The 3rd Governing Board (GB) meeting of the Water4All Partnership took place in Paris on the 14th and 15th November.2023.
The meeting was opened by Bjørn Jaare-Kensen (Chair of Water4All) and Thierry Damerval (President of ANR, French Research Agency).
Discussions and Workshops
The meeting gathered more than 80 representatives of Water4All’s partner organisations, who discussed general issues on the functioning of the programme and the progress made since its official launch in June 2022.
European Commission Representative
The GB meeting counted with the presence of Mr John Bell (European Commission’s Healthy Planet Director leading DG Research and Innovation policy transitions on Climate Change, Bioeconomy, Food Systems, Environment, Biodiversity, Water, Circular Economy, Oceans and the European Green Deal).
Mr Bell provided latest information on the activities of the European Commission as regards freshwater. He also stressed the strategic importance of 2024 in the field of water research and innovation. Indeed, it is in 2024 that elections to the European Parliament will take place; discussions for the preparation of the future Framework Programme – beyond Horizon Europe – will also start off in 2024. In this respect, Mr Bell highlighted the role of Water4All in the identification of key issues and gaps in water research and innovation that could be communicated both to the European Commission to support the preparation of the next Framework Programme and the European Parliament.
Other Representatives and Activities
Representatives of the Agro-Ecology and Food Systems Partnerships attended the GB. Being freshwater an essential element for all economic activities, a number of possible thematic links with Water4All were identified and will be further explored by partners.
Meetings of Pillars B, C, D and E were held back-to-back to the GB.
