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Floods and droughts are some of the most tangible and devastating consequences of the climate crisis. The World Bank, Deltares, and the World Meteorological Organization’s Associated Program for Flood Management (APFM) and Integrated Drought Management Program (IDMP) have teamed up to further explore and operationalize the potential of leveraging synergies in the management of floods and drought.

But how does the private sector cooperate effectively with women to help address gender inequity in water and sanitation and what lessons are being learned.

Prior to Drinking Water Supply projects’ implementation, diligence has to be given to the availability of water resource to sustain the demands, and the risks associated with technological options, with emphasis on different challenges (the hydrogeological constraints, the increasing number of pollutions’ sources of pollution, Climate changes, etc…).
Knowledges and tools are being constructed to ensuring not only continuous safe drinking water services, but also environmental sustainability.

Water-related disasters, such as floods, droughts, and storm surges, cause huge human and economic losses and pose serious impediments to sustainable development efforts, and climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of those disasters. The challenges lie in addressing increased risks and impacts of water-related disasters considering the uncertainty of climate change projection.

Climate change primarily affects water with unpredictable rainfall patterns, aquatic ecosystems degradation, altered river flows, sea level rise-induced salinization of coastal groundwater, more frequent and intense floods and droughts. Water-related disasters represent about 90% of all natural disasters.

To address these challenges, our societies need to make the most of existing solutions, including by combining classic concrete infrastructures and nature-based solutions.

Ecosystem-based approaches to land, water coastal and marine resources management require information from many disciplines and actors, beyond conventional measures that address specific segments of the source-to-sea system and neglect linkages. Collecting (or modeling), analyzing, and communicating this information is vital for both monitoring (e.g., SDGs) and decision making, but the resources for data acquisition and knowledge management are insufficient, and data providers and decision makers are not working closely as they could.

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Water is an essential constituent for humans, and for life. Polluted water is often identified as the main vector to infectious pathogens, toxins and organic contaminants, which can be associated with a large number of chronic diseases worldwide. In the past decades, growth of human population and human activities have not only increased the quantity of waste discharged into water bodies, but also introduced emerging substances, including pollutants of industrial source, pharmaceuticals or micro plastics.

In crisis situations (conflict, disaster, epidemic), which are becoming increasingly long and complex, it is necessary to link the emergency humanitarian response to a more sustainable response as soon as the context allows it. This process, called the Humanitarian-Development Nexus, requires a good analysis of the situation, a relevant response defined with the population and the capacity to follow up over time.