
The most influential global water event is taking place this week: World Water Week - August 23-27, 2021.
World Water Week 2021 Theme: Building Resilience Faster offering solutions to the world’s greatest water-related challenges, starting with the climate crisis and including water scarcity, food security, health, biodiversity, and impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.
SIWI High Level Panel: Building Resilience from Source to Sea
Thursday 26 August 14:00-15:00
Humanity is facing serious challenges such as climate change, environmental degradation and pollution that have proven to be too complex to be effectively confronted by the traditional approaches of isolated responses. The source-to-sea approach to management presents an alternative to these fragmented actions. By bringing together upstream/downstream actors from different sectors, land, freshwater, coastal and marine ecosystems can be managed holistically thereby realizing the greatest benefits for the system as a whole. A resilient future depends on all levels of government and decision-makers, in partnership with the private sector and civil society, pulling together to drive meaningful change, uniting policy and action for coordinated management.
A diverse panel of high-level actors will make an urgent call for adopting the source-to-sea approach to reduce fragmentation and foster collaboration across all levels of governance and between sectors. In a world faced by climate change, recurrent crises and pandemics, this session will bring together thought leaders, policymakers and practitioners representing various sectors from the freshwater and ocean communities to share their vision, reinforced by concrete experiences, of how we can act hand in hand to successfully tackle these challenges and build resilience.
Dr. Mary Matthews, UNDP Ocean Advisor and Ocean Innovation Challenge Project Manager, is one of the distinguished panelists for this event.
Register to World Water Week 2021 here
List of events with UNDP engagement
Monday 23 August
13:00-14:00 CEST
Indigenous values and stewardship: Lessons to rebuild our watery relationships
UNDP as co-convener
Tuesday 24 August
15:00-16:00 CEST
SIWI Seminar: Information, governance and justice for climate resilience (2/3)
UNDP as co-convener, Sameera Savarala, UNDP as panelist
19:30-19:55 CEST
Achieving the Paris agreement mitigation targets through water.
UNDP as co-convener
Wednesday 25 August
07:00-08:00 CEST
Pathways to resilient, blue-green growth for cities
UNDP as co-convener
19:00-20:00 CEST
Intersectoral cooperation: A catalyst for climate resilience and SDG6 acceleration
with Rajeev Issar, UNDP, as panelist, and Marianne Kjellen, UNDP, closing. Event with UNICEF.
Thursday 26 August
08:00-09:00 CEST
Intersectoral cooperation: a catalyst for climate resilience and SDG6 acceleration
with Swayamprabha Das, UNDP India, as panelist, and Marianne Kjellen, UNDP, closing. Event with UNICEF.
10:00-11:25 CEST
Riding the wave: Financing source-to-sea action
UNDP as co-convener
14:00-15:00 CEST
SIWI High Level Panel: Building Resilience from Source to Sea
Mary Matthews, UNDP consultant as panelist
Friday 27 August
10:00-11:25 CEST
Leading the world: Indigenous-led partnerships and governance
UNDP as co-convener
18:00-19:30 CEST
Closing Plenary – w. AA Rao Monari
Includes video contribution by Assistant Administrator Usha Rao-Monari on the energy-water-food nexus.
Title of the session: Where do we go from here?
Representatives that lead and influence different global agendas signpost to upcoming key global moments and speak about water in their respective processes