XVIII IWRA World Water Congress

The 18th World Water Congress organized by the International Water Resources Association (IWRA), the Ministry of Water Resources of the People’s Republic of China, the General Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Planning and Design (MWR) and the Chinese National Committee of IWRA took place from September 11 to 15, 2023 in Beijing, China.

The main theme “Water for All: Harmony between Humans and Nature” underlines the fact that harmonious coexistence between man and nature can hardly be separated from water. Water is essential to life, so it is necessary for human beings to develop, use, protect and manage our precious water resources in a more rational and efficient way.

INBO organized its own three special sessions:

• Shared and innovative water information systems for better water resource management at national and basin levels

Overall, the session focused on an inclusive and sustainable information system that can adapt to the environment, involve relevant stakeholders and support data collection and dissemination.

It recognizes the importance of producing, validating, standardizing and exchanging information for planning and monitoring by decision-makers. River flow acquisition is key to monitoring and assessing the safety of lake basin water systems. France, for example, has a well-established national water information service, responsible for publishing guidelines, common specifications and overall water consistency. The introduction of a triangulation approach is essential, integrating in situ, remote sensing and modelling data to fill gaps in water quality data collection.

The International Network of Basin Organizations (INBO) has announced the launch of the Basin Twinning program, with the aim of developing best practice by focusing on capacity building within the basin organizations themselves. Part of this involves developing the water information system, as it is necessary to improve the monitoring network, stakeholder engagement, integration of multiple data sources through interoperability and performance and evaluation processes. Enhanced river flow security can be achieved through innovative multi-scale observations using aerial remote sensing, sensor networks, automatic weather stations and hydrological networks.

In addition, filling gaps in water quality data is important for improving water resource management. Good quality water data is essential for efficient water use and management. This can be achieved through data assimilation by merging all resources, including spatial sensing.

• 30 years of water management in river, lake and aquifer basins to mark the publication of a special issue of Water International magazine in 2024.

This session takes up the theme of the special issue of Water International planned for the 10th World Water Forum in Bali (May 2024). Its editorial board is made up of IWRA, INBO and experts in water research and academia.

Integrated water resources management (IWRM) in transboundary river, lake and aquifer basins is very important for maintaining the sustainable development of the basin or region. This special session therefore focused on the last 30 years of basin management, and tried to propose a way or solution to cooperate with different basins, different regions and different countries. IWRM in the international context was presented by Ms. Raya Stephan, and examples of effective transboundary water management in various basins, such as the Nile Basin, the Senegal River Basin and China, were discussed. Mr. Ximing Cai felt that the basin approach to dealing with changes and challenges is like an orchestra, and used the Nile project as an example to describe the institutional development of basin management. Mr. Laurent-Charles Tremblay-Lévesque examined the extent to which regional multi-stakeholder dialogues help to advance cross-border water cooperation, and reflected on the key factors in establishing and maintaining such dialogues. Mr. Marc Abadie considered that a multi-stakeholder dialogue framework should be created to develop IWRM, and Ms. Liu Jiangxia proposed a system of indicators to assess the security of water supply in cities benefiting from China’s South-North water transfer project.

• Nature-based solutions for water and ecological security to promote, for example, the Water and Nature Action Plan.

Water security is important for sustaining livelihoods, human well-being and socio-economic development. Water security depends on a number of elements, including natural processes, infrastructure, institutions and governance. Water insecurity is increasing, and nature-based solutions (NbS) can address some key water security challenges. The conference presented examples of best practices, implementation challenges and lessons learned for nature-based water security solutions. The aim of the session was to provide evidence and guidance on how investments in nature can address the critical and interrelated crisis of water security, biodiversity loss and climate change.

Ms. Andrea Erickson pointed to nature-based solutions in agriculture as the most profitable opportunity and presented the regenerative agriculture investment model. The example of Nairobi Water was presented as an investment model for regenerative agriculture. Dr. Qian Yu mainly presented the general situation of Rainwater Storage and Retention Areas (FSDA) and took the example of Jingjiang Flood Diversion District to finally propose a nature-based FSDA model in a creative way. Mr. Tom Panella mentioned that the inclusion of nature-based solutions in ADB investment projects has become commonplace and that there are also significant co-benefits to be gained from nature-based solutions. The Chao Lake example of an ecosystem-based management approach was presented. ADB plays a leading role with its members and partners in providing innovative investments, knowledge-based solutions, policy and strategic support and capacity building to address climate change.