Cleanups
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The Voice of the Scheldt
Our dedication to the clean-ups and Covenant Clean Scheldt has let this project bloom into something much bigger in the last year. We are now not only active on the front lines doing clean-ups, we are also talking to municipalities and different companies on what we can do for the Scheldt behind the scenes. Sparked by a previous lecturer of water management (Liliane Geerling) who organised a summit on the Rights of the Scheldt, our passion to keep the discussion on the rights for nature alive ignited... Especially given that we are also involved with the Scheldt Youth Parliament - a group of youth from France, The Netherlands and Belgium that come into action for the Scheldt by amongst other things, talking to decision makers.
But all of this will come together and manifest itself during the Scheldt Hike by the Foundation Drinkable Rivers - a hike from the source (in France) to the delta (Vlissingen) which aims to activate local communities for the water quality of the Scheldt and connect downstream and upstream communities to each other. The goal is of course to be so many that we together can be heard by decision makers, while we are giving our river Scheldt a voice! Can you hear it?
Rights for the Scheldt
The Scheldt is one of the most polluted rivers in Europe, thanks to lots of industry at its side, not least of which includes the harbour of Antwerp. And since it seems that these industry developments have no sense of slowing down in the foreseeable future, a petition was launched to give the river Scheldt legal rights. The goal is to put water quality on the priority list of policy makers for current and future spacial planning projects.
You can sign the petition here: https://petities.nl/petitions/erken-de-rechten-van-de-oosterschelde-en-de-westerschelde?locale=nl
However, the core team wants to take this one step further! They want someone in all local authorities to be able to represent the Scheldt, so that when regional, local or national decisions are made, the Scheldt can have a voice to defend itself, if the decision would lead to a destruction in its ecosystem, for instance.
Drinkable Scheldt Hike
Drinkable Rivers is a foundation that has a similar goal to the Rights for the Scheldt petition but a completely different approach. The concept is to walk along a river from source to delta, and talk to locals about what the river means to them, and encourage them to become active in improving water quality of their river.
Well, the Scheldt is up next in April/May of 2025. We will start at the source on the 21st of April and arrive in Vlissingen, the delta, on the 23rd of May. There is a segment when the Green Office will join, we have two excursions lined up with the Scheldt Youth Parliament and both Ingrid and Jan will be walking the route between Antwerp and Vlissingen. For the full "tour dates and sign up links, see https://drinkablerivers.org/what-we-do/river-walks/scheldt-walk-2025/
Here is how you can participate - there are three ways to do so:
1 You can sign up be a host in the area for hikers,
2 You can sign up to host an activity or lunch and,
3 You can sign up to be one of the hikers. You can choose to hike for a day, a weekend, a week, or even the entire route, if you're up for it!
Scheldt Youth Parliament
As a local youth participation hub for sustainability, the Green Office has been collaborating with the Scheldt Youth Parliament (SYP) for several years already. From the Excursion to Ghent, to the Exchange trip to Croatia, visiting the Sava Youth Parliament for a week in April of 2023, to hosting the SYP right here in Zeeland for a weekend in January of 2024. And we will be back together in Valenciennes in late April and in Ghent in early May.
The Scheldt Youth Parliament is lead by Good Planet Belgium and aims to bring youth together who live in the Scheldt watershed (so France, Belgium and The Netherlands) to take action for the water quality of the Scheldt. This involves speaking to policy makers, excursions to different sections of the river and simply hanging out to strengthen the international bonds.
If this sounds interesting to you, sign up here: https://www.goodplanet.be/nl/schelde-jongerenparlement/#ffs-tabbed-12