16-19 October | Cairo, Egypt 

With a theme of ‘Water at the Heart of the Climate Action’, Cairo Water Week aims to provide water actors and stakeholders from around the world with a platform to present and discuss critical issues, policies, strategies, plans, and measures related to climate-water challenges. 

Organised by Egypt’s Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation in collaboration with national, regional, and international partners, Cairo Water Week 2022 will focus on five specific themes: 

• Water Security and Climate Change 
• Protecting the Deltas 
• Water-related Adaptations to Climate Change 
• Water, Climate Change, and Future Cooperation 
• Climate Water-related Disasters Preparation and Management. 

Cairo Water Week 2022 is a preparatory event for the  UN Climate Change Conference  in Sharm El-Sheikh in November that will also support the  UN 2023 Water Conference. 

Cairo Water Week will provide a preparatory platform for COP27 with key discussions on water and climate taking place during the event.

The Week will host the announcement of the Water and Adaptation Presidency initiative in a special session, as well as a special preparation session for the Water Day under the COP27 presidency agenda. The second high-level event on ‘Policy Dialogue in Water Scarce Countries for Achieving SDGs’ will also take place and the outcomes will feed into the UN 2023 Water Conference.

AWP at Cairo Water Week

Participating in Cairo Water Week has potential to influence the messaging for both COP27 and the UN 2023 Water Conference. As a core partner of the water pavilion, AWP’s presence will be significant.

AWP is co-convening three sessions with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and other partners. AWP Senior Partnerships and Impact Officer Lucía Gamarra will be presenting in the following sessions:

Topic 1.3 Modelling Climate Change and Hydrology | Sunday 16th October, 11:30am – 1:00pm UTC/GMT+2

Session: Scaling-up