The water odyssey, a world tour to convince
Who is Satya ?
Of Pondicherry origin, Satya Oblette is a French top model who has worked for the biggest fashion houses all around the world.Ten years ago, he took a turn that took him a little away from the Paris spotlight for a gentler lifestyle, more natural practices, a return to the countryside…
What is the Water Odyssey ?
Today, he tells us about the Water Odyssey that he started a year ago on a motorbike to meet stakeholders linked to water issues in 6 continents and 60 countries from North and South. He has finished Africa and speaks to us at his last stop in Asia, India more precisely Pondicherry.
The objective of this motorcycle world tour is to raise awareness about two particular Sustainable Development Goals:
- 6: Clean water and sanitation: To Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all in a world where 2.2 billion inhabitants do not have access to drinking water, 3.5 billion do not have no access to a basic sanitation system,
- 14: Life below water: to conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development as our planet is composed of 70% of water in which we find more and more plastic and less and less marine life.
Some incredible encounters along the way…
During his trip, he started meeting the populations of the North and the South, the solutions they were able to find, comparing them, and disseminating them.
His sources for finding the projects that he introduces us to throughout his itinerary are diverse: the low tech lab a platform created by Breton engineers including the adventurous inventor Corentin de Chatelperron which lists low tech solutions to fight climate change in the world ; the UN and the UNEP also help him but he lets himself be carried away by chance encounters along the way too.
Like when he met Samantha, a british settled in Malawi, who created a reward system for local citizens and children for each recyclable waste recovered. This waste is then recycled or upcycled. With a point system, everyone can go to a store to buy the products it displays there (clothes, supplies, etc.).
Satya notes that unfortunately, the majority of these admirable and inspiring solutions are still too isolated and not encouraged enough at the local level. Indeed, these initiatives already in place through committed citizens and ecopreneurs are still little supported by local public authorities who could facilitate their implementation, replication and scaling up to sustainably integrate them into a systemic approach to the development of their city.
The limits…
The question of the limit of the impact of these initiatives then arises without the concrete and crucial support of local authorities to accelerate the movement…
His world tour is not just fun. Confronted with eating habits that are far from healthy throughout the countries crossed, Satya, who advocates healthy nutrition, encounters difficulties in being able to eat according to his needs for a trip which requires very good physical condition. His observations as a traveler also make him aware of the disparities from one country to another on more global issues in terms of waste management, particularly plastic, eating habits, transport policy, security, etc.
Outcome of the project
A TV documentary and a film will complete this work of sourcing these future projects.We wish him good luck and good luck for the rest of his journey!
His YouTube channel
Follow his Odyssey via his Instagram
More information on the Odyssey here
Ongoing funding of the project
This project is financed by private and committed sponsors such as Federal group which works with hemp as insulation, which develops natural solutions to fight against mold for example, a key factor in humid regions like Pondicherry. Satya is still looking for other sponsors to finalize his Odyssey.
