Mr. Thorsten von Neubeck, Executive Director, Avacon Wasser, Niedersachsen, Germany presenting at World Glacier Day event in Bredenbeck, Germany
Bredenbeck, a small town in northern Germany hosted an event and round table discussion in preparation for the first World Glacier Day on Friday 21st March and World Water Day on 22nd March. Although Bredenbeck is far away from mountains and their glaciers, a key message that emerged from the discussions was “if we think globally in our daily actions and conserve and value our water, we are safeguarding our mountains and and their glaciers which are the ‘Water Tower’s of the World’. This was the first event in Wennigsen to highlight world water day and brought together local government, NGOs, academia and water management agencies.
Mr. Ingo Klokemann, Mayor of Wennigsen opened the event and reinforced the need for pro-active leadership and community participation in water management. He highlighted the work of the water management working group as an example of an innovative approach that the town council was supporting, and how this could help sensitise and engage the community in discourse around implementing the Wennigsen Climate Strategy and Programme.
This was followed by the first keynote from Mr. Thorsten von Neubeck, Executive Director, Avacon Wasser, Niedersachsen, Germany. Mr. von Neubeck set the scene, giving an ‘impulse’ presentation on how our lives and livelihoods are intimately connected to mountains and their glaciers, then connected these global themes to the future of water management at regional and local levels in Germany.
This provided a good introduction to the second keynote by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Stephan Köster, Head of the Institut für Siedlungswasserwirtschaft und Abfalltechnik at the Leibniz University Hannover, Germany. Prof. Köster took the audience through the science and background to many of the pressing issues around water systems and their management. Prof. Köster framed his presentation within the sustainable development agenda and emphasised the need to adopt a multi-sectoral approach to integrated water management (Sustainable Development Goal target 6.5). In response to audience questions he showcased examples of innovation and new technologies that can help realise solutions to some of the key challenges facing towns and their water systems.
A podium discussion provided an opportunity for lively discussion and exchange. One of the podium experts was Mr. Leonardo von Straaten, who is Chair of Wennigsen based NGO MARS 2035. Mr. von Straaten spoke about work to engage the community in water management, highlighting on-going efforts through the Wennigsen water management working group. A key workstream of MARS are citizen scientists who map and collect local data on water which can feed into community outreach (Sustainable Development Goal target 6b) and policy dialogue.
Mr. Julian Fisher, Director of the NGO Zero Water Day Partnership, ZWDP made a short intervention and spoke about work to link global data and reports from UN Water and World Meteorological Organization to education for sustainable mountain development in schools. Using the 17 Sustainable Development Goals pupils created a ‘water walk’ from the high mountains, via rivers and lakes to sea and oceans connecting the water walk to the polar regions (see example of water walk from Gunnison High and Middle Schools in USA).
This work supports the implementation of the FAO Children’s Call To Action to protect mountain areas from the impact of climate change (see event / session at COP 26 Climate Conference, 2021). The mountain and glacier story forms a central part of ZWDP education programme and its collaboration with the International Federation of Mountain Guides Associations on sustainable mountain guiding. .
Bredenbeck is nestled in the foothills of the Deister which is part of the Weserberg Bergland region of northern Germany, which are class V mountains. These low-lying mountains can and should play a more important role in education, research and community action so as to preserve our glaciers in support of the UN International Year of Glaciers Preservation IYGP, See UNESCO video on IYGP.
