Love for the rivers
The Dutch design agency NorthernLight and environmental agency Makara are launching a special initiative: the YUYU River Education Islands. YUYUs are floating islands in rivers around the world that increase knowledge about the importance of clean rivers. Here, children learn in a lively and practical way about water pollution and what they can do about it. Our dream is that YUYU develops into a strong international network. YUYU informs children in Asian and Western countries that plastic waste threatens not only their own river, but also rivers on the other side of the world. YUYU inspires them to be guardians of life in the rivers.
River pollution: a global problem
Every day tons of waste, microplastics and other toxins from rivers around the world flow into our oceans. This is a serious threat to life in and along the water. In Asia the rivers are the most polluted, but some of that waste comes from Western countries. River pollution is an international problem that we must solve together.
A cleaner future starts with the children
With YUYU we allow children to think critically about the problem of river pollution and enable them to take action themselves. They examine life in the water with the microscope, go up the river in boats to test the water quality and learn to share their findings in the media. Children are our future. They are the adults of tomorrow and they can teach their parents. Education can change entire communities, and inspire them to use less plastic and to not dump waste in the river.
First YUYU in Indonesia
To kick start the global YUYU network, we are planning the first YUYU education island to be located in the Brantas river in Surabaya, Indonesia. This YUYU will be operated by the award winning local environmental organisation ECOTON, an Indonesian NGO with years of experience in citizen science based river education for schools.
Want to know more about YUYU?
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Want to know more about ECOTON and their amazing awareness raising activities about the dangers of microplastics in their river?
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