Groundwater webinar series during virtual World Water Week

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The annual World Water Week this year, due to the Covid-19, did not have its traditional form. Instead, the organisation initiated a virtual conference to help bridge the gap between the 2019 and 2021 World Water Weeks. As part of this 'WWWeek At Home' that was held from 24 to 28 August 2020, a series of groundwater webinars was organised and IGRAC contributed to those.

The aim of this webinar series was to discuss the role of groundwater in a resilient development pathway under climate change and other slow- or fast-onset global disrupters. Initiatives underway to identify groundwater-smart solutions, management strategies and partnerships to enhance resilience of the resource as well as the populations and ecosystems depending on it was showcased and discussed. The webinar series was targeted towards policy makers, practitioners, researchers, development partners and the private sector.

Groundwater webinars

Session 1: AMCOW’s Pan-African Groundwater Program – A Roadmap to Resilience 
August 25, 2020 16:00 – 16:45 CEST

Session 1: AMCOW's APAGRoP

This event showcased the African Ministers’ Council on Water’s (AMCOW) recent commitment to focus, through its Pan Africa Groundwater Program (APAGRoP), on groundwater to secure water for Africa in an insecure future setting of climate change and population growth. 

 

Session 2: Global Groundwater Sustainability Statement – Call to Action for Resilience 
August 25, 2020 17:00 – 17:45 CEST

Session 2: Groundwater sustainability

This session highlighted latest global initiatives and partnerships to enhance groundwater sustainability as one of the most important ballasts in future human and environmental resilience.

During the IGRAC presentation, the initiative for ‘The Groundwater Summit’ was introduced. This global groundwater summit is scheduled for 2022 during the ‘UN Year of Groundwater’, calling on highest-level policy and decision makers to commit and invest in sustainable groundwater management. Linked to the summit, a catalogue of groundwater management and governance measures is being developed and will be briefly introduced as well.  

IGRAC presentation on Groundwater Summit 2022

IGRAC intervention also contained announcement of an overview of ‘National Groundwater Monitoring Programmes’. This overview, developed in cooperation with WMO and national hydrological services around the world, provides an insight in ways countries deal with climate change and its impact of groundwater resources.