21-24 of March 2022, Dakar. This March 2022, participants from all walks of life, including political and economic decision-makers, multilateral institutions, academia, civil society and the private sector, will gather in Dakar, Senegal, for the 9th World Water Forum. Mediterranean actors will attend this event with an agreed common agenda to strengthen efforts in the Euro-Mediterranean region to urgently tackle the multiple water challenges it faces.
On the way to the 9th World Water Forum in Dakar, the Mediterranean Water Institute (IME) and the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) hosted in Malta a Mediterranean Water Forum that brought together all regional actors, to bring the conclusions and visions to the international Forum. The conclusions are available HERE as Member states of the Union for the Mediterranean have agreed to advance solutions to meet water-related socio-economic challenges and promote climate resilience as described in its regional Water Agenda.
This water Agenda and its policy framework of actions 2030 have emphasized on the integrated water resources management approaches and the nexus approach to enhance all economic sectors that are heavily water-dependent such as agriculture, fishing, power, industry as well as on the environment and health. For example, water-related challenges by 2050 are projected to lower the MENA-region’s GDP by 6-14%,5 if a do-nothing approach is pursued. Employment trends in the MENA-region have already worsened, especially in rural areas where, according to some studies, income is plummeting due to higher supply variability, depletion of groundwater resources and water pollution.
Almotaz Abadi, Managing Director for Water, Secretariat of the Union for the Mediterranean, will be inaugurating the following sessions that the Union for the Mediterranean Secretariat is co-organizing with IME and WWC:
