Happy new year 2023
“We must prepare for a more unpredictable world with more frequent and severe weather extremes. Societies can limit many of these impacts by working with rather than against nature”
There is a great need for new ideas and commitments. Many of our current systems are built with the assumption that we will always have a reliable supply of water. This will unfortunately not be the case. Instead, we must prepare for a more unpredictable world with more frequent and severe weather extremes. Societies can limit many of these impacts by working with rather than against nature, to strengthen the water cycle and increase the resilience of people and ecosystems.
To follow up on this, we will, during World Water Week in Stockholm in August 2023, put particular focus on innovation, under the theme Seeds of Change: Innovative Solutions for a Water-Wise World. We need new incentives and innovations, where we build on both new and well-established knowledge and best practices from around the world. This is a gigantic task, which must involve every sector and every country. With its uniquely diverse network, long history and agile work processes, World Water Week is the natural arena for this type of global learning and collaboration. As such, World Water Week will also contribute to the achievement of the commitments made at the UN Water Conference in New York.
Another big step for SIWI during 2023 will be the opening of our third regional office, in Amman, Jordan. It will serve as a base for our work in the Middle East and North Africa, where we have, over the past years, increased our operations substantially. With MENA being a highly water scarce region, where water plays an important role on all levels and in all parts of society, we find it natural to have a strong and permanent presence, as we already have with regional offices in Pretoria and Bogotá.
At SIWI we remain determined to keep working, in 2023 and beyond, to provide for wise management and governance of the world’s water resources. We hope you will want to join hands with us in this effort.
Happy new year,
Torgny Holmgren, Executive Director, SIWI