Water and Beyond: Stronger partnerships for water investments
The European Commission Directorate-General for International Partnerships (DG INTPA) and the Government of the Republic of Slovenia, with the support of the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union, organized a four-day online event on strengthening transboundary cooperation and building broader partnerships to trigger water-related investments and stress the essential role of water in the earth's resilience and sustainable development. The event featured high-level panels and thematic sessions, gathering government representatives from EU institutions, EU Member States and EU partner countries, as well as national and international experts from all stakeholders in the water sector.
On the third day of the event, the session on the theme “Water and the Environment: resource management to support nature” took place and explored how to incorporate the interconnections between water and environment in the realization of the European Green Deal and its policies and programmes at international level. The event, moderated by a member of the Steering Committee of the Women for Water Partnership (WfWP), Lescha Witmer, was opened with a keynote presentation by Chief Director for Global Cooperation and Strategic Partnerships in the South Africa Department of Water and Sanitation, Nchedi Moripe, who underlined the innovative approaches on water management and biodiversity protection taken by the South African government.
The keynote speech was followed by a panel discussion, where DG INTPA Head of Sector for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, Philippe Mayaux, highlighted the European Union’s commitment to international ocean governance, trade policies on water consumption, and biodiversity conservation. He presented the recently-released EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 as an example of a key milestone in a comprehensive, ambitious and long-term global plan to protect nature and reverse the degradation of ecosystems while underlining the vital connections between water, biodiversity and ecosystems.
“Agriculture is the most human-dependent activity of water management in the world,” said FAO Land and Water Division Team Leader Marlos de Souza, also participating in the panel. He pointed out that more than 3 billion people live in agricultural areas with high water shortages and stressed that water shortages have the biggest impact on already marginalized populations in developing countries, including women and pastoralists. He also emphasized that “innovation in managing water for irrigation, such as water reuse and desalination will be increasingly important to offset scarcity”.
Other speakers in the panel included Bremen Overseas Research and Development Association (BORDA) Regional Director for South Asia, Stanzin Tsephel; Faecal Sludge Management Alliance (FSMA) Executive Director, Jennifer Williams and UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (UN ECLAC) Economic Affairs Officer, Silvia Saravia Matus. Participants agreed of the key role of nature-based solutions, traditional knowledge, and the importance of climate resilience and managing water in a more integrated manner to protect biodiversity and build up the resilience of our natural resources.
Learn more about FAO’s work on sustainable water management here.