INBO - Newsletter

INBO Newsletter n° 26 - March 2018 2 The Italian Ministry for the Environ- ment, Land and Sea organized the International Summit on “Water and Climate; Meeting of the Great Rivers of the World”, from 23 to 25 October 2017 in Rome, Italy. This international summit was organized in partnership with the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe ( UNECE ), the International Network of Basin Organizations ( INBO ), the Global Alliances for Water and Climate ( GAfWC ) and Aquamadre . It gathered more than 350 high-level participants from 56 countries and representatives from, in particular, the European Commission, the major UN agencies, the Union for the Mediterra- nean, the largest river basins in the world, and his Holiness Pope Francesco. The President of the Italian Council of Ministers, Mr. Paolo Gentiloni, officially opened the Summit on the morning of 23 October and the closing ceremony on 25 October was celebrated in the presence of the President of the Italian Republic, H.E. Sergio Mattarella. As has now become clear, climate change is already having a visible impact on freshwater resources, with dramatic consequences (floods, droughts, erosion, ecosystem degra- dation, etc.). This Summit has been an important milestone for the preparation of the Bonn COP 23 (6-17 November 2017) and the Brasilia World Water Forum (18-23 March 2018). Its goal was to further integrated freshwater manage- ment issues into the top priorities of the international negotiations on climate change and of the Global Climate Action Agenda. It especially focused on the need for quick action to finance projects, to improve knowledge, governance, public participation and take imme- diate measures for water adaptation to climate change. The summit was an outstanding occasion to match project proposals to financing opportunities and to foster experience sharing between great river basin organizations, local, national and regional administrations in charge of climate change adaptation policies and water resources management, bilateral and multilateral donors and other international institutions interested in adaptation to climate change and in basin management. The work of the Summit was orga- nized around four major topics, which were presented in high-level panels and widely discussed among participants: n Acquisition and sharing of know- ledge on the impact of climate change on water resources; n Nature-Based Solutions, n Public participation and involve- ment of the economic sectors and local authorities; n Financial mechanisms for adapta- tion to climate change in the water sector. At the end of the discussions, the following priority recommendations were formulated for reporting to COP23 in Bonn: l Integrated water management, organized at the level of coastal, national or transboundary rivers, lakes and aquifers basins, is needed all over the planet; l In particular, regional and trans- boundary cooperation in climate change adaptation is crucial to effectively address this change, when there are surface or ground- water resources shared between several riparian countries; l The establishment and deve- lopment of local, national or transboundary basin organiza- tions is to be supported as well as the strengthening of institutional and technical cooperation between counterpart basin organizations from the same region and other parts of the world; l In each country and each basin, the organization and improvement of the production, gathering, conservation and exchange of data is to be supported within integrated Water Information Systems (WIS), which are to be sustained in the long term, while taking climate change into account. Flood and drought early warning systems should be streng- thened or developed wherever necessary; l Stronger linking is needed for scientific knowledge-based decision making; International news International Summit on the Great Rivers of the World: “Taking action for water and climate” Great international events Representatives of the great rivers of the world participated in the Opening Ceremony © INBO – C. Runel