“We are already getting late”, signals Phuntsok as we rushed to put our luggage to be shifted to Hotel Clarion and jumped into the bus which was to take us to ICIMOD. It was the first day of the Youth Forum and I was feeling extremely energized to meet more participants from Nepal and other countries. The ICIMOD bus waded through the streets and alleys to reach a calm and serene campus – the ICIMOD premises. It was exciting to see many cute little battery cars parked inside along with other vehicles. Equally appealing were the neatly maintained gardens and the picturesque office building. We walked to the conference hall, registered and got our participant kits (which was quite heavy, thanks to the organizers for providing us with a lot of useful resource materials and books related to the forum’s theme). I knew the next 6 days’ schedule is going to be really hectic, but it was actually a relief to know from Bidya that we do have some sight-seeing planned us. Following the registrations, the forum was inaugurated officially. I was particularly impressed about something that Mr.Anil Chitrakaar mentioned in his speech during the inaugural session- “The fact that we have only one planet makes us poor. That is real poverty” and also “A small something is better than big nothings”. All the speakers reiterated the need for promoting rapid responses to crucial issues through information gathering.
Later we proceeded for the forum’s first day schedule after the group photo session. We watched two videos during the session conducted by Tek, and I was emotionally moved by the plight of the Assamese people who suffer the impacts of flooding in Brahmaputra River. It was disturbing to see how the Mishing community in Assam have been forced to live out of their cultural norms because of the frequent natural disasters happening in their region. Then, all of us shared our perceptions on impacts of climate change and what we as youth could do for our communities using the learning from the forum. Coming from a city background, I could use these technological earth observation tools to promote better city planning methods for a sustainable living as well as learn about mountainous ecosystems which are the sources for a city’s resources. Some impressions were about disseminating the outcomes of the forum once we return to our places. There were also some inspiring words describing the power of youth.
The afternoon session introduced to us about understanding the world better using maps, usage of earth observation as a spatial visualization and about GIS functions. We also had the chance to try software like GIS viewer and explore more web source tools like arcGIS and Google Outreach application. We then had to call it a day and depart to our hotel. On the whole, my first day at the youth forum was refreshing, with a chance to talk to young people from various backgrounds, but passionate about the same issue – ‘creating a better environment and livelihoods for communities’. I look forward to blog more of my experiences through this week. Keep watching this space.
