13.30 to 15.00

Central Asia - an extensive, landlocked region of Asia. The region includes the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Republic of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and the Republic of Uzbekistan. According to the latest UN estimations, the current population of Central Asia is more than 75.1 million people - this is about 1% of the total population of the Earth.

The session will be an opportunity to analyze and discuss in depth the constraints related to the large financing gaps to support the 2030 roadmap. A review of the weaknesses related to the classic 3T model will also be posed to highlight the weak points that require conceptual and practical adjustments. Most exciting, however, will be the presentation of concrete initiatives for innovation in water and sanitation and IWRM financing, including those based on testing and scaling up solutions involving private sector actors and other non-traditional sources of finance.

The "Dakar 2021 Initiative" aims, during the preparatory phase of the Forum, to select, label and popularize relevant, innovative, structuring and replicable national, regional and international projects, producing short-term results with a sustainable impact around the Forum's priorities, and whose purpose is to contribute to the acceleration of the achievement of the SDGs, and more particularly of SDG6.
The Dakar 2022 Initiative is the materialization of the vision: "From commitment to implementation of concrete actions on the ground".

The reuse of wastewater has become an increasing trend over time as it’s one of the main non-conventional water resources. Moreover, maximizing freshwater use efficiently is needed to cope with water scarcity.

Water challenges in countries that suffer from water scarcity have become more complex than before, especially in light of population increases, rising standards of living, and an increase in demand for water from competing sectors. In addition, the effects of climate change and complex cooperation with riparian countries sharing international rivers add more pressure, especially with unilaterally adopted decisions that would increase challenges and threaten the stability and peace of the region.

The scarcity of water resources is a phenomenon that is intensifying under the effect of the strong pressure on water and climate change impacting mainly the most vulnerable rural communities. The latter are dependent on water resources for their socio-economic activities.
Moreover, the real needs of the vulnerable rural population are not really taken into account and sufficiently represented in the decision-making process concerning hydro-agricultural investment projects and territorial development.

The session aims to explore innovative ways of generating and sharing practical knowledge on integrated water resource management (IWRM) among a wide range of stakeholders across sectors and scales. It will highlight concrete water and climate solutions brought by different groups that have proven to be sustainable in the countries and sectors where they were implemented (e.g., in food security, social inclusion, transboundary cooperation, etc.). In an interactive way, it will dissect some of those cases to allow the participants to reach conclusions and recommendations jointly.

The 4th Mediterranean Water Forum, held in Malta in December 2021, was a platform for exchanging and consolidating know-how and experiences in the field of water in the Mediterranean. It identified effective responses to ensure water security. This theme is of crucial importance for the Mediterranean where demographic changes, socio-economic challenges and the effects of climate change are constantly threatening water security. The Mediterranean process will attempt.

The extensive analysis of gender-related achievements and challenges in the water domain carried out by the Water and Gender working Group led by UNESCO WWAP clearly suggests that - despite advances at international policy-level - progress in the fulfilment of the basic right of gender equality in water and sanitation is not on track. Women remain underrepresented with respect to employment and participation to decision-making at all levels in the water domain.

The development of mining activity in West Africa has been unprecedented since the 2000s. The artisanal and semi-industrial sectors involve more than 6 million people. This number is steadily increasing. Significant revenues are received. However, social tensions and considerable environmental impacts are generated, at different spatial and temporal scales, which need to be better understood in order to provide sustainable control solutions built and accepted by all stakeholders.