Climate change as a future challenge: CIMA Research Foundation and ARPA Valle d'Aosta together in the Youth Conference of Parties

Starting in March, the Regional Agency for Environmental Protection of the Autonomous Region of Valle d'Aosta (ARPA) and CIMA Foundation joined forces to carry out an innovative project that saw more than 100 students confronting the challenges posed by the climate crisis and its effects on the water supply.
This initiative was created in Valle d'Aosta as part of the RESERVAQUA project with the aim of simulating the Conference of the Parties (COP), the international meeting that brings together the countries of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change every year, and at the same time to raise awareness among young people on the sustainable use of water, thus identifying concrete proposals for the future.

In particular, the students of the two local institutes involved, the Lycée Scientifique et Linguistic 'Edouard Bérard' and the Institut Agricole Régional, were protagonists of a real informative journey full of opportunities for exchange and in-depth study on the theme of water. Specifically, the first part of the work, represented by the preparatory modules, took place in March in two days aimed at stimulating a debate on the effects of climate change through training and awareness-raising.
In addition to the frontal lectures, the students were given the task of independently developing management strategies for water resources with a view to reducing their consumption, before meeting with experts from ARPA Valle d'Aosta and CIMA Foundation for further discussion.

The final stage came on 10 May in the premises of the Cittadella dei Giovani in Aosta for the presentation of the lines of action with a double final evaluation: one to select the finalist projects and the other to collect any amendments, making these proposals the most consistent possible.
Technology helped not only to increase participation but also to raise the awareness of local communities on the consequences of the water crisis.

The Youth Conference of the Parties represents a concrete example of virtuous collaboration between a scientific body - which is also a partner of the I don't take risks campaign - committed daily to the promotion of technological development in environmental science for the protection of public health and the preservation of ecosystems, and a public body.

An effective partnership that is bound to continue in the future: the experts, in fact, intend to replicate the experience in other locations and contexts with the aim of gaining an understanding of the perspectives and needs of the new generations, which will most certainly be affected by climate change.

Photo Source: CIMA Foundation