Posted on August, 17 2023

This year World Water Week is focused on innovations at a time of increasing change and uncertainty - under the theme of Seeds of Change: Innovative solutions for a water-wise world.

As always, WWF will be sending a high level team to World Water Week - highlighting the diverse value of freshwater ecosystems to people and nature, celebrating the partnerships that are central to our work and impact, promoting our new water stewardship visison and detailing some of our innovative solutions to the world's water crisis and the ongoing loss of freshwater ecosystems and biodiversity.

WWF Events: Along with events in the main World Water Week venue, WWF will also be co-hosting a serie of side events in the Nature Hub with TNC, WRI and Wetlands International. Please go to the full programme for more information and to register for either on site or online events.

And remember - online events are free. You just need to register for oline access via the programme link.
 

• Sound-of-Safety: innovative technology for food security and river dolphins
  Sunday 20th - 11:00 - 12:30 | On-site & Online
  
  Innovative, electronic devices called 'pingers' prevent critically endangered river dolphins from becoming entangled and dying in fishing nets, while improving the livelihoods of local inland fishers through increased average fish catch and reduced net damage. An inclusive, freshwater conservation approach, supporting people and nature alike.
   
• Multi-sectoral opportunities for Freshwater outcomes in the Global Biodiversity Framework
  Sunday 20th - 14.00 - 15.00 I On-site and online
  
  This session will explore what it will take to successfully implement the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) in inland waters around the world, how the GBF can help deliver SDGs, and how a coalition is coming together to provide finance, guidance, and science to underpin implementation. Hosted by WWF, IUCN, TNC, Wetlands International and Veolia.
  Wednesday 23rd - 14:00 - 15:30 | Online

 

• Scaling Impacts of Collective Action through Innovative Water Stewardship Solutions
  Mon 21st - 09:00 - 10:30 | On-site & Online

  Through collaboration with textile brand partners, WWF has implemented collective action programs that are addressing multifaceted water risks faced throughout global priority river basins. Hosted by WWF and IKEA, this session will highlight the connection between water risks and the innovative tools and solutions developed to mitigate and achieve improvements at scale.

• Healthy rangelands for enhanced water security under a changing climate
  Monday 21st - 17.00-18.00 I Online
  
  Hosted by University of Nairobi, WWF, IGAD and Terre Verte, this session will discuss innovative solutions that jointly address the challenges of water and food insecurity, biodiversity loss, and climate change in rangelands. We will focus on rangeland restoration options that link soil and water to build healthy and resilient rangelands.  
   
• Run Blue in Stockholm with Mina Guli
  Tuesday 22nd at 06:45 | On-site
  
  Join Mina and other water heroes for a 3km run or walk around Stockholm as she gears up for phase II of her extraordinary Run Blue campaign. She's already run 200 marathons in 1 year for water. So what's next?
   
• Companies and stakeholder engagement
  Tuesday 22nd - 11:00-12:30 | On-site & Online
  
  Stakeholder engagement is frequently encouraged as an essential component of corporate water stewardship. But what does it actually look like when a company meets with watershed stakeholders? How does this play out? Hosted by KACST, WWF, AWS, Coca-Cola, and General Mills, this session aims to illustrate how companies do and can engage with stakeholders in practice.
   
• Seminar on Purposeful Communications and Advocacy
  Tuesday 22nd - 18:00-19:00 | On-site & Online

  Changing people’s behaviour can be challenging, particularly when addressing complex issues such as climate change and the water crisis. Effective communication is often the key to unlocking new habits, incentives, and behaviours. Accordingly, the webinar will explore the roles of psychology, behaviour change and communication in sustainable water resources management. 

• Aligning and accelerating collective action for water stewardship
  Wed 23rd - 10.00-11.30 I On-site
  
  Tackling water challenges is not the purview of a single actor but rather requires collective action. While the water community is often collaborative, there are also many examples of numerous “collective action” initiatives competing in the same basin, resulting in fractured, inefficient efforts.Beginning in New York at the UN Water Summit, a series of leading conveners initiated a dialogue on collective action, with the aim to align thinking, geographies, understanding of ground-level capacity, and re-thinking how we fund shared work. This session will build on these dialogues and focus on a series of topics that are critical to the implementation of some of the principles raised in the collective action paper.
   
