UN 2023 Water Conference – virtual side event: Fostering Resilience Through Cooperation in Transboundary Waters

Mar 20, 2023, 2 pm CST
Register here.

Now more than ever, effective cooperation is vital to ensure decision-makers have the tools to respond to rapidly-evolving water challenges, particularly in waters shared along international boundaries.  Inviting the knowledge and collaboration of those who are sustained by these waters – including Indigenous Peoples – is essential to these efforts, which are built upon an adaptive management approach.

This 2-hour virtual side event, linked to UN 2023 Water Conference themes 3 (climate resilience) and 4 (transboundary water cooperation), will illustrate how greater collaboration across borders – scientific, cultural, and economic – can promote the more resilient management of shared waters in an era of climate change.

Agenda

Four presentations and case studies – spanning South America, Europe, and North America – will highlight the value of bringing diverse and competing interests together to learn from one another, collect data, discuss and analyze impacts, and cooperate on the sustainable management of shared waters.

Welcome and opening remarks.

Dr. Christopher Wilkie, International Joint Commission

Presentation 1: Lessons from the 25th International River Symposium (Vienna, Austria). Bringing together science, business, communities, NGOs and government to advance international efforts towards resilient rivers.
– Philip Weller, International RiverFoundation

Presentation 2:  Safeguarding freshwater resources through regional engagement, innovation, and exchange (Canada – United States).
– Mark Fisher, Council of the Great Lakes Region

Presentation 3: Towards a Blue Pact for the Lake Titicaca basin (Bolivia-Perú). Bringing civil society, government, and water users together to strengthen the sustainable management and use of transboundary waters.
– Vladimir Arana, International Secretariat for Water

Presentation 4: Supporting sustainable decision-making through public engagement (United States-Canada). Learning from those most impacted by severe flooding in the Lake Ontario-St. Lawrence River region.
– Commissioner Pierre Béland, International Joint Commission