World Water Week is the annual focal point for the globe’s water issues.

Organized by the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), World Water Week provides a unique forum for the exchange of views, experiences and practices between the scientific, business, policy and civic communities. Experts, practitioners, decision-makers, business innovators and young professionals from a range of sectors and countries come to Stockholm to network, exchange ideas, foster new thinking and develop solutions to the most pressing water-related challenges of today.

2016 World Water Week in Stockholm is an opportunity to take stock of water in the 2030 Agenda and Paris agendas, inspire action, and ensure that water is an integral part of future solutions.

WRI staff will participate in the following events.

#SIWISofa: Harnessing new data to unleash sustainable growth

When: Tuesday, August 30 | 10:00-10:30am CEST (4:00am EDT)
Where: Exhibition Hall
Description: There are many challenges facing business as they work to ensure sustainable growth into the future. Procter & Gamble (P&G) has worked with WRI and other external experts to develop a water program focused on achieving goals that will enable them to meet consumer needs while conserving natural resources. Over the past five years, new data has emerged to help P&G and other companies create meaningful goals and holistic water programs that make a positive impact both externally and internally. New surface water and groundwater data, water quality data, flood risk data, and water and food security data are all being used to better assess risk and develop more effective corporate water strategies.
WRI Staff: Charles Iceland

Understanding Risks and Maximizing Natural Infrastructure Benefits for Water Security

When: Tuesday, August 30 | 16:00-17:30am CEST (10:00-11:30am EDT)
Where: FH 300
Description: Communities worldwide face a litany of threats to adequate and accessible supplies of drinking water, including land use change, urbanization, industrialization, wildfire and agricultural pollution. Global Forest Watch (GFW) Water, a global mapping tool and database that will be launched at the event, examines how forest loss, fires, unsustainable land use and other threats to natural infrastructure affect water security throughout the world. GFW Water provides spatial data sets, statistics and risk scores for all 230 global watersheds. Users can also drop a pin anywhere on the map to find out the about the risks to the water supply near them, and find resources on how investing in natural infrastructure protection can help alleviate these threats. GFW Water looks to help downstream utilities, businesses, financing and development institutes, as well as research and civil society groups quickly identify risks to ample, clean water and identify natural infrastructure solutions.
WRI Staff: Todd Gartner

Building freshwater resilience for all

When: Tuesday, August 30 | 16:00-17:30am CEST (10:00-11:30am EDT)
Where: FH 307
Description: Rising demand for fresh water among and within sectors leads to overuse of water supplies, degraded ecosystems and the associated loss of ecosystem services. Around the world, river basins are locked into water use regimes that foster patterns of water use that are incongruent to society’s water needs and contrary to its best long term interests. In times of growing scarcity, freshwater ecosystems and poor and vulnerable people commonly lose out to more powerful users. The Rockefeller Foundation's goal is to build freshwater resilience globally – that is, the ability of freshwater ecosystems and dependent communities and industries to thrive in the face of change, such as extended droughts, land use changes, and excessive withdrawals. During this event, speakers will present a series of principles for adapting freshwater management practices to meet the water needs of economic growth, poor and vulnerable communities, and freshwater ecosystems. The event will assess the applicability of the principles and evaluate early evidence of their feasibility through case studies.
WRI Staff: Charles Iceland

Eye on LAC: Towards a Green Infrastructure Agenda

When: Wednesday, August 31 | 09:00-10:30am CEST (03:00-4:30am EDT)
Watch online: English | Español
Where: FH Congress Hall A
Description: Green infrastructure is an approach to water management that protects, restores and mimics the natural water cycle. It entails restoring wetlands or other nature-based solutions, rather than building costly new grey infrastructure. Rivers, streams, wetlands, floodplains, and forests provide critical services such as clean water and flood protection, and should be viewed as essential components of our water infrastructure. In Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), many forward-looking cities are already embracing this green infrastructure approach, including Santiago, Lima and Medellin. Traditional infrastructure isn’t designed to handle the increased floods and droughts that come with global warming. Green solutions give communities the security and flexibility they need. They create jobs in different sectors, including engineering and architectural design, construction and landscaping. Green infrastructure also supports supply chains and the jobs connected to them. We are at a crossroads in how we manage our water. Traditional water infrastructure will continue to play a role, but solves only a single problem and requires a huge amount of resources to build and maintain. LAC must move towards a wiser combination of green and traditional infrastructure to meet the needs of the 21st Century. This seminar will discuss leading cases and opportunities for green infrastructure in LAC.
WRI Staff: Todd Gartner

Water for sustainable and inclusive cities: how to induce change?

When: Thursday, September 1 | 09:00-10:30am CEST (03:00-4:30am EDT)
Where: FH 305
Description: Over the past 150 years the rapid growth of cities and poor management of urban water and waste has resulted in extensive degradation of the urban environments – including rivers, wetlands, estuaries and receiving water bodies. These are mistakes which we do not wish to repeat, and which, in many contexts, we desire to reverse the impacts to restore local ecosystem health and services. This is the first session in the seminar on "Water for Sustainable and Inclusive Cities – How to induce change?" This session will discuss possibilities for integrated urban water management to assist in providing essential urban services such as water, sewerage and drainage management while both minimizing future risks and rehabilitating stressed urban ecosystems.
WRI Staff: Betsy Otto