This is the fourth session in the UNEP-DHI Water Innovation Webinar series, co-organized with THE ACADEMY by DHI. These Water Webinar series are targeted at water practitioners of all levels, including policy-makers, technical staff and water educators. The aim of these series of webinars is to give an insight to the role that innovative approaches can play in supporting the achievement of SDGs in a number of ways, underlining the need for, and opportunities in integrated approaches to water management.
Both Dutch cities of The Hague and Rotterdam are part of the 100 Resilient Cities network. As part of a larger Metropolitan Region, both cities have embraced the fact that an integrated approach towards resilience can produce more effective and efficient results. From coast to quay, this region continues to pursue an ambition of climate-resilience on geographical, economic and political levels.
In light of the upcoming Habitat III conference at Quito, Ecuador, The Government of the Netherlands as outgoing chair of the Delta Coalition together with the City of Beira and the knowledge network Delta Alliance are pleased to invite you to their network event “Transition towards Sustainable Delta Cities” on Wednesday the 19th of October 2016 from 14:00 pm – 16:00 pm in room MR19 at the venue of the Habitat III conference, Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana “Benjamin Carrion”.
During this challenging network event the aim is to build networks and make the next steps on concrete actions, innovations, proposals and research, hereby building on the results obtained at the Sustainable Urban Deltas Conference, which was held in Rotterdam (May 2016). These results were presented to the ministerial round table of the Delta Coalition and resulted in the adoption of a ministerial declaration and a call for action.
Mainstreaming climate change into decision-making to achieve ‘climate compatible development’ is a pressing challenge. This process is complicated by the uncertainties in climate change projections and impacts and the necessity for cooperation between public and private actors across multiple sectors. In addition, other drivers such as population growth, increasing economic volatility and modernisation interact with climate change to generate non-linear and unexpected outcomes and shocks, requiring novel thinking about development planning.
As our climate changes, the uncertainty of water availability and access threatens to become one of the major challenges to national security. But much like climate change’s connections to security, water’s impact on conflict can be difficult to see when measured against seemingly more immediate threats like terrorism – and similarly challenging to understand. By unpacking the many ways that water relates to U.S. strategic interests, international security, and conflict risks, we can better understand not only its links to insecurity but also opportunities for building peace and fostering cooperation.