• APEC Youth Camp discussions end today. Meeting is being held in Puno, location of the Titicaca Lake

After four days of intensive discussion and debate, as well as field work, APEC Youth Camp Delegates will draft today a Declaration on the meeting subject: “Caring Sustainable Development in the Asia-Pacific Region”. This Declaration, after being approved by general agreement will be disclose to the public this afternoon.

In the morning, a Preparation Committee for the Draft of the Declaration on Sustainable Development will be conformed. This committee will be comprised by one or two representatives from the three thematic working groups created in the beginning of this event. These groups analyzed: Climate Change, Water Contamination and Water Culture.

The Declaration on Sustainable Development is a document prepared from the ideas and information exchange after the meetings held this week. But, this exchange has been happening along the year through a website with debates and a lot of thematic references about environmental problems and sustainable development. The final document, that will be prepared by APEC Young Delegates, will address the Environmental problems of the Asia-Pacific region as well as the ways and solutions to help with the growth and development of the region in a sustainable fashion.

The 36 Delegates of this APEC Youth Meeting, within which there are 4 Peruvians, arrived to this reunion thanks to essays (research works) selected due to their importance. Only four essays were considered as the most important ones.

The selected essays were of Marcial Nina, from Peru, who prepared a Project on biogas production using the duckweed (lemma minor) from the Titicaca Lake; Carla Benavides, about responsibility and solidarity in the use of the water; Richard Aguilar and Silvia Alvarado wrote about a system to optimize the use of the water. Other awarded works were from Javiera Flores, from Chile, who developed an interesting project on reconversion of “gray waters”, which are use to wash clothes and dishes, to have a shower and for cleaning activities with treated water; Yia Chi Huan Huan, from Chinese Taipei, prepared an essay regarding the restoring of the environment on the East Coast of her Economy.

Puno and the Titicaca Lake have been the scenario of the APEC Youth Camp, held from October 1 to 5 at Hotel Libertador of Puno. This city was chosen as host due to its historic legacy and because of the presence of the Titicaca Lake, the highest navigable water mass of the world and emblem of this Asia-Pacific representatives’ meeting. The delegates have discussed about the sustainable development based on water, meaningful resource of the planet.