Dear Water Europe friends,
With all our activities running, the days of this month have passed by so quickly. Over the previous weeks, we received the news that the Water Resilience Initiative of the European Commission was postponed. This is a very disappointing development, but also a moment to stress once again that there is an established broad consensus among European stakeholders for an ambitious and holistic water strategy. Such a strategy should provide European economic actors with a competitive and strategic asset, while guaranteeing enough water of the right quality at the right time. At Water Europe, we are ready to support the Commission in its efforts to build a Water-Smart Europe and work simultaneously towards establishing an environment that enables water resilience, sustainability, and security.
During this month, our Water Europe secretariat also had the chance to lay the foundation for all this year’s activities with the presentations of each programme’s plan and activities in the team meeting that took place in Barcelona, Spain.
Looking ahead to March 2024, we have much to anticipate. We are happy to start the month by co-hosting, together with the European Commission and UNEP, the side-event “Shaping a water-resilient world, with water security for all’’ at the 6th Session of the United Nations Environment Assembly. Our board member, Pär Larshans, will be there representing Water Europe. This event will explore the key tools and practices, such as the Water-Oriented Living Labs, as essential tools towards achieving global water resilience. This is how we are following up on the UN2023 Conference in New York and how we aspire to make tangible contributions to the preparations for the upcoming UN Water Conference in 2026.
Water Europe is also going to make its contribution to the Belgian Presidency Water Conference that will be held on March 12th, while we are eagerly awaiting the 2024 edition of our Water Market Europe event (WME2024) coming up on March 26th and 27th, 2024.
Even if the steps are gradual, there is no doubt that each one of these endeavours brings us one step closer to our vision for a Water-Smart Society and a sustainable water future. We look forward to seeing you all at WME2024 in less than a month!
