The Bonn Water Network – Addressing water as a crosscutting element of the Sustainable Development Goals

Event Type
Bonn Water Network Event

Location / Date
Online, 16.12.2020

TU Dresden, University of Bonn, UNU-FLORES, German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE)

We invited you to join the upcoming lecture, roundtable and debate of the Bonn Water Network: Addressing water as a crosscutting element of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Sustainable Development Goal 6 on clean water and sanitation is crucial for the implementation of many other SDGs such as food security, health, education, land or energy. Across the 2030 Agenda, many goals depend on the availability of and access to water, but these interlinkages also create trade-offs and conflict potential. The Covid-19 pandemic, for instance, has shed light on existing harsh inequalities in access to safe water and resulting health risks which considerably amplify the risk of spreading the virus.

Annabelle Houdret (DIE), speaker of the Bonn Water Network, presented the new initiative and Srinivasa Srigiri (DIE) introduced into the topic of the lecture in his presentation “SDG 6 on ‘Clean Water and Sanitation for All’: Assessing Interlinkages, Trade-Offs and Synergies for Policy Design”. A roundtable brought together the expertise of the Bonn Water Network’s member institutions to discuss the topic “Water as a catalyst for the SDGs – addressing interlinkages in research and practice”. Key questions included: Which are the different needs for water that we need to take into account when implementing the SDGs? Which governance approaches are successful in dealing with water demand across sectors and scales in this process? How can science contribute to improve the understanding of these interlinkages through inter- and transdisciplinary approaches? And how do we translate this into practice and bring researchers and decision-makers together to develop and implement sustainable water solutions?

Mariele Evers (GIUB)contributed her expertise in transdisciplinary approaches in research on human-water-systems and hydrological extremes; Daniel Tsegai (UNCCD) brought in his knowledge on water scarcity in the context of drought extremes and the connections to land rehabilitation; Birgit Kemmerling (BICC) addressed the challenges of resource-saving and cycle-oriented management of water and land resources in Morocco; Yvonne Walz (UNU-EHS) brought in her expertise on the role of water in the context of disaster risk management and climate change adaptation; Luna Bharati (ZEF/ IWMI) highlighted Water-Energy-Food-Environment Nexus solutions for sustainable development in Africa and Asia; and Srinivasa Srigiri (DIE) brought in his expertise on the governance of interdependencies between water, energy and food securities in Mexico, Ethiopia and Jordan.

The Bonn Water Network consists of seven renowned institutions with longstanding experience on water and related issues: the Bonn International Center for Conversion (BICC); Bonn University with its Institute of Geography (GIUB) holding the UNESCO Chair in Human Water Systems, and the Center for Development Research (ZEF); the German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE); the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and two UN institutions, the United Nations University - Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) and the Secretariat of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).

The event was part of the lecture series “Cooperation in water management – tackling a global challenge” organized by UNU FLORES; TU Dresden and the University of Bonn.

Hinweis

Während unserer Veranstaltungen werden z.T. Foto- und/oder Filmaufnahmen gemacht, die für Zwecke der Veranstaltungsberichterstattung und allgemeinen Öffentlichkeitsarbeit in verschiedenen Medien veröffentlicht werden. Sie haben jederzeit das Recht, die Foto- oder Videograf*innen darauf hinzuweisen, dass Sie nicht aufgenommen werden möchten. / During our events photos and/or videos may be taken which may be published in various media for the purposes of documentation and PR activities. You have the right at any time to point out to the photographer or videographer that you do not want to be photographed or filmed.