IOWater - International News

9 Information: Fax: +33 1 44 90 88 60 - E-mail: secretariat@inbo-news.org international events The News N° 28 COP23 This Day has shown, with the presenta- tion of many actions already in pro- gress, that “no regrets” solutions exist and can be implemented immediately, but also that difficulties must be overcome. Among the recommendations made, it can especially be noted that: l Integrated water resources manage- ment should be organized at the level of coastal, national or trans- boundary rivers, lakes and aquifers basins, because, in particular, regional and transboundary cooperation is crucial and must be increased where there are surface or groundwater resources shared by several riparian countries. l In each country and each basin, the organization and improvement of the production, gathering, conserva- tion, exchange and dissemination of data are to be supported within integrated Water Information Systems (WIS), which are to be sustained in the long term, while taking climate change into account, because we do not know how to manage what we cannot measure and the delay in this area is important: Flood and drought early warning systems should be strengthened or developed wherever necessary. l Water management needs to be organized in a cross-sectoral way involving local authorities, including municipalities, economic sectors, espe- cially agriculture and energy, and the civil society as a whole. Effective participation of all relevant stakeholders should be promoted in the decision-making and management processes and in the deve- lopment of field projects. From this point of view, the Alliances created between basins, cities and businesses allow a bet- ter mobilization of these partners, a shared vision of the issues and solutions, the cross-dissemination of good practices and the pooling of support means. l Multiple benefits are provided by Nature-Based Solutions, which have proven effective alongside conventional infrastructure and which contribute to reducing the costs of action: They need to be promoted and skills have to be provided to develop this “green engineering”. In this regard, during COP 23, an appeal was launched for the signing of a Declaration to support the use of Nature-Based Solutions into the “Action Agenda of the Marrakech Partnership for Global Climate Action”, which has already gathered more than 70 signatures from international or national organizations involved. l Governments and the international community must ensure the easier mobilization of essential funding for the implementation of urgent actions to adapt water to climate. The achievement of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals and the implementa- tion of the Paris Agreement require accelerating funding from all sources for climate action in the water sector. Financing, whose procedures should be simplified, must not only support infra- structure projects, but also serve to improve knowledge of resources and climate change impacts, capacity building, governance, training, water culture, monitoring and evaluation of policies or the use of Nature-Based Solutions. Project incubation resources, to facili- tate their funding from the various “Climate Funds”, appeared very useful in the light of current experiences. The next World Water Forum, to be held in Brasilia from 19 to 23 March 2018, will be the occasion for a new mobilization around these objectives. 4 s M o n d i a l e s p o u r l ’ E a u e t l e A M E C G l o b a l A l l i a n c e s f o r W a t e r a n d C l i m a t e G A f W a C B a s i n s B u s i n e s s M e g a c i t i e s D e s a l i n a t i o n Plenary session on “Finance” during the official “Action Day for Water and Climate” © INBO - C.Runel The Global Alliances for Water and Climate (GAfWaC) regroup: ➊ The Alliance of the 360 signatories of the “Paris Pact on water and adaptation to climate change in the basins of rivers, lakes and aquifers”, in 94 Countries, facilitated by the International Network of Basin Organizations (INBO) in partnership with UNECE, ➋ The Business Alliance for Water And Climate Change - BAFWAC, launched by the Carbon Disclosure Project - CDP, the CEO Water Mandate, the World Business Council for Sustai- nable Development (WBCSD) and SUEZ, which has now 65 member organizations, including 47 leading companies, ➌ The Alliance of Megacities for Water and Climate, facilitated by UNESCO, ICLEI, SIAAP and Arceau-IDF, gathering 16 Megacities for a total population of more than 300 million inhabitants, ➍ The Global CleanWater Desalination Alliance, gathering dozens of companies and research centers in this field. www. -water-climate-alliances.org 4