21st WaterNet/WARFSA/GWPSA Symposium

Location
Virtual conference
Event Date
-

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21st WaterNet/WARFSA/GWPSA Symposium
21st WaterNet/WARFSA/GWPSA Symposium

The 21st WaterNet/WARFSA/GWP-SA Symposium will be held online, from the 28th - 30th October 2020 under the theme Integrated Water Resources Management for Sustainable Development in East and Southern Africa. IGRAC will be involved in an open special session on the 29th by UNESCO-IHP entitled: 'SADC-WIN: Taking communities beyond short term relief'.

The Symposia have been held annually in the Eastern and Southern African regions for the past 20 years to promote interaction among policymakers, academics, practitioners from water and related sectors, and cooperating partners. Together, they identify regional issues, gaps and priorities that require further research and support. Great emphasis will be placed on integration of knowledge, particularly involving scholars from the natural and social sciences. 

SADC-WIN: Taking communities beyond short term relief

UNESCO and SADC collaborated in the development of a flagship programme called the "SADC Integrated Water Resources Management Initiative" (SADC–WIN), which was launched by six water ministers from SADC member states during the 2017 World Water Day celebrations in Durban, South Africa.

In the SADC-WIN UNESCO session on 29 October 2020 (13:00 - 15:00), a platform will be created to deliberate on the progress of the programme since its inception in 2017. Specifically, the session will present some findings from the different projects that have been implemented and/or are currently being implemented under the SADC-WIN programme. The session will also allow for a stakeholder engagement as well as formulating a way forward in order to scale up the current and other initiatives foreseen under SADC-WIN.

Session Agenda 

  • 10 min - Introductory presentation of the SADC-WIN by Prof. Hubert Gijzen, UNESCO Regional Director for Southern Africa
  • 15 min - SADC-WIN Pillar 1: Strengthening planning, policies and strategies Making a case for improving groundwater governance: Governance of Groundwater Resources in Transboundary Aquifers (GGRETA) Project, Prof. Piet Kenabatho, University of Botswana
  • 15 min - SADC –WIN Pillar 2: Early warning, hazard mapping and action research Recent progresses and future directions in Flood and Drought Early Warning Systems; Dr. Justin Sheffield, University of Southampton and Princeton Climate Analytics (PCA)
  • 40 min - SADC-WIN Pillar 3: Demonstration, Innovation, Action Research and Learning Alliances
    • Innovative Strategy Towards Sustainable Water Management – the Water Chain Approach; Prof Innocent Nhapi and Prof. Hubert Gijzen, UNESCO Regional Director for Southern Africa
    • Groundwater monitoring initiatives in SADC; Mr James Sauramba, Executive Director, Groundwater Management Institute and Dr Neno Kukurić, Director, International Groundwater Resources Assessment Centre
  • 20 min - SADC-WIN Pillar 4: Institutional and human capacity development and awareness raising
    • Online Learning for Water Resource Management (5 min); Dr. Koen Verbist, UNESCO ROSA
    • Climate Risk Informed Decision Analysis (15 min); Dr. John Matthews, Alliance for Global Water Adaptation (AGWA)
  • 15 min - Question and Answer Session
  • 5 min - Wrap-Up