Henk Ovink
Facilitator
This event will present and discuss the findings of the Global Commission on the Economics of Water (GCEW) to establish connections with current and future water action in cities. The session will be structured around novel insights, which are important for local and city governments to consider.
While water is usually considered a local issue, the GCEW argues that water economics has a global dimension as well, when one considers how evapotranspiration channels water vapour across long distances, when the water footprints of our modes of production, consumption, land use or urbanisation are considered.
In September 2024, at the One Water Summit, the GCEW will present novel scientific insights about the physical changes in global water endowments and their economic and social consequences. It will highlight opportunities and action pathways that contribute to a just transition towards water security, climate mitigation and nature conservation.
The panel will explore how cities can build on these new developments to deliver on their own agendas, including SDG 11.
Some of the topics that will be considered include:
• Enhancing urban resilience to climate change
• Sustainable urban water and land footprint
• Consumption and production patterns
• Land use planning and water-rights
• Tackling distribution inefficiencies and inequity
• Developing circular water economies
• Water systems and cities: from rivers and aquifers to hydrological cycle catalysts
The event will include the following panellists:
- Henk Ovink (Executive Director, Global Commission on the Economics of Water - moderator)
- Mariana Mazzucato (Co-Chair, Global Commission on the Economics of Water; director of the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose – key note / panellist)
- Aromar Revi (Commissioner & lead expert, Global Commission on the Economics of Water; Director Indian Institute for Human Settlements – panellist)
- Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr (Mayor of Freetown – respondent)
- C40 [Other mayors or experts, ideally from LMIC as respondent/s]
- Urban Water Resilience Initiative representative TBC
- Philipp Rode (Executive Director of LSE Cities – respondent)
- Lisa Scholten (Delft University of Technology, Associate Professor – respondent)
The key objectives of the event are to
a. communicate the findings of the recent Global Commission on the Economics of Water (GCEW) report presented at the One Water Summit on 23 September,
b. collect insights from existing urban water practices on the ground reflective of the scale of the challenge and best practices,
c. connect the findings from the GCEW in the context of the multilateral dynamics of the UN 2023 Water Conference, the One Water Summit with the WUF, and
d. possibly build a coalition for urban water action that matches (some of) the GCEW findings.