• Shaping the AWS Standard and System to accelerate action
  Wed 23rd - 11.45-12.45 I On-site
  
  The review and revision of the International Water Stewardship Standard (AWS Standard) presents an opportunity not only to improve the Standard, but to accelerate our impact. In this session, framed around the AWS Standard review and revision, several members of AWS, including H&M, Limnotech, GWP, Nestle, GSK, Suntory, WaterAid and WWF, will collectively reflect on progress to date and discuss ambitions for the AWS System and Standard for the future.
   
• Harnessing the WWF Risk Filter Suite for target-setting processes
  Wed 23rd - 14:00-15:30 | On-site
  
  In this session, attendees will learn about on how the WWF’s Risk Filter Suite can support target-setting processes for contextual water targets and science-based targets. Hosted by WWF, General Mills, Gap and H&M Group.
• Measuring water's contribution to regenerative agriculture
  Wed 23rd - 16.00-17.00 I On-site

  While commitments to regenerative agriculture are increasing, the contribution and relationship to water is not well understood at the peril of creating aspirational but unattainable goals. This session will explore the opportunity that water-related metrics can bring to the real-world contextualization of regenerative agriculture. Hosted by IUCN, WBCSD, WWF, SIWI and Diageo

• A New Paradigm for Water Storage
  Wed 23rd - 16.00-17.00 I Online

  Water storage – natural and built -- has enabled humans to thrive for millennia. However, as the climate changes and populations grow, water storage systems are becoming—or have become—no longer fit for purpose. This event promotes integrated storage solutions and provides various tools to employ the new paradigm. Hosted by World Bank, WWF, IMWI and TNC.

• Mexico's water protectors and ecosystems allies
  Wed Aug 23rd - 17:45 -19:45 | Film Screening
  
  This is the story of the Copalita Watershed in Oaxaca, where WWF Mexico have worked with indigenous communities, mostly Zapotec, to protect water and ecosystems and strengthen Community Conservation Enterprises to improve their livelihoods while conserving their environment.
   
• Launch of Global Water Watch
  Thursday 24th - 0830-1000 I On-site and online at Nature Hub
  
  Join us for the official launch of Global Water Watch, a new platform providing free, globally-accessible, near-real time reservoir storage data - developed by Deltares, WRI and WWF with support from Google.org and Water, Peace and Security Partnership. With over 70,000 reservoirs in major river systems and counting, the Global Water Watch platform can provide insight for decisions, allow for quick and decisive action during calamities, monitor resources, and promote efficient and equitable management in shared river systems. By making the platform free of charge and democratising water data, decision-makers are empowered to manage their water resources in a sustainable manner, whilst at the same time holding them accountable. During the event, experts will demonstrate the platform's benefits for transboundary water management and water management authorities.
   
• Pioneering freshwater science-based targets to advance corporate water stewardship
  Thursday 24th - 12.45 - 14.15 I On-site and online at Nature Hub
  
  The recent launch of the first science-based targets (SBTs) for nature takes steps to address key needs in setting location-specific water targets and advancing corporate water stewardship. Building on efforts from the UN 2023 Water Conference, this interactive session will cover how SBTs for Freshwater interconnects with the existing guidance, initiatives, and standards designed to help companies with their water stewardship. Participants will also hear from companies piloting the SBTN’s target validation process. At this "Waterside Chat" companies will discuss the water-related journey, why they are setting freshwater targets, and the types of data and programs that prepared them. Hosted by CDP and WWF with TNC, WRI, Pacific Institute and AWS.
   
• Joint water risks tool session
  Thursday 24th - 14.30-15.30 I On-site at Nature Hub
  
  In this session, attendees will learn about the similarities and differences between two leading water risk tools - WRI Aqueduct and WWF Water Risk Filter – as well as how these two tools can support companies inform their corporate reporting, business strategy and target-setting processes.