Ninth Sava Youth Parliament

The 9^th Sava Youth Parliament held in Banja Luka (BA) on the 8^th and 9^th of October 2021. It gathered more than 50 participants from the secondary schools from Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. Because of the pandemic, the event was organized in hybrid form. The students from Bosnia and Herzegovina were present in Banja Luka, while the others participated online. The co-organizer, the representatives of UNESCO Regional Bureau for Science and Culture in Europe and the project partners of the SHELTER projects participated as well while the UNDP Bosnia and Herzegovina and the  Scheldt Youth Parliament were present as guests.

The slogan of this year Youth Parliament was “Let’s protect our cultural heritage”. The main objective was that the young people learn about the threats on cultural-historical sites in the Sava River Basin caused by the floods.

First day (Friday, 8^th of October)

At the beginning, Mr. Dragan Zeljko, the Secretary of ISRBC, and Ms. Ana Luiza M. Thompson-Flores, Director of the UNESCO Regional Bureau for Science and Culture in Europe, addressed the participants. Ms Tana Bertić, the formal president of the Sava Youth Parliament, presented the work of the parliament in the last two years, following with the students presenting their works selected at the Competition for secondary schools and youth.

The students continued with the group work. They exercised on how social media and messenger tools can be of help to protect Sava River Basin from flooding. They learned from the experts about the best practices on disaster risk management, so they increased the knowledge on how to react and to prevent flood events. This was a basis for clouds of ideas which can contribute to protection against floods.

Second day (Saturday, 9^th of October)

On the second day, the students, in cooperation with the Republic Hydrometeorological Institution of Republika Srpska, set the high-level water marks at the Elementary School “Desanka Maksimović” in Trn. They visited the heritage sites in Banja Luka and its surroundings (i.e. Fortress Kastel, Ferhadija Moscue, Cathedral of Crist the Saviour, Banski Dvor, Gosposka Street and the Trappist Abbey).

Results

The 9^th Youth Parliament increased the knowledge of the young people on the protection of heritage sites against floods. The results will be used in further implementation of the SHELTER project. Their views will be also presented at the International Day of Disaster Risk Reduction organized by the United Nation Office for Disaster Risk Reduction held on 13^th of October 2021 (Story map).

List of presentations

All the presentations from the 9^th Sava Youth Parliament are available at following links:

Tana Bertić, the former president presentation

Biotechnical Education Center Ljubljana Food school, team Križanke, Ljubljana (SI), 

Biotechnical Education Center Ljubljana Food school, team Fužinski grad, Ljubljana (SI),

School of Economics, Commerce and Catering, Samobor (HR),

X. Gymnasium “Ivan Supek”, Zagreb (HR),

Secondary Vocational and Technical School, Gradiška (BA),

Mixed Secondary School “Hazim Šabanović”, Visoko (BA),

Gymnasium Crnjanski, Belgrade (RS)

School of Applied Arts, Šabac (RS)

SHELTER project, presentations