Last December in Paris, for the first time, UNESCO and IGRAC organised an international and high-level event to make groundwaters visible! This event gathered more than 700 participants on-site and 3,000 online from all around the world.
Because groundwater represents more than 30% of freshwaters worldwide and is a major resource for human health and ecological life, this event allowed a large worldwide commitment to better protect and sustainably use groundwaters.
The Groundwater Summit 2022 was a preparatory event of the United Nations Water Conference 2023 to be held in New York on March 2023.
Water4All took part in this event and in a side event discussing “ how research and innovation can contribute to solving groundwater challenges and accelerate transitions”. The main key messages addressed to the 120 participants are :
- Research and innovation are key for accelerating reaching the UN SDGs. Encouraging investments in research and innovation (e.g. climate adaptation based on nature-based solutions & grey infrastructure) and digital data access (e.g. near real-time monitoring and modelling results) will support solutions, development and implementation.
- Water-related public policies should be designed based on knowledge, support innovations, and create and build the capacities of all categories of stakeholders, for more sustainable management of the environment, including water resources
For more information about the event: Groundwater Summit link
To access the replay of the side event: side event link (from 1:15:04 to 2:14:21)