2013 has been declared as the "International Year of Water Cooperation" by the United Nations General Assembly. In line with this theme, this year’s World Water Week theme is Water Cooperation - Building Partnerships. The OECD took part in a series of workshops, seminars and other events.

Two new OECD Water reports, TO BE DELETED CONTENT and Water and Climate Change Adaptation: Policies to Navigate Uncharted Waters were launched by the OECD's Secretary-General, Angel Gurría on 2 September 2013. 

This seminar showcased some of the novel approaches, emerging best practices, and lessons learned drawn from the various stages of climate change adaptation to achieve resilient water security. The key messages from the OECD report Water and Climate Change Adaptation: Policies to Navigate Uncharted Waters and the Survey of Policies in OECD Countries were presented. 

OECD speaker: Kathleen Dominique

The 7th World Water Forum will be held in Daegu-Gyeongbuk, Republic of Korea in 2015. Building on the solutions that were formulated during the 6th World Water Forum and the outcomes of the kick-off meeting on 14-15 May 2013, this seminar sought to present the proposed architecture for the preparation of the 7th World Water Forum and gather input from a wide range of stakeholders through facilitated discussion, in order to set solid foundations for further development of the 7th World Water Forum processes.

OECD speaker: Aziza Akhmouch

Convenor: Stockholm International Water Institute  

The Opening Plenary of the 2013 World Water Week aimed to encourage delegates to discuss issues related to the overarching theme of water cooperation and the Post-2015 Development Agenda.

OECD speaker: Mr Angel Gurría, Secretary-General                 

12:45-13:45: UNSGAB's Vision through and beyond 2015

Convenor: United Nations Secretary General's Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation
Co-convenor: UN-Water

The Chair of the UN Secretary General's Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation's (UNSGAB) presented the Board's call for a global goal on water and recommendations on how best to integrate water and sanitation in the post-2015 development agenda and Sustainable Development Goals. The UN-Water Chair detailed the work of the UN agencies in this regard. Representatives of Member States and Civil Society gave their views and engaged in a panel discussion.            

OECD participation: Mr Angel Gurría, Secretary-General

14:00-17:30: Rural-Urban Collaboration for Water, Food and Energy Security

Convenor: The Nature Conservancy
Co-convenors: International Union for Conservation of Nature; International Water Association; Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company and SABMiller

The Nexus Dialogue on Water Infrastructure Solutions is examining how engineered & nature-based water infrastructure & technology are currently being used & can be made more functional & sustainable to secure water, food production & energy generation while balancing economic, environmental & social issues. In this session, urban & rural stakeholders shared stories of collaboration that highlight the possibilities to bridge divides across agriculture, ecosystems, energy, industry & cities so best management & infrastructure principles are applied for a water secure future.

OECD panellist: Gérard Bonnis

Convenors: Global Water Partnership and Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development

Launch of new OECD flagship report TO BE DELETED CONTENT. Leaders of OECD, GWP and top economists of the World Bank discussed the process and consultations needed over the next two years to inform and influence countries and in particular Ministries of Finance and Development about water security issues and policy responses.

OECD participation: Mr Angel Gurría, Secretary-General

Convenor: Stockholm International Water Institute
Co-convenors: Agencia Nacional de Aguas, Brazil; Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and World Bank

This workshop addressed mechanisms for matching payers and beneficeries in order to ensure sustainable implementation and operation of water programmes. Challenges related to risk sharing, trust building and managing uncertainty in costs and other parameters were debated.

OECD speakers: Anthony Cox, Xavier Leflaive

9:00-12:30: Cooperation Across and within Jurisdictions and                      Levels for Good Water Governance - Local to Global

Convenor: Stockholm International Water Institute
Co-convenors: Global Water Partnership; UNESCO International Hydrological Programme and United Nations Development Programme

This workshop explored the social, economic, institutional, legal and political dimensions of cooperation from the micro-scale through the municipal, urban, national, regional, transboundary and even global levels. Particular attention was given to the interwoven linkages between water cooperation, water security and water governance at different scales.

OECD speaker: Aziza Akhmouch

Convenor: Stockholm International Water Institute
Co-convenors: World Business Council for Sustainable Development

The global demand for freshwater is projected to increase by 55% by 2050. SIWI would like to try to bridge the apparent divide between the human right to drinking water and the need for better incentives for water demand management. This seminar discussed how the world needs to urgently start valuing water better.

OECD speaker: Anthony Cox

14:00-17:30: Water and Forest - Cooperating for Mitigation and Adaptation

Convenor: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Co-convenor: Stockholm International Water Institute

Forests play important roles in both mitigation and adaptation to climate change. This seminar discussed coherence between forest, climate and water.

OECD speaker: Gérard Bonnis

9:00-12:30: Governance Aspects of Integrating Urban Planning and Water Management in the City of the Future

Convenor: Stockholm International Water Institute
Co-convenors: Building Partnerships for Development in Water and Sanitation and Sanitation and Hygiene Applied Research for Equity; International Water Association; Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor and WaterAid.

