Five trends shaping World Water Week

Nature-based solutions for water will be a hot topic at this year’s World Water Week with the theme “Water, ecosystems and human development”. Looking through the programme, which can be found here, there are many exciting trends to keep your eyes on:

1.  The Sustainable Developments Goals taken to a new level. With World Water Week opening shortly after the High Level Political Forum has been taking stock of the progress on SDG 6, there is of course a lot of focus on drinking water and sanitation. But the strongest trend among the Week’s convenors this year is actually to adopt a more holistic approach rather than to just focus on one SDG at a time.
2. Nature as a new source of inspiration. Following up from the 2018 World Water Day and the UN’s World Water Development Report, there’s a lot of buzz around nature-based solutions and biodiversity. Blue and green approaches to infrastructure and urban planning are creating great interest, as is the concept of environmental flows to help ecosystems function.
3. Plastic pollution is a growing concern. All over the world, people are becoming increasingly wary of the damage caused by plastics ending up in the wrong place. This is also reflected in a number of activities during World Water Week.
4. Companies want to be part of the solution. Water management is moving to the top of the business agenda as a growing number of companies and investors are beginning to understand the risks involved, the savings that can be made and the new business opportunities that innovations can bring. World Water Week has received a record number of submissions targeting the private sector.
5. Raising more voices. The Gold Standard, initiated in 2017 to make World Water Week more inclusive, has proved to be huge success. This year, more than 85 per cent of the proposals submitted declared their intention to have gender-balanced speaker line-ups, youth representation, and ample audience

Join us at World Water Week as we explore these topics and more. Online registration is open from now until 25 August. See all topics and events in the online programme.