The event series SHARING WATER in Vienna has started! In the coming months, we will dedicate workshops with participants of different ages, professions, fields of research or expertise to the question: What does just and fair sharing of the resource water entail?
With the workshop BLUE GOLD – BLUE PEACE we started into the topic with a global view to the connections of water scarcity, water consumption and water conflicts. This first workshop was addressed to students of the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, as part of the experimental project work “it’s possible, it’s possible” by docent Elisabeth Kopf.
We dived into the topic by playing a discussion game we have revised and redesigned: BLUE GOLD by Cristina Cipriano of the open source platform playdecide. The game will be further developed by us and will also play a role in upcoming events. (Design Büro Baustelle)
As a special focus of the first workshop we touched on the possibilities of water diplomacy, which mediates in conflicts between riparian states of a body of water. In cooperation with the Swiss delegation of the OSCE in Vienna, we presented the BLUE PEACE initiative, which seeks fair, sustainable and peacemaking solutions in conflict regions through mediation.
In a video interview with Simon Zbinden, Head of the Water Section of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, we took a closer look at the approach and goals of this initiative.
The participants immersed in the topic with great commitment and contributed, among other things, many experiences with water issues from their countries of origin; e.g. Finland, Mexico and China were represented at the tables. The ideas and questions rising from the discussions were collected and will serve as a basis for the content design of the upcoming events.
The events are partly open to the public and we are looking forward to a lively cooperation of people interested! (see event program)
