Announcements
Announcements
The status quo to addressing water challenges is Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM). While the past three decades have seen IWRM having a profound impact on water planning practices, it has not yet yielded sustainable water outcomes. Join us for a discussion to share experiences and best practices on our joint next steps to fulfill the Water Action Agenda.
As highlighted across the SDGs, key gaps in sustainable and equitable water access require looking at what happens beyond the watershed, thinking about inclusive participatory approaches, climate-oriented actions, the macroeconomic impacts around water, and consideration for ecosystems.
To address these gaps, we have invited panelists from different geographies and professional backgrounds, from the local to the government level, to share their experiences and best practices, and discuss what could be our joint next steps to fulfill the Water Action Agenda. Focused on innovation from a cross-sector and a multi-country perspective, our panelists will be discussing the following action points:
1. Foster collaboration beyond the watershed: Sustainable water management should reach beyond the watershed, with participatory processes based not only on one location. To foster cooperation, the global community will need to consider the economies bound to the watershed on any side of a given border.
2. Maintain ecosystem health and implement the source-to-sea approach: Ecosystems should be considered throughout the water management and planning process. For this, we need approaches that incorporate ecosystem needs and processes as well as a source-to-sea approach that recognizes the links between land, freshwater and the ocean.
3. Increase knowledge sharing and inclusive decision making: Collaborative and inclusive engagement in water management delivers more effective long-term outcomes. For this, we need to enable policymakers to see not only watershed-wide water demand and supply, but also smaller-scale differences that illuminate inequalities, addressing issues of poverty, gender, and inclusion of marginalized groups.
Our invited panelists are committed to achieving SDG 6 and have partnered with SEI in previous and ongoing initiatives, such as Bolivia WATCH (WASH Thinking Connected to Hydrology, applied to three priority river basins in Bolivia—Upper La Paz, Pampa-Huari and Tupiza), Water Beyond Boundaries (with case studies in Colombia’s Magdalena-Cauca River basin and Thailand’s Lower Songkhram River, a tributary of the Mekong River), Rwanda’s hydro-economic and climate change analysis (HECCA) supported by the World Bank, USAID Regional Water and Vulnerable Environment Activity in Central Asia, SEI’s Strategy for the Ocean and Biodiversity, and ecosystem consideration in water planning and management in California. Our proposed 4 hours in-person side event will be structured with panels and discussions, followed by a reception, as follows:
Opening Remarks
Dr. Marisa Escobar, Water Program Director at the Stockholm Environment Institute (5 minutes)
Introductions
Followed by three 30-min panels and 45 minutes of discussion
Moderated by Dr. Annette Huber-Lee, Senior Scientist at the Stockholm Environment Institute
Panelists:
Mr. Santi Baran, Chief Strategy and Partnership Officer at the Mekong River Commission
Dr. Emmanuel Rukundo, Director General at Rwanda Water Resources Board
Ms. Joy Busolo, Senior Water Resources Management Specialist at the World Bank
Speaker from Central Asia (TBD)
Moderated by Mr. Thanapon Piman, Senior Research Fellow at the Stockholm Environment Institute
Panelists:
Mr. Grant Davis, General Manager at California’s Sonoma Water Utility, United States
Dr. Jakob Granit, Director General at the Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management
Prof. Dr. Sangam Shrestha, Water and Engineering and Management at the Asian Institute of Technology
Moderated by Ms. Cláudia Coleoni, Research Associate at the Stockholm Environment Institute
Panelists:
Mr. Fabian Caicedo, Director of Integrated Water Resources Management at Colombia’s Ministry of the Environment and Sustainable Development
Ms. Marissa Castro, Director General of Limits, Borders and International Transboundary Waters at Bolivia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Open discussion (45 minutes)
Closing Remarks (10 minutes)
Reception (90 minutes)
SEI’s mission is to support decision-making and induce change toward sustainable development around the world by providing integrative knowledge that bridges science, policy, and practice in the field of environment and development. We are committed to advancing with the Water Action Agenda and continuing the stakeholder dialogues across sectors, geographies, and scales beyond the UN 2023 Water Conference. Read about SEI’s commitment and Water Actions.
Initiative / Our work aims to transform current decision making around access to water, the greatest risk to global prosperity, and addressing the SDGs.
Past event / SEI's researchers host a side event during UN Water Conference to share best practices and evaluate next steps to fulfill the Water Agenda.
Perspective / A diverse array of leaders will gather in a rare UN water conference. SEI experts suggest three ways to foster a more water-resilient world.
Feature / Learn more about water actions proposed by SEI experts to support water-related SDGs and our engagement at the UN 2023 Water Conference.
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