This seminar brought together water managers and urban planners from Europe, Asia and Africa for showcasing good examples and discussing development and co-operation. The objective of the seminar was to highlight the need and benefits of integrating and emphasizing water, in a wide sense, in the planning of cities of the future. The seminar focused on the intersection between urban spatial planning and the planning, design and operation of sustainable urban water and sanitation systems.

 OECD speaker: Anthony Cox

9:00-12:30: Sharing Water: Engaging Business

Convenor: World Business Council for Sustainable Development
Co-convenor: Wetlands International

As competition to access water resources intensifies, some organizations are engaging at a watershed level with other water users to better manage the resource. The approaches differ from one watershed to another. This event was an opportunity to hear from business, NGOs and governments about the range of solutions they are implementing locally (common metrics for local risks and impacts, valuation, allocation regimes) and to discuss the complementarities and challenges for each of them.

OECD speaker: Xavier Leflaive

9:00-12:00: LAC Focus: Water Security under the Regional Cooperation                                 Efforts

Convenor: Asociación Nacional de Empresas de Agua y Saneamiento and National Water Commission, Mexico
Co-convenors: FEMSA Foundation; Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; International Water Association; Latin-American Network for Basin Organizations - International Network of Basin Organizations; Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development; The Nature Conservancy; UNESCO International Hydrological Programme; World Bank and World Meteorological Organization

This seminar explored the notion of water security from different, but complementary angles of water resources management. It brought to the fore the experience of several organisations working in the pursuit of water security across the Latin American and Caribbean Region. The session highlighted the need for greater cooperation and sought to reinforce existing partnerships to support water security in the Region.

OECD speaker: Aziza Akhmouch

14:00-17:30: Strengthening the Role of Water in Green                                                        Growth

Convenors: Korea Water Resources Corporation; Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Korea and World Water Council
Co-convenors: Asian Development Bank; International Union for Conservation of Nature and Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development

This seminar focused on how to create synergies among the many organizations which seek solutions to strengthen the role of water resource management for successful implementation of green growth. The OECD, ADB and IUCN shared their learnings on the context of following topics: water allocation for implementing green growth, water security and green growth, and ecosystem services for green growth.

OECD speaker: Xavier Leflaive

14:00-17:30: EU Water Initiative Multi-stakeholder Forum

Convenor: European Commission
Co-convenor: Stockholm International Water Institute

The annual EUWI Multi-stakeholder Forum aims to present and discuss the results achieved within the different components, exchange experiences and gather participants’ inputs for further development of EUWI activities. This year's forum focused on using the multi-stakeholder dialogue to contribute to the development of the water component in on-going post 2015 and Rio processes.

OECD speaker: Tatiana Efimova

Convenor: South Africa Water Research Commission

Decentralization has been a development mantra for some time now. Decentralization does not automatically mean that central governments withdraw from the issue but that their role changes to uphold fair distribution, investing in capacity development and infra-structure development, etc. This workshop followed on and took particular cognisance of Workshop 4 convened by the Stockholm International Water Institute and UNESCO on 3 September: Cooperation Across and within Jurisdictions and levels for Good Water Governance – local to global

OECD speaker: Aziza Akhmouch

9:00-13:00: Consultation meeting on a water supplement to UNFCCC LEG’s technical guidelines for the National Adaptation Process

Convenor: GWP

(Please note there is no link to the SIWI programme)

GWP is working jointly with the UNFCCC Least Developed Countries Expert Group (LEG) to develop a Water Supplement to complement the technical guidelines for the National Adaptation Plan process. This consultation sought to gather input from stakeholders working on water and climate change adaptation.

OECD panellist: Kathleen Dominique

12:45-13:45:  Climate Uncertainty in Water Resources                                                                        Planning and Management

Convenors: French National Agency for Water and Aquatic Environment; French Water Partnership and UNESCO International Hydrological Programme
Co-convenor: Alliance for Global Water Adaptation

This side event aimed to begin to bridge the gaps between scientists, policymakers, and resource managers on how to move beyond climate uncertainties and into a new era of science-based resilient water management.

14:00-16:00: Water and Green Growth Expert group

This informal workshop was organised by the Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, K-Water and the World Water Council, to network and to receive feedback on research in the areas of green growth, green economy and water.

OECD speaker: Xavier Leflaive

14:00-16:30:  Informal Meeting of the OECD Initiative on Water Governance 

Venue: Comfort Hotel, Kungsbron 1 11122 , Stockholm, Sweden

The OECD Initiative on Water Governance is a multi-stakeholder network of about 100 representatives from public, private and non for profit sectors, meeting twice a year in a Policy Forum to support better governance in the water sector through experience sharing, analytical work and peer-to-peer dialogue

With a view to contributing to the 7^th WWF (Korea, 2015), the Initiative will carry out its activities through 4 Thematic Working Groups on stakeholder engagement, performance of water supply and sanitation, basin governance, integrity and transparency, in close collaboration with Regional Partners in the different continents.

The informal meeting discussed the updates on the OECD Water Governance Initiative since the launch meeting (27-28 March 2013, Paris, and next steps.

OECD speaker: Aziza Akhmouch

Related links:

World Water Week (Official site)