Collaborative Water Program student creates North American Youth Parliament for Water to help  achieve SDG 6

Thursday, November 12, 2020

Laina Timberg
Water problems are often complex, and require collaboration and interdisciplinary perspectives in order to develop long-lasting solutions that benefit all stakeholders. This is something Laina Timberg discovered in 2019 at Waterlutions Water Innovation Lab (WIL) Canada in Alberta.

While Laina participated in WIL as an organizer, she had the opportunity to meet the president of the World Youth Parliament for Water (WYPW). She quickly became involved in the WYPW through their Blue Peace working group, which promotes peaceful transboundary water management through different projects or by sharing research. It was this that led her to create the North American Youth Parliament for Water (NAYPW) which focuses on water issues closer to home while working towards achieving Sustainable Development Goal 6: Clean Water and Sanitation.

“I began with two co-founders in May 2020 who all shared the same idea of wanting to develop a youth parliament that could engage young professionals in water decision making, creating change, and solving issues that are currently being faced across the continent,” said Laina. “The goal of the NAYPW is to bring together young water leaders from across North American to solve the most pressing water issues from a local to international scale.”

Laina is a current Collaborative Water Program Master’s student in Waterloo’s School of Environment, Enterprise and Development, supervised by Water Institute member Professor Larry Swatuk. Her research focuses on integrated water resource management and how all forms of knowledge, including Indigenous knowledge, can be included in water management.

“The Collaborative Water Program was recommended by academics outside of Waterloo,” said Laina. “The appealing part about this program is that it allows me to focus on water issues while completing both practical and interdisciplinary work. The way the program brings together students from multiple disciplines is very similar to how the NAYPW operates, and I’m looking forward to learning from colleagues outside of my home unit.”

How Waterloo students can get involved with the NAYPW:

  1. They can sign up to be general members of the NAYPW and WYPW. There they will stay connected to our network and receive monthly emails on new projects, collaborations, and other updates.
  2. Through a partnership with the Alliance for Global Water Adaptation, the NAYPW is writing a monthly blog called Drops of Change. The blogs can focus on any issues that relate to water, climate change and a youth perspective. Students who wish to share their research or a topic they are interested in can fill out a form sharing a bit more information about their topic.
  3. The NAYPW is working on a whitepaper program focusing on the Columbia River Treaty and the current renegotiation process. This research project provides the opportunity for several paid researchers to gain hands-on experience in policy development and transboundary water management. Research will be completed beginning in February 2021, followed by writing the paper from June-July 2021. The results of this project will be published in the hopes of influencing the decision makers involved in the Columbia River Treaty renegotiation process. Students can find out more about the program here and apply for the research positions online.