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Edited News | UNHCR , UNITED NATIONS , UNOG
News package - Young Activist Summit 2023 - 16 November 2023
SHOTLIST
TRT: 8:49”
SOURCE: UNTV CH and NGO dev.tv
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 16 November 2023 - GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) Trisha Shetty (Moderator of the YAS event and Indian activist for gender equality and the founder of SheSays) “Welcome to the 5th edition of the Young activists summit.”
With that I am going to invit his sereine highness Albert II., prince of Monaco, no pressure you have to follow.
2. Cutaway: Various shots of the stage and his highness Albert II., prince of Monaco and wide shots of the room
3. SOUNDBITE Albert II., prince of Monaco: “Truth, solidarity, determination, these are the principles in the name of which I urge
you to take action in this great adventure you are embarking upon at this moment,
your commitment to change the world.”
4. Cutaway: Various shots: (from 1.16 to 03.12)
- Conference room UN/Geneva
- Francisco Vera, 14, Colombia, Environmental protection
- Roshni Perween on stage UN/Geneva
- Young audience arriving
5. SOUNDBITE (HINDI) Roshni Perween Activist Child marriage prevention:“I tried to stop the marriage of children in my village, as I myself am a victim of child marriage, I have suffered and endured this pain, so I understand what this is all about. This pain made me a social activist, so in future the work I do should be to prevent
such suffering and pain on others, so no one else should suffer the same.”
6. Cutaway: Various shots of the speakers behind the scenes (make up Roshni and Francisco Vera )
7. SOUNDBITE (SPANISH) Francisco Vera - Activist Environmental protection :“Spanish):
“I created my own movement composed of children. Adults already occupy every space in society, at all levels, like here (United Nations hall), there are no children here. So I created a movement of children, for children, where we are protagonists and we can raise our voice.”
ORIGINAL SOUNDBITE:
“Cree mi propio movimiento compuesto por niños. Los adultos ya ocupan todos los espacios
de la sociedad, en todos los niveles, como estos de aquí (sala de naciones unidas), aquí no
hay ningún niño. Así que cree un movimiento de niños, para niños, en donde seamos
protagonistas y podamos alzar su voz.”
8. Cutaway: Various shots of the speakers behind the scenes Francisco and Nisreen on stage,
nisreen backstage
9. SOUNDBITE NISREEN ELSAIM - Activist Climate action for peace “I come from Sudan and spent my lifetime demonstrating getting shot at with bullets. I survived the war that broke out on April 15. And still being here and able to continue my work with good mental health and with the same momentum and enthusiasm that I had is a great blessing.”
10. Cutaway: Trisha on stage
11. SOUNDBITE Trisha Shetty - Moderator of the YAS event and Indian activist for gender equality and the founder of SheSays: “Change is happening, change is happening on the ground, change is being led by the most incredible young people from the global South, from the global North. And if we need to look at how we can walk towards a better future, we need to follow the leadership of these young people and be as brave as they are.”
12. Cutaway: UN building and Tatiana Valovaya, Director-General United Nations Geneva in the press room
13. SOUNDBITE Tatiana Valovaya, Director-General United Nations Geneva: “We’re facing many challenges in the world. We’re facing lots of human tragedies, we’re facing lots of conflicts. And we need you, young people, to help us to find solutions.”
14. Cutaway Yas clip with Sawyedollah Maung - Activist for Rohingya people’s rights shown in Geneva
15. SOUNDBITE (ZOOM) Sawyedollah Maung - Activist for Rohingya people’s rights “It is a platform. Lots of my colleagues, my friends, especially Rohingya youth work together collectively on two main major issues. One is empowering our own community. Then the second major objective is doing advocacy for the life, liberty and security of Rohingya people.”
16. Cutaway pictures of Maimouna Ba - Activist Burkina Faso, Peacebuilding
17. SOUNDBITE (French) MAIMOUNA BA - Activist Burkina Faso, Peacebuilding:“When I see young people from all over the world who are like me, who are convinced that their struggle is making a difference, then I say to myself that yes, we have to keep carrying the message. You can't get discouraged, you have to keep pushing people, until you're a critical mass of people serving the community, and the change you want will come.”
