During the forth day of Water Innovation Europe, the session A Water-Smart Society for protecting aquatic biodiversity and habitats took place, moderated by Monica Altamirano, Program Manager Finance for Adaptive Planning at Deltares. In the panel, we had the participation of Eef Silver, Policy Officer Water and Rivers at Wetlands International; Daniela Galla, Chemical Engineer – Innovation Manager Innovation ENEL at Global Power Generation and Roby Biwer, Member of Bettembourg Municipal Council, European Committee of the Regions.
Read below the key messages discussed during the session:
Nature-based solutions (NBS) must be part of the EU’s recovery agenda. They can be the bridge of a smart society and the natural world. Besides restoring our biodiversity and ecosystem, they also bring significant business and employment opportunities. NBS will help our resilience.
The first priority is to avoid further degradation. Technologies are very important and have evolved significantly. What we also need is more knowledge and expertise available for the development of nature-based solutions, as well as to close the gaps between the high level and implementation on the ground.
Cross-sectorial collaboration is critical. We require innovative collaborations, partnerships with public authorities & civil society. We need to understand what are the interests of different sectors & develop a community of practice.
The trend of the private sector is to go to more consolidate and cost-effective solutions. There is a big potential for combining nature-based solutions to conventional solutions. It is a good idea to challenge and motivate the private sector to find integrations. It is the interest of everyone and humanity to preserve our environment, and it’s the interest of the private sector to improve efficiency.
We need three revolutions: one in understanding, one in designing and one in financing. The EU Green Deal is a great opportunity that enables Europe to lead by example the fair and green transition we need.
Tomorrow is the last day of this year’s Water Innovation Europe 2020. Watch our dedicated video on the topic of session 5: A Water-Smart Society for excellent quality of water.
