People
But because this is all about raising awareness of the water crisis , I did 40 marathons to symbolize the fact that by 2030 there will be a 40 percent difference between demand for water and supply .
You did Marathon des Sables in the past – how does this compare ?
From a physical perspective , it ’ s very different . For a start , this is seven weeks , not one ! And each day didn ’ t end with me in a tent relaxing , it ended with me telling stories , making notes and figuring out how to tell messages about the water crisis . Also , this involves many different continents and time zones , so it is on another level Having worked in climate change policy for the World Bank , and on countless climate change projects , Guli launched educational charity Thirst in 2012 . “ Even though I ’ d grown up through 10 years of drought in Australia , I didn ’ t know that 95 per cent of the water I use every day is actually used outside the home ,” she tells SBS . In fact , she discovered that having shorter showers is “ not really what ’ s going to shift the needle on water .”
Her running campaign has meant Melbourne-born Guli has seen firsthand the devastating effects of the world ’ s water shortage . During her second desert run in Jordan , she struggled to top up her supply after running out of water . “ Locals have been harvesting from the local environment – collecting it off big rocks or in small dams – we had one day where we went to well after well and there was no water .” She also recalls meeting farmers in Spain at risk of losing their livelihood . “ They were trying to grow crops and used to be able to use underground water to supplement water from rivers , but now that ’ s drying up .”
19-Year-Old Starts Project to Provide Clean Water for Kayonza Residents
Clean , safe water is a basic need and Ishimwe plans to supply more households with her treated water in Rwanda .
Yvette Ishimwe is the winner of the Grand Prize from Accelerate Academy , a project of the NGO ‘ These Numbers have Faces ’. She is set to receive $ 10,000 ( Rwf 7.8 million ) investment and training in her new
Yvette Ishimwe
business enterprise called IRIBA water project as the youngest innovative entrepreneur after beating 300 other competitors .
And it is not the first time she is winning , the nineteenyear-old Rwandan already has success written to her name after she received a grant worth $ 5000 dollars and another $ 5000 dollars of investment after emerging top of the 15 Rwandan contestants in the Tonny Elumelu Entrepreneurship program .
The competition attracted 45,000 entrepreneurs from 54 African countries from which 100 ideas were selected . Ishimwe is also a fellow of YALI RLC East Africa 2015 , an initiative by President Barack Obama .
This young entrepreneur will next month complete her first year in Business and Communications at Kepler Institute in Kigali , Rwanda .
UN Secretary-General Appoints Erik Solheim of Norway as Executive Director of the UNEP
Following his nomination by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon , the General Assembly elected Erik Solheim of Norway to a four-year term as Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme ( UNEP ).
He will succeed Achim
Erik Solheim
Steiner of Germany , to whom the Secretary-General conveys his gratitude and appreciation for having managed , during his 10-year tenure , to inspire and lead significant transformation of UNEP into a strategically powerful and substantively confident organization . Mr . Steiner ’ s leadership and tangible achievements as Chair of the High-Level Committee on Programmes , the principal mechanism for coordination of the United Nations system , are praiseworthy .
Mr . Solheim is currently Chair of the Development Assistance Committee of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development , a post he has held since 2013 , and serves as UNEP ’ s Special Envoy for environment , conflict and disaster . Known in Norway as the “ green ” politician , he held the combined portfolio of Minister for the Environment and International Development between 2007 and 2012 , later serving as Minister for International Development from 2005 to 2007 .
Holder of an undergraduate degree in history and social studies from the University of Oslo , Mr . Solheim was born in 1955 , is married and has four children .
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