The Water Action event aims to offer a cross-sectoral perspective that moves beyond thematic silos by including non-traditional water voices and the potential for non-state actors to broaden and deepen engagement globally.

Livestreaming link will appear here closer to the event: https://unfccc-events.azureedge.net/COP27_88926/agenda

Organisers:

SIWI, IWMI, WRI and High-Level Climate Champions

Contributions from Marrakesh Partnership stakeholders, Water for Climate community, and Forest Trends.

The Master of Ceremony is Henk Ovink, Special Envoy for International Water Affairs, Kingdom of The Netherlands Sherpa for the UN 2023 Water Conference

Henk Ovink was appointed in 2015 by the Dutch Cabinet as the first Special Envoy for International Water Affairs. As the Ambassador for Water, he is responsible for advocating water awareness around the world, building institutional capacity and coalitions amongst governments, multilateral organizations, private sector and NGO’s, and initiating innovate approaches to address the world's stressing needs on water.

FIRST SEGMENT - Opening and setting the scene

- Ms. Colette Pichon Battle, Esq, Vision & Initiatives Partner, Taproot Earth

- Mr. Musallem Abu Faraaj, Bedouin of the Tarabin tribe

- Dr. Jyotna Puri, Associate Vice-President, IFAD

- Mr. Togonon Severin Togo, Founder and Principal Coordinator, Environmental Education and Youth Empowerment (EEYE).

SECOND SEGMENT - Cross-sectoral aspects of climate change adaptation and mitigation, successful examples

Fireside chat

- Mr. Mathieu Tolian, Climate mitigation Director, Veolia

- Ms. Ruth Mathews, Senior Manager / Coordinator, Action Platform for Source-to-Sea Management (S2S Platform), SIWI

- Ms. Agnes Yobterik, Director, Programs, Projects & Strategic Initiatives, Ministry of Environment and Forestry

- Mrs. Coletha Ruhamya , who is working as the Deputy Executive Secretary for Lake Victoria Basin Commission

Panel#1 includes a video from TNC on water funds and another video by Forest Trends introduced by Gena Gammie, Deputy Chief of Party, Natural Infrastructure for Water Security (Peru) at Forest Trends and Associate Director, Water Initiative at Forest Trends

- Ms. Julie Mulonga, Director of Eastern Africa Wetlands International

- Mr. Dario Soto Abril, ES/CEO at GWP

- Ms. Bianca Dager Jervis, Co-founder and CEO of Premios Verdes

THIRD SEGMENT - Building a business case for water action and the role of the private sector

Panel #2:

- Mr. Alisher Mamadzhanov ,Climate Policy and Governance Specialist, Green Climate Fund

- Mr Daniel Strechay, Director of sustainability, communications and engagements at Mars Inc.

- XXX

CLOSING - Final words and hope for the future

- Ms. Mina Guli, Water Activist, CEO of Thirst Foundation and Run Blue

- Mr. Nigel Topping , UN Climate Change High-Level Champion for COP26

Initiative spotlights:

Fair Water Footprint, Speaker: Ms. Terhi Lehtonen , State Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Climate Change for Finland
Water Resilience for Economic resilience, Speaker: Ms. Ala’a Kolkaila, MIT Visiting Fellow - Sloan School of Management
Nature4water Facility, Speaker: Mr. Fred Khihara, Africa Water Funds Director, The Nature Conservancy
International Finance Institution Commitment Goal, Speaker: Ms. Cassilde Breniere, Deputy head of Executive Direction for sustainable development solutions at Agence Française de Développement (AFD)

Venue Location:

The Ibis Action Room, Blue Zone

The power of water: the unexplored potential for climate resilience