Water And Climate Day 2

Thursday 21 August
Full Day

Climate change will affect the basic elements of life for people around the world – access to water, food production, health, and the environment. Hundreds of millions of people could suffer water shortages, hunger and coastal flooding as the world warms. As the UNDP Human Development Report 2007/2008 warns, inequalities in ability to cope with climate change are emerging as an increasingly powerful driver of wider inequalities between and within countries.

Climate change needs to be fully integrated into development policy. Rich countries must honour their pledges to increase support through overseas development assistance. Each country, however, faces diverse circumstances and will use different approaches to make their contribution to tackling climate change. But action by individual countries is not enough. Every country, however large, is just a part of the problem. It is essential to create a shared international vision of long-term goals and to build the international frameworks that will help each country to play its part in meeting these common goals.

The events of the second Water and Climate Day will focus on adaptation strategies for diverse countries, settlements, regions and actors who will all be impacted differently by climate change.

Adaptation Strategies in Europe

Seminar Programme          09:00-11:00, Room K1

Convenor: Federal Ministry of Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU)

Although the impacts of climate change on the environment and economies in Europe will not be as dramatic as in other parts of the world, European regions are also vulnerable to the consequences of climate change. Several European countries embarked in developing national adaptation strategies to enhance their adaptive capacities. Several regional level initiatives have also been started. The European Commission is working on an EU-wide framework for adaptation. Water plays an important role in the strategy development at all levels because many economic sectors will be affected by the potential impacts of climate change on water resources, not to speak about the consequences for water-related ecosystems and the services they provide. This seminar will provide examples from adaptation strategy development processes in Europe at national, regional and transboundary river basin levels and gives insight into the preparations.

Seminar Programme           09:00-11:00, Room K1

Chair: Thomas Stratenwerth, Ministry of Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU), Germany

High Level Political Debate

11:00-12:00         Room K1

Convenor: Co-operative Programme on Water and Climate (CPWC), The Netherlands and World Water Council, France

Being the leading annual global meeting place for international processes and programmes in water and development, the 2008 World Water Week in Stockholm is, to many, a stepping stone towards the 5th World Water Forum in 2009. In this framework the Co-operative Programme on Water and Climate (CPWC) organises, together with the World Water Council, a panel debate on political perspectives with respect to climate change and adaptation of water management.

The debate will be lead by Dr. András Szöllösi-Nagy (Political Process Committee 5th World Water Forum, France) and participants include Mrs. Tineke Huizinga (State-Secretary for Transport, Public Works and Water Management, the Netherlands) and Mr. Asfaw Dingamo (Minister of Water Resources, Ethiopia).

Questions to be answered include ‘how important is climate change on the political water agenda?’, ‘at what level (global (CSD), regional or local) should water and climate be raised on the agenda?’, ‘how can the position of adaptation be raised on the political priority ranking?’, ‘how can resources be mobilised for adaptation by political means?’. Politicians at the highest level will engage in the discussion.

Developing Energy Efficiency Measures and Climate Change Adaptation Strategies for Water Utilities in Developing Country Cities and Towns

Lunch Side Event

Convenor : UN-HABITAT and IWA (tbc)

12:00-13:30           Room K21

Global warming and other related climate changes are likely to profoundly affect water, and sanitation service provision and health in human settlements. Action to help poor urban communities adapt and become more resilient to these changes must be initiated.  Water resources management will be particularly affected and result in negative health-related impacts, such as increased incidence of water-borne and vector-borne diseases, such as malaria and  dengue fever, caused by groundwater pollution, reduced water flow, localised flooding, and disruptions in sanitation service provision. Urgent action is required to initiate structured adaptation interventions at the local level.
Energy plays an important role in water service delivery. The type of energy and the way it is used considerably affects the final cost and the availability of water and sanitation services to the end user. The event will explore more efficient renewable energy options and climate change mitigation strategies to better deliver affordable and reliable water and sanitation services to people living in poor urban settlements.

Adaptation in Practice

Afternoon Seminar

Convenor: Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF), Swedish Water House Cluster Group on Climate, Water and Vulnerability, Department for International Development, United Kingdom (DFID), European Investment Bank (EIB) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

Whilst our knowledge of the scale of climate change impacts on water is increasing, there remains a relative vacuum of knowledge about how to adapt our river basins and water management to cope with the change.

WWF and co-conveners SWH, EIB, UNDP and DFID have been managing programmes in Asia, Africa, Europe and Latin America specifically to assess the effectiveness of various practical freshwater adaptation strategies.

The interactive seminar will provide guidance on how to prioritise the kinds of interventions available in differing basins and assess when infrastructure can be part of the solution or exacerbate the problem. It will also examine quantitative case studies from the four continents to demonstrate the social, economic and ecological benefits of effective adaptation measures, which include the establishment and strengthening of river basin management institutions, revision of water allocations, changes in agricultural techniques and crops, floodplain restoration, flood risk mitigation and rainwater harvesting. Discussion sessions will be held after, bringing in participants from a variety of institutions to probe on key issues and stimulate a wider dialogue.

A plenary discussion will conclude the seminar to analyse the lessons learned and assess how the strategies both policy and practical can be successfully communicated and scaled up globally.

Seminar Programme           13:30-17:30, Room K1

Chairs: Dr. Li Lifeng, WWF International, Switzerland and Guy Howard, DFID, United Kingdom

Schedule:

•09:00-11:00
Adaptation Strategies in Europe

•11:00-12:00
High Level Political Debate

• 12:00-13:30
Developing Energy Efficiency Measures and Climate Change Adaptation Strategies for Water Utilities in Developing Country Cities and Towns Lunch Side Event

•13:30-17:30
Adaptation in Practice