UNESCO headquarters, Paris, 13 May – World Water Council President Loic Fauchon revealed the Council’s four overarching priorities for the coming years at UNESCO’s International Water Conference “Leveraging Intersectorality for Sustainable Water Security and Peace”.
The priorities are complementary to the Council’s triennial strategy and will steer the organization’s activities throughout the next two years.
- Storing water today for future needs: For water security to become a reality, the availability of the water resource must be increased by building storage space, developing desalination and encouraging water reuse. Digital innovation is key in managing demand and optimizing water consumption.
- Five finger alliance: Water is essential to almost all human activities from food to energy production, health to education. An intersectoral and horizontal approach in water management is crucial and the Council’ network of Universities for Water in Beirut is a first step in the right direction.
- Water is politics: The World Water Council must engage in active hydro-diplomacy through the prisms of knowledge, finance and governance.
- Senegal, Africa, capital of water: The 9th World Water Forum, which will be held in Dakar, Senegal, in 2021 will be key in providing visible and concrete answers to global water challenges.
Echoing the theme of the conference, President Fauchon said “Technical solutions exist. We must now convince national governments, parliamentarians, and local authorities to adopt an intersectoral and horizontal approach in managing this precious resource”.
To reinforce the messages, the World Water Council released a new video “What are you doing for water?” highlighting its priorities and calling upon decision makers for their active involvement. |
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