Here are the top trends for WWWeek At Home

The full programme for World Water Week At Home is now available, with 120 sessions on how water can help solve humanity’s greatest challenges. Two trends are especially prominent: resilience and digitalization. As the world struggles to chart a new course for life after Covid-19, WWWeek At Home offers ideas and inspiration from around the globe. Check out the programme and start planning your week!

One way to summarize the WWWeek At Home programme could be through the word “resilience”. Many of the sessions look at strategies for how to handle future shocks – from climate change and ecosystem degradation to pandemics and food scarcity. Most of these threats are closely linked to water, and so are many of the most promising solutions.

Climate change stands out as one of the major challenges and it was also the focus of the regular World Water Week 2020 which had to be cancelled due to Covid-19. Instead WWWeek At Home offers many sessions on the relationship between water and climate. How can African farmers become more climate resilient, what do businesses say about their water risks, which threats will freshwater species face? All these topics will be covered in at least one WWWeak At Home session, as will questions about city planning, sanitation, and nature-based solutions.

Digitalization continues to be another major trend, and, in many sectors, it has been fast-tracked during recent attempts at social distancing. What will this mean for the water sector? Will the digital transformation make it possible for service providers to reach new groups and scale up alternative approaches? How will the internet of things drive new water innovations? Can the water sector find new ways to communicate, collaborate and inspire behavioural change? Join the debate at WWWeek At Home to learn more!

“We live in an era of rapid and unprecedented changes, where it can be difficult to grasp new threats and solutions. This makes WWWeek At Home so important as an arena where many different perspectives can be presented,” says Gabriela Suhoschi, Director World Water Week & Prizes at SIWI.

A key to success is for the discussions to be inclusive, with representatives from many sectors and all parts of the planet. World Water Week has always been characterized by this diversity and the digital format of WWWeek At Home makes it easy to join also for people in remote locations who lack the means to participate in an international conference. For the future, Gabriela Suhoschi believes in striking the right balance between offering meeting places in real life and developing digital solutions.

“The experiences from WWWeek At Home will be used to strengthen World Water Week, we know that in uncertain times there is a growing need for this kind of knowledge exchange. I really hope that many people understand the importance of shared learning and take the opportunity to join WWWeek At Home,” Gabriela Suhoschi says.

In addition to the 120 sessions hosted by partner organizations that had already been selected to convene sessions at World Water Week, the WWWeek At Home umbrella also covers a festive opening on Monday 24 August at 9.30am CET and a reflective closing session on Friday 28 August 6pm CET. Maybe most exciting of all, on Tuesday 25 August at 2pm CET, H.R.H Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden will announce the winner of the prestigious Stockholm Junior Water Prize.

Check out the programme and start planning which sessions you want to join. Some sessions will also be recorded and can be viewed afterwards; all information is available in the programme.