UfM Member States and organisations gathered in Barcelona to develop plans and activities of the UfM Water Agenda
16-17 February 2023, Barcelona – The UfM Water Task Forces, Water, Environment, Food and Ecosystems (WEFE) Nexus, Water Access, Sanitation & Hygiene (WASH), Water, Employment and Migration (WEM) Nexus and Water Climate Change Actions (WCCA) meeting took place on 16 and 17 February 2023 in the Union for the Mediterranean premises in Barcelona. The meeting brought together the leaders of the task forces, strategic partners and UfM countries representatives as well as civil society in order to reflect on the Biannual Work Plans 2023-2024, and next steps towards meeting the objectives determined by the UfM Ministerial Declaration on Water (Malta, April 2017). It also aimed at revising and agreeing on the 2023-2024 Workplans, including the context and direction of milestone activities.
The Water, Environment and Blue Economy Deputy Secretary General, Almotaz Abadi, discussed with the UfM Co-Presidency, the European Commission and the Jordanian Ministry of Water and Irrigation, the WEFE Nexus and the Water Employment agenda and the actions to be taken in the next two years to come.
The meeting was also an opportunity to depict the different actions and projects that will strongly support the implementation of the UfM Water Agenda such as the Match Maker project, WES, the Smart Desert project, the WEFE Knowledge Hub for the MENA region, the newly designed UfM Water and Youth Strategy, the new network of youth think tanks ENTREMED, and the upcoming 5th Mediterranean Water Forum as a regional preparatory process towards the 10th World Water Forum .
The road towards a new political revitalization of the declaration on water was also put on the table and more concrete steps will be determined upon the next 13th Water Expert Group (WEG) meeting that will be held on 7-8 June 2023.
Participants expressed their willingness to undertake the necessary actions that will have a tangible and sustainable results through integration-oriented and Nexus approaches. More focus also was solicited to put on to build water and climate resilience programs such as the Cairo Action Agenda and the institutionalization of the entrepreneurship and capacity development for youth on WEFE and Climate domains.
The UfM Task Forces meeting followed up on the successful progress and conclusions of the previous and latest WEFE and WEM Task Force Meetings (23 July 2020, online) and the WASH and WCCA Task Force Meetings (19 September 2022, Valencia) respectively, as well as the revision of the 2023-2024 Workplans of the UfM Water Agenda with its four thematic priorities [Water-Energy-Food-Ecosystem Nexus (WEFE); Water-Employment-Migration (WEM); Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), and Water and Climate Change Adaptation (WCCA)].
