We will be in Stockholm, Sweden, for World Water Week in August 2018. Join us at side-events we lead or participate in.

Sunday

Resilient water services in an increasingly water insecure world

The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs asks how are we going to make our water services more resilient in an increasingly water insecure world? Water is often extracted in an unsustainable way and wastewater negatively impacts the environment. The reduction of good quality water resources often leads to tensions or conflicts between water users.

The discussion involves inspiring practitioners and the winner of the video contest for young experts, mainly focusing on three case studies from Ethiopia, the Philippines, and Mali dealing with either too much, too little or too dirty water. The session will particularly focus on sharing best practices in coping with the complex problems faced by urban water utilities, as they are required to take on an integrated approach to improving quality and access of service delivery while at the same time addressing water security and quality.

Convenors include the Government of the Netherlands, Watershed, Dutch Water Authorities, GWOPA, UN Habitat, and Waterworx.
Sunday 26 August, 9.00, Room: NL Pillar Hall.[Download not found]

Monday

Freshwater Conservation-WASH integration: high-level and local-level challenges and opportunities

The discussion will focus on the opportunities and challenges of integrating WASH and freshwater ecosystem conservation while working with the government or policy. This interactive session will start with a quiz for the audience, followed by a participatory panel discussion. We will be participating in this session along with Conservation International, World Wide Fund for Nature, The Nature Conservancy, HELVETAS Swiss Intercooperation, Water For People, Millennium Water Alliance and IRC.
Monday 27 August, 16.00-17.30, Room: NL 461

Water and security: assessing risks and mitigation options in hotspots

In a changing world, the relation of water with peace and conflict is changing and requires increasing attention. In this session, firstly practitioners from ‘hotspot basins’ will share their experience. Then, a panel discussion by ‘3D audiences’ consisting of experts from the defense, diplomacy and development fields will examine possible risks and feasible cross-sectorial tactics for preventing and mitigating exacerbated water and security issues. We will be sharing our experience in Mali regarding this issue.

Stockholm International Water Institute, World Resources Institute, Deltares, IHE Delft, Pacific Institute, Oregon State University, German Federal Foreign Office, Adelphi, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit, Wetlands International, The World Bank Group, WANA Institute, Government of the Netherlands will be participating at the dialogue.
Monday 27 August, 16.00-17.30, Room: NL Auditorium.

Tuesday

MENA focus – Benefits for ecosystems and wetlands through the Nexus

The side-event will take stock of the needs, challenges, regional initiatives and best practices in the Mediterranean region regarding the sustainable management of wetlands mainly through the Nexus approach.
The Nexus approach addresses the linkages between water resources, food, energy, and ecosystems, in order to ensure water and food security, together with sustainable agriculture and energy production and consumption in an integrated manner.  The session will explore the linkages and their importance with an emphasis on the expected benefits and the replicable experiences. Global Water Partnership-Mediterranean will be co-convening the session with us.
Tuesday 28 August, 9.00, Room: FH 307.

Water for Fish: sustainable inland fisheries

The aim of this session is to explore how inland fisheries can be sustainably integrated with general water resource management. Experts from fisheries as well as water sector, economics, and social science will be sharing their views and identify key challenges and possibilities regarding this integration from a multi-dimensional perspective. We will talk about the decreasing fish production at the Inner Niger Delta, which is the largest area of wetlands in West Africa and possible solutions.

Conservation International, World Wide Fund for Nature, The Nature Conservancy, United States Geological Survey, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Wetlands International, University of Hull International Fisheries Institute will be present in the session.
Tuesday 28 August, 11.00-12.30, Room: FH 202

Wednesday

Connecting water, security and peace through ecosystems

In this session, we will examine potential solutions for water security, peace, and development through good natural resource governance, with several case studies in Africa. We will also discuss the types of solutions needed to ensure that governance of ecosystems contributes to peace rather than exacerbates conflicts. Our fellow convenors are Forest Trend, IUCN, UNECE Water Convention, UN Environment, and Geneva Water Hub (Secretariat of Global High-Level Panel on Water and Peace).
Wednesday 29 August, 14.00, FH Little Theatre. See the full agenda.
[Download not found]

Thursday

Political drivers for sustainable ecosystems: Building peace

Healthy freshwater ecosystems play a crucial role in overall socio-economic sustainability and prosperity. To meet the demand of development, the necessity and usage of this resource are increasing every day. Therefore, shared freshwater ecosystems across borders pose a set of new political-economic challenges.  The side-event will probe into why “a new form of geopolitics embracing cooperative solutions for the ecosystem and freshwater distribution management is essential” and how that can be achieved. Stockholm International Water Institute, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, The World Bank Group, and Planetary Security Initiative will be joining the discussion.
Thursday 30 August, 11.00-12.30, Room: FH 307

Header photo by Silva Paronakian.