09.00 to 10.30

The panel seeks to address the need to include adaptation to climate change in the formulation of public policies and strategies by governments and water and sewage operating companies.
The resilience of water supply systems play a fundamental role in the strategic planning of those responsible for the sanitation sector to permanently serve the various water users, especially the supply for inhabitants of urban and rural areas where the resources are no longer available in abundance

The session will be the climax of a broader initiative whose objectives are to strengthen the links between the water and nature communities to enable effective policies and practices, and to promote the use of Nature Based Solutions by water practitioners. It targets professional and user communities of water and nature which should strengthen their dialogue, design integrated projects and initiatives, and play their role in conservation, together with political and economic decision makers at global, national, local and basin levels.

This High Level Panel focused on financing water will contribute to the preparation of the UN 2023 Water Conference. It will highlight key guiding questions that can contribute to advancing the global discussion on water economics and financing that will be explored in a major forthcoming review to be prepared for the UN 2023 Water Conference.

On 12 August 2021, AMCOW, in collaboration with the UNDP, UNICEF, AUDA-NEPAD, AfDB, GCA, and GWP launched a partnership to convene an International High-Level Panel on Water Investment for Africa.

On 8 September 2021, the Executive Committee of AMCOW commended the effort of the convenors and formally adopted a Decision for the inauguration of the Panel.

The High-Level Panel (HLP) is intended to be a follow up event after the plenary session of the celebration of the UN-World Water Day 2022 organized by UNESCO and UN-WATER about the topic of the UNWWDay Groundwater: Making the invisible visible. The HLP panel will allow to organize a larger and in-depth debate about the UN Development Report 2022 that is presented the 21st of March at the opening with the participation of high-level countries representatives and high-level experts. The HLP is meant to discuss how groundwater can be a response to water security challenges.

This session focuses on the key role of endogenous knowledge for water management and governance, including current initiatives in terms of water education, ancestral knowledges, capacity development and water museums.

This session focuses on examples of platforms and practices fostering the exchange of experiences and knowledge among local actors, and with the support of experts. Those include current initiatives related to water education, citizen science, local knowledge systems and water information centres, both online and physical.

This session will bring evidence of the necessity to embed scientific knowledge and innovative solutions into governance mechanisms.

In Africa, the governance of several transboundary aquifers was enhanced through the application of innovative approaches to legal settings.

The session will call for a strong political will and commitment from decision makers to support science in the UN Global Accelerator Framework for SDG 6.

Bringing over testimonials from community leaders, women, youth and indigenous communities from different continents on how they deal with access to water, how they manage it, how they participate on decision-making processes related to water and how they would change in the water sector of today.

According to the OECD Principles on Water Governance, effective, efficient and inclusive water governance is key to guarantee enhanced water security and better access to safe drinking water and sanitation services. As “one cannot improve what cannot be measured” measuring the economic, social and environmental impacts of water governance, would provide evidence on tangible results to governments, citizens, businesses and services. The session will discuss existing tools, methodologies and guidelines to measure the impacts of water governance.