The first day of the AIWW2021 Online Conference kicked off with roughly 750 participants and 51 nationalities. On behalf of #AIWW2021, this morning Hasmik Barseghyan did an urgent appeal to all the participants of Amsterdam International Water Week, asking them to add suggestions for further improvement of the AIWW2021 statement that will be handed over to COP26 – UN Climate Change Conference by @Henk Ovink, later this week. Are you a professional or scientist in the field of water? Or, do you feel strongly committed solving any of the MANY water issues we are currently facing? Please, feel free to share your contribution too!
Deadline: Wednesday Nov 3 06:00pm CET via info@amsterdamiww.com, the chat function at the AIWW2021 Online Conference or in real life at the AIWW2021 In-person Conference.
Minister of infrastructure and water management Barbara Visser and CEO of Waternet Roelof Kruize discussed the statement, questioned by Ikenna Azuike. Please watch our opening session here.
Programme director @Kees van der Lugt: “The Minister underlined the importance of international knowledge exchange and setting long term goals, set by the European Union. We need stable governments in Europe to achieve them and to stick to them. Then, public organisations and private companies can align their investment programs on long term perspectives. Roelof Kruize underlined the examples of working together with cities (f.e. Amsterdam rainproof) and industry (waste water as resource).”
Kees also looks back on the first day of the event we could finally organize again, since the COVID-19 outbreak. “What an amazing day this was, with an inspiring, broad range of speakers on topics as decentralized waste water provisions, water scarcity for industry, drinkable rivers, data driven pathways, climate resilient watershed approach for urban communities, water and food and much more. The example of nature-based solutions in Spain, with wetland restauration as result of a coalition including Heinekens local brewery. Exchanging experience between USA and The Netherlands regarding flood management and emergency preparedness: despite scale differences between Florida and Limburg, their exchange of recent floods approaches and technical solutions was fruitful. Furthermore, we’ve deepened several topics in our Research & Innovation sessions. For instance, the research results about decentralized solutions for pharmaceutical waste removal from hospitals and scalable decentralized solutions in Spain on purifying wastewater so that it can be discharged directly into surface water or used for irrigation. On top, Drinkable Rivers and Mayors for a drinkable Meuse discussed ambitions of the Meuse community, the lessons learned from the Amsterdam City Swim and the Paris ambitions to have a swimmable seine at the Olympic games at 2024.
The sessions led to interesting discussions about responsibilities and leadership, focused on an inclusive value change. And indeed: integrating water is the thread connecting humanity and the environment, as we said in our statement. In the end, it’s about inspiration, (new) coalitions and creating scalable solutions, so we can solve the huge challenges Diederik Samson mentioned at our opening this morning and the need for putting blue and green in the centre of the green deals necessary for a sustainable future.”
I’m really looking forward to tomorrow, to another day of the AIWW201 Online Conference!”
You can still register for AIWW2021 Online Conference and In-person Conference. Watch the recordings of the opening session here:
Note for the press:
For press tickets (free access to the entire event) get in touch with Jessica de Weert. For imagery, please visit https://aiww2021.com/media-press/. Please contact Monique Bekkenutte for general information.