to hand the key over to the next generation. I can say this with confidence, as I am a member of the 1940s generation. With that thought, I sincerely call on the youth to join us and play a leading role in resolving water issues at home and abroad.
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・Announcement from the Japan Water Forum
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– JWF co-organizes 4 sessions in the Stockholm World Water Week 2021 Online, 23-27 August 2021
Stockholm World Water Week 2021 will be organized as a full-scale digital event this year.
The Asia-Pacific Water Forum (APWF), where the JWF acts as its secretariat, collaborates with various organizations to advance water security challenges across Asia and the Pacific by sharing knowledge, experiences, and lessons under the theme of Stockholm World Water Week 2021, “Building Resilience Faster”. In 2021, we will organize three sessions as the Asia Focus.
You can register free of charge to view the sessions.
▼Please visit the following website for details▼
https://www.waterforum.jp/en/news/18414/
(Reported by Yumiko Asayama, Manager)
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・Report from the Japan Water Forum
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– APWF 26th Governing Council Meeting
The Asia-Pacific Water Forum (APWF), where the JWF acts as its secretariat, organized its 26th Governing Council Meeting on 15th July 2021 online. Seventy-two officials from the APWF members, Kumamoto City, co-hosts of the 4th Asia-Pacific Water Summit (APWS), and the 4th APWS host supporting organizations in Japan joined the meeting.
The meeting was chaired by Mr. Ravi Narayanan, Ms. Changhua Wu, and Dr. Eduardo Araral as Chair and Vice-Chairs of the Governing Council of APWF. In line with the documents prepared by the APWF/4th APWS Secretariat, the member organizations discussed the current draft preparation of the 4th APWS, organized on 23-24th April 2022.
▼Please visit the following website for details▼
https://www.waterforum.jp/en/news/18371/
(Reported by Yumiko Asayama, Manager)
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– AQUA PROGRAM 2020 Completed!
AQUA PROGRAM is a joint project with F.D.C. PRODUCTS INC., jewelry brand 4℃, and Japan Water Forum.
Its aim is to empower women in developing countries and bring “beauty and “inspiration” to their lives by resolving the serious water problems they face. Since the program’s establishment in 2008, several projects have been carried out in the Republic of Kiribati, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
We have continued to work with a rural community in Bangladesh since 2017. In the 2020 program, new rainwater harvesting tanks were installed in 50 households and operation and maintenance skills were taught.
▼Please visit the following website for details▼
https://www.waterforum.jp/en/news/18351/
(Reported by Shigenori Asai, Director and Miyo Tabata, Assistant Manager)
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– The Outcomes of the 3rd JWF Webinar
The third JWF webinar was held on 28th July 2021 with no less than 110 participants from overseas and Japan, mainly from Southeast Asia like Philippines, Malaysia Thailand and other countries. Mr. Kazushi Hashimoto, Advisor to the Japan Sanitation Consortium, gave a presentation on “Japan’s Experience in On-Site Sanitation” and emphasized the importance of viewing wastewater treatment issues as a public issue rather than an individual problem.
▼Please visit the following website for details▼
https://www.waterforum.jp/en/news/18331/
(Reported by Reiko Yoshii, Manager)
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・Bulletin Board
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【Mission Uchimizu 2021】
Organizer: Mission Uchimizu Headquarters
Date: 22nd July – 23rd August 2021
How to join: Express your intention to join & share your experience after uchimizu on social media using the hashtag #uchimizu and #打ち水大作戦
URL: https://uchimizu.jp/en/
Disclaimer: The Japan Water Forum is not liable for the information of Bulletin Board. Please contact each individual organizer for any inquiries.
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JWF News Vol. 202 / 18 August 2021
Japan Water Forum
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