As part of the UN 2023 Water Conference, the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Action of Portugal, in collaboration with key partners, will organize a Side Event entitled of ‘The water-climate nexus: Governance as a key driver for climate resilient water and sanitation services’.

Water and sanitation services are of paramount importance in modern societies and have been considered as a priority by policy makers when conceiving and developing good governance, including: 1) Adequate public policies, as the main driver to improve services; 2) Sound regulation to accelerate the implementation of those policies; 3) Effective, efficient, and sustainable service management to materialize the public policies on the ground.

Effective governance arrangements, including strong institutions, clear and stable policies and regulations, and transparent and accountable decision-making processes, are instrumental to ensure the alignment of the water and sanitations sector stakeholders in meeting Sustainable Development Goal 6 and in making the universal access to clean water and safe sanitation a reality for all.

Climate change poses growing challenges to water and sanitation services, with a significant number of exogenous factors influencing performance and the ability to provide adequate services, requiring a joint action to adopt strategies to adapt and to mitigate these effects.

As a response to those challenges, the Portuguese Ministry for Environment and Climate Action, through the Environmental Fund, is supporting cooperation on climate action and is willing to continue renewing partnerships with Member States and International Financial Institutions to scale up the impact of these actions.

In this side-event the Portuguese Ministry for Environment and Climate Action will announce an initiative to create a Global Coalition for Better Policies and Regulation of Water and Sanitation Servicesas a strong contribution to speed up progress on SDG6 and to promote climate resilient services, and will invite other Member States, regional networks of regulators, International Financial Institutions, cooperation agencies and other donors, international organizations, and other relevant actors to be part of it.

This side-event also aims to discuss the critical role of policies and regulation to achieve universal access and climate resilient water and sanitation services for all, and to showcase good practices and share lessons learned.

Keynote Speech

• Duarte Cordeiro, Minister for Environment and Climate Action of the Portuguese Republic

Panel Interventions

• Jaime Melo Baptista, President of the Board, LIS-Water
• Vera Eiró, President of the Board, ERSAR
• Yvonne Magawa, Executive Secretary, ESAWAS
• Sergio Campos, Chief of the Water and Sanitation Division, IDB
• Gustavo Saltiel, Lead Water and Sanitation Specialist, WB
• Aziza Akhmouch, Head of the Cities, Urban Policies and Sustainable Development Division, OECD

Open Debate

• Interventions from the floor

Closing Speech

• Gilberto Silva, Minister of Agriculture and Environment of the Republic of Cape Verde

Moderation

• Alexandra Carvalho, Secretary General of the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Action of Portugal

Organizers

• Portuguese Ministry for Environment and Climate Action
• Lisbon International Center for Water (LIS-Water)
• The Water and Waste Services Regulation Authority of Portugal (ERSAR)
• Portuguese Environmental Agency (APA)
• Eastern and Southern Africa Water and Sanitation Regulators Association (ESAWAS)
• Association of Regulatory Entities for Potable Water and Sanitation of the Americas (ADERASA)
• Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)
• The World Bank
• Organization for Economic and Cooperation Development (OECD)
• Sanitation and Water for All (SWA)

Flyer with the HERE program.