DATE / TIME:

2019/08/25    14:00 - 2019/08/27    17:30

Location:

Stockholm, Sweden

Co-Organiser: Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI)

Each year World Water Week addresses a particular theme to enable a deeper examination of a specific water-related topic. While not all events during the Week relate to the overall theme, the seminars driven by the Scientific Programme Committee and many sessions focus on various aspects of the theme. In 2019, the theme will be “Water for society: Including all”.

To contribute to the discussions on this year’s theme, UNU-FLORES is co-convening the following three sessions:

Image: UNESCO WWAP

Leaving No One Behind, the UN World Water Development Report

Sunday 25 August 2019 | 14.00–15.30

Co-Conveners: UNESCO World Water Assessment Programme, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, UN Water, The World Bank Group, UNESCO International Hydrological Programme, United Nations Development Programme, United Nations Human Settlements Programme, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, UNU-INWEH, UNU-FLORES

Extreme events, environmental degradation, population growth, rapid urbanisation, unsustainable and inequitable consumption patterns, conflicts and social unrest, and unprecedented migratory flows are among the interconnected pressures faced by humanity, often hitting those in vulnerable situations the hardest through their impacts on water.

This session will present the 2019 edition of the World Water Development Report titled “Leaving No One Behind”. The Report seeks to inform policy and decision makers, inside and outside the water community, how improvements in water resources management and access to water supply and sanitation services are essential to overcoming poverty and addressing various other social, geographical, and economic inequities. Addressing the inequalities faced by disadvantaged groups requires tailored solutions that take account of the day-to-day realities of people and communities in vulnerable situations. Evidence-based knowledge on challenges in ensuring equitable access to water supply and sanitation, to design and adequately implement policies as well as appropriate institutional frameworks and efficient and proper use of financial resources, is vital to eliminating inequalities in human rights to accessing safe drinking water and sanitation.

For more information, please click here.

Image: Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)

Tapping into the Future: Universal Access to Sanitation (Gold standard session)

Tuesday 27 August 2019 | 09.00–10.30

Co-Conveners: Inter-American Development Bank, CAF – Development Bank of Latin America, Water For People, International Water Association, Bremen Overseas Research and Development Association, Agua y Saneamientos Argentinos, Latin American Association of Water and Sanitation Utilities, UNU-FLORES

The SDGs established new and ambitious challenges on sanitation, which by 2030 should be accessible, affordable, and equitable for everyone, reducing at least half of the untreated wastewater and promoting water reuse.

Considering the current investment trends in the Latin American and Caribbean region, this could not be achieved in this century. Therefore, a strong commitment from countries and a new paradigm in providing sanitation is needed, which should approach sanitation solutions as a service and not only as infrastructure provision, fostering an enabling environment based on better policies, institutional and regulatory frameworks – that solve opposing objectives prioritising investments to ensure access to safely managed sanitation for people –, developing strategic plans based on progressive targets in the quality of the services taking into account major health and environmental impacts, analysing and defining adequate and innovative technical solutions considering the local context, and integrating current and new financing mechanisms and social aspects to ensure inclusive solutions.

This session will present experiences in Latin America and the Caribbean that have supported to advance each of these areas.

For more information, please click here.

Image: Nidhi Nagabhatla

Dialogue: Climate- and Water-driven Migration, Conflict and Human Security (Gold standard session)

Tuesday 27 August 2019 | 16.00–17.30 | Room: L8

Co-Conveners: WaterLex, Geneva Water Hub, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNU-FLORES, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, UNU-INWEH, World Youth Parliament for Water, International Secretariat for Water

Water crises scenarios are exacerbated by natural disasters, climate change, inequality, rural-urban migration, and socio-cultural complexities such as gender roles and socio-political dynamics.

The 2018 UN World Water Development Report (WWDR), comments how water crisis projections by 2050 could impact more than half of the global GDP. WWDR (2019) with the vision “Leaving No One Behind” calls for inclusive and integrated solutions while implementing SDG 6 and water sector development interventions, policies, programmes, funding, and allocations.

The proposed session (two subpanels: ‘narratives’ and ‘solutions’) will initiate collective dialogue on risks, challenges, and solutions for water- and climate-driven human displacement. Complexities in addressing human migration will be contextualised within the newer and emerging patterns of water stress and crises namely, intersectoral water allocations, shared water systems, water-driven conflicts.

The session will bring together senior experts, young professionals, UN/sectoral representatives, and development professionals to enhance knowledge and steer joint thinking for addressing conflicts and human security in regions undergoing water crises, conflicts, and deviation from peace and political stability deriving insights/reference from the UN Water Security Framework (2013), WWDR (2019), and SDG 6, particularly targets 6.1. 6.2 and 6B. A development project and research report focusing on the water-migration nexus will be launched during the session.

For more information, please click here.

Background

World Water Week is the annual focal point for the globe’s water issues. It is organised by SIWI and this year it address the theme “water, ecosystems and human development”.

UNU-FLORES has convened sessions at World Water Week for the past five years.

Related Websites:
Event website
Session Leaving No One Behind, the UN World Water Development Report
Session Tapping into the future: Universal access to sanitation
Session Dialogue –Climate- and Water-driven Migration, Conflict and Human Security

Further Reading

Benavides, Lucía, Avellán, Tamara, Caucci, Serena, Hahn, Angela, Kirschke, Sabrina and Müller, Andrea (2019). Assessing Sustainability of Wastewater Management Systems in a Multi-Scalar, Transdisciplinary Manner in Latin America. Water, 11(2), 1-51

Schneider, Petra and Avellán, Tamara, “Water Security and Sustainability” in Encyclopedia of Sustainability in Higher Education, ed. Filho, Walter L. ( Cham: Springer,2019), n/a-n/a.

Nagabhatla, Nidhi and Avellán, Tamara, “Physical and Environmental Dimensions” in The United Nations World Water Development Report 2019: Leaving No One Behind (Paris: UNESCO,2019), 44-57.