ORIGINAL SOUNDBITE
“Quand je vois des jeunes originaires du monde entier qui sont comme moi, qui sont
convaincus que leur lutte porte, alors je me dis que oui, il faut continuer à porter le message.
Il ne faut pas décourager il faut continuer à pousser les gens, jusqu’à vous soyez une masse
critique de personnes qui servent la communauté et il y aura le changement que vous
souhaitez.”
18. SOUNDBITE Nisreen Elsaim - Activist Climate action for peace
“After the session one young person approached me and she said, ‘You give me enough energy for the next five years.’ She made my day, I almost cried. Imagine that if five other people in the room just felt the same, then what more do I want? I’ll have five more activists for another five years!”
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New data showing that rivers were at their lowest level for decades last year provides further evidence that the climate crisis is real and countries must act immediately to protect themselves from the increasing threat to communities and livelihoods, the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Thursday.
The key findings from WMO’s State of Global Water Resources 2025 report covering the hydrological cycle and extreme events in the five-year period to last year:
- 2025 was one of driest years for river discharge in 35 years
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Highlighting the long-term decline in the Earth’s freshwater storage and glacier melt, WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo explained that the planet’s water reserves used to act as a planetary “savings account” that absorbed the occasional dry season, avoiding a water crisis. “One of the central stories of the 2025 report is what is happening to that savings account? And the simple answer is that we are depleting it,” she told journalists in Geneva.
Groundwater reserves are equally stretched and have been in decline since 2014, WMO’s report states, with nearly two-thirds of monitored wells worldwide showing levels lower than the historical norm and indicating a shift “further toward deficit…not recovery”.
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Glaciers disappearing
In 2025, for the fourth consecutive year, every major glaciated region on Earth lost ice mass, leading to short-term hazards including floods and long-term water insecurity, according to WMO.
Responding to a question about whether the changing global water cycle might have contributed to the deadly Nepal-China flooding disaster, Ms. Saulo explained that melting ice and rock was just one factor in the chain of events that ultimately sent a massive and deadly wall of water and debris downstream on 26 August, killing at least 1,367 people.
“You asked if it could happen again? Absolutely; the problem in this region is that there’s 63,700 glaciers at the last count,” she told a Press Conference in Geneva. “Even if you’re looking with remote sensing with satellites at these glaciers, you might see some faults, you might see some slight shifting, that does not mean necessarily catastrophic collapse. So, in order to plan for this, it’s very, very difficult. But the international community is looking very hard at ways in which we can bring people together to solve some of these monitoring issues.”
Data indicates that glaciers shrank between 2023 and 2025 with cumulative losses of 1,400 gigatonnes of water – or about one third of annual fresh water needs.
Every major glacier region on Earth lost ice for the fourth consecutive year.
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Some regions with smaller glaciers such as Central Europe, the Caucasus, the western Canada and the United States may already have reached “peak water”, Mr. Jenkinson warned.
“After this point, the glacier gives less meltwater each year simply because there is less ice left to melt. That matters for every community downstream that relies on water during hot, dry summers,” he explained.
Narelle van der Wel, WMO’s Head of Cryosphere Monitoring, Predictions and Services, stressed that while some further glacier loss is unavoidable, the eventual scale of the decline is not predetermined.
“Some glacier loss is inevitable, but total loss of glaciers is not yet inevitable,” she said, pointing to emissions reductions as central to limiting future losses.
Preparing for moving baselines
The report does not attribute every observed change to climate change alone. WMO says pressure on water resources and natural variability also contribute.
Mr. Jenkinson said governments need to prepare for “moving baselines” as historical patterns become less reliable.
“The situation 30 years ago is not where we are today,” he said. Countries, he added, need to prepare “for those changes that have really already arrived”.
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