Resilient Policies: Leveraging Water for National Climate Planning

This hybrid session will look at how principles such as Integrated Water Resource Management can link water resilience to climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction concerns at national policy level.

Event description:

Climate change will mainly be felt in the water cycle, which already experiences a crisis from unsustainable development. Water needs to take a more prominent place in national policy making.

This means that efforts to mainstream climate change and disaster risk reduction (DRR) need to better translate and link to the mainstreaming of water resilience.

Mainstreaming entails systematically including certain considerations in decision-making and planning processes instead of only implementing ‘stand-alone’ measures. This requires more attention to cross-cutting coordination across the entire water cycle, encompassing policies which provide resilience for several levels and sectors.

This hybrid session will look at how principles such as Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) and those provided by organizations such as OECD can link water resilience to climate change adaptation and DRR concerns at national policy level.

Presentations will provide examples of national and institutional policy or frameworks, as well as international collaboration and globally transferable standards, strategies, methods, tools and approaches for delivering water resilience. This can, for example, support the enhancement of Nationally Determined Contributions and National Adaptation Plans around water. The bottom line is that it should provide a sound international framework for national efforts supporting water resilience.

Objectives of the session are to identify:

• Key gaps and challenges in policy and practice in light of resilient water governance principles
• Benefits and challenges of tools and methods to mainstream water resilience
• An action agenda for the international community to support national-level water resilience going forward

Agenda:

13:15–13:35: Introductory remarks: Peter Glas, Chair of the OECD Water Governance Initiative, The Delta Commission, The Netherlands

13:25–14:15: Integrated policies and regulations: Facilitated discussion: Torgny Holmgren, Executive Director, SIWI

• Perspective: Understanding the risks across sectors for integrated water resilience: Dr. Johannes Cullman, Director, Cross-cutting coordination, water and cryosphere, World Meteorological Organisation WMO
• Perspective: Integrate flood and water scarcity management: Dr. Mark Smith, IWMI
• Perspective: Enabling implementation of nature-based solutions: Jane Madgwick, CEO, Wetlands International
• Perspective: Link to mitigation – Water footprint for various mitigation measures. Synergies and tradeoffs:  Dr. Aditi Mukherjee, IWMI

14.15-14.45: Panel: Experience in practice on the tools for mainstreaming water – specific cases and examples – Facilitated discussion Facilitator: Torgny Holmgren, Executive Director, SIWI

• Strategic Flood management as method: Dr Paul Sayers, Sayers and Partners
• Use of various tools for integrating water and adaptation into national development policy – brief examples available from Ghana, Zambia, Bolivia, Uganda: Anjali Lohani, or Kidanemariam Tiruneh, Global Water Partnership
• National policy and support for urban water resilience – organisational aspects, financing and risk assessment, the case of Gothenburg: Dr Lena Blom, R&D manager, strategic advisor, Sustainable waste and water, City of Gothenburg, Adjunct Professor, Chalmers, Sweden
• ASEAN Climate Resilience Network tools and practices that contribute to the national climate policies and planning: Imelda Bacudo, ASEAN, Climate Resilience Network