The status quo to addressing water challenges is Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM). While the past three decades have seen IWRM having a profound impact on water planning practices, it has not yet yielded sustainable water outcomes. The results can inadvertently create conflict, exclude critical users, or ignore gaps in water management. As highlighted across the SDGs, key gaps in sustainable and equitable water access require looking at what happens beyond the watershed, thinking about inclusive participatory approaches, climate-oriented actions, the macroeconomic impacts around water, and consideration for ecosystems.

To address these gaps, we have invited panelists from different geographies and professional backgrounds, from the local to national and transboundary levels, to share their experiences and best practices, and discuss what could be our joint next steps to fulfill the Water Action Agenda. Focused on innovation from a cross-sector and a multi-country perspective, our panelists will be discussing the following action points:

1. Action to foster cooperation and collaboration: Sustainable water management should reach beyond the watershed, with participatory processes based not only on one location. For this, we need to consider cross-sectoral and macroeconomic implications and decision-making outside the watershed.
2. Action to maintain ecosystem health and implement the source-to-sea approach: Ecosystems should be considered throughout the water management and planning process. For this, we need approaches that incorporate ecosystem needs and processes as well as source-to-sea management.
3. Action to increase knowledge sharing and inclusive decision making: Collaborative and inclusive engagement in water management delivers more effective long-term outcomes. For this, we need to enable policymakers to see not only watershed-wide water demand and supply, but also smaller-scale differences that illuminate inequalities, addressing issues of poverty, gender, and inclusion of marginalized groups.

Our invited panelists are committed to achieving SDG 6 and have partnered with SEI in previous and ongoing initiatives, such as Bolivia WATCH (WASH Thinking Connected to Hydrology, applied to three priority river basins in Bolivia—Upper La Paz, Pampa-Huari and Tupiza), Water Beyond Boundaries (with case studies in Colombia’s Magdalena-Cauca River basin and Thailand’s Lower Songkhram River, a tributary of the Mekong River), Rwanda’s hydro-economic and climate change analysis (HECCA) supported by the World Bank, USAID Regional Water and Vulnerable Environment Activity in Central Asia, SEI’s Strategy for the Ocean and Biodiversity, and ecosystem consideration in water planning and management in California.

Our 4 hours in-person side event will be structured with panels and discussions, followed by a reception, as follows:

• Opening Remarks by Dr. Marisa Escobar, Stockholm Environment Institute (5 minutes)
• Introductions

Followed by three 30-min panels and 45 minutes of discussion:

• Panel 1 ‘Action to foster cooperation and collaboration’ (20 minutes)
  Moderated by Dr. Annette Huber-Lee, Stockholm Environment Institute

Panelists:

• • • • Dr. Anoulak Kittikhoun, CEO at the Mekong River Commission
      • Dr. Emmanuel Rukundo, Director General at Rwanda Water Resources Board
      • Ms. Joy Busolo, Senior Water Resources Management Specialist at the World Bank
• Panel 2 ‘Action to maintain ecosystem health and implement the source-to-sea approach’ (20 minutes)
  Moderated by Mr. Thanapon Piman, Stockholm Environment Institute

Panelists:

• • Mr. Grant Davis, General Manager at California’s Sonoma Water Utility, United States
  • Dr. Jakob Granit, Director General at the Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management
  • Prof. Dr. Sangam Shrestha, Water and Engineering and Management at the Asian Institute of Technology
• Panel 3 ‘Action to increase knowledge sharing and inclusive decision making’ (20 minutes)
  Moderated by Dr. Tania Santos, Stockholm Environment Institute

Panelists:

• • Mr. Fabian Caicedo, Director of Integrated Water Resources Management at Colombia’s Ministry of the Environment and Sustainable Development
  • Mr. Guido Meruvia Schween, Program Officer at the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida) in Bolivia
  • Ms. Marissa Castro, Director General of Limits, Borders and International Transboundary Waters at Bolivia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• Open discussion (45 minutes)
• Closing Remarks (10 minutes)
• Reception to follow (90 minutes)

SEI’s mission is to support decision-making and induce change toward sustainable development around the world by providing integrative knowledge that bridges science, policy and practice in the field of environment and development. We are committed to advancing with the Water Action Agenda and continuing the stakeholder dialogues across sectors, geographies, and scales beyond the UN Water Conference.

* This event is invite-only *