Global Leaders Gather at World Water Week to Help Solve Growing Water Crisis

News provided by

Stockholm International Water Institute

23 Aug, 2018, 08:00 GMT

STOCKHOLM, August 23, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

The world must find new, nature-based solutions to meet escalating global water challenges. This will be discussed in Stockholm, Sweden, on 26-31 August when world leaders, water experts, development professionals and CEOs gather for the annual World Water Week.  

The 2018 World Water Week will be held under the theme Water, ecosystems and human development, an issue of great relevance given the past year's many extreme weather events.

In recent weeks, Sweden has been plagued by wildfires, raging all the way to the Arctic Circle. Around the globe, 2018 will be remembered for record-breaking droughts, fires and floods. It has been a wake-up call on the challenges that climate change, economic and population growth, and increasingly unpredictable weather and water patterns, impose on global water security. Large parts of the world already experience water stress and the UN expects that by 2025, 1.8 billion people will suffer from water scarcity.

Recent weather-related events also underline the critical role ecosystems play in human well-being and existence. Development efforts will invariably affect the environment but should improve, rather than compromise the sustainability of vital ecosystems. Nature-based solutions as effective tools for human development will also be a focus of this year's theme.

Many leading innovators and thinkers on nature-based solutions for water will contribute to this year's World Water Week. The prestigious Stockholm Water Prize will be awarded to Professors Mark van Loosdrecht and Bruce Rittmann for their microbiological-based processes that have revolutionized wastewater treatment.

World Water Week will also track water in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and host an array of sessions on topics ranging from agriculture to pharmaceuticals and conflict resolution.

Over 3,300 participants from more than 130 countries will attend World Water Week, representing governments, private sector, multilateral organizations, civil society and academia. Speakers include Amina J Mohamed, Deputy Secretary-General United Nations, and the 2018 Stockholm Water Prize Laureates Professors Mark van Loosdrecht and Bruce Rittmann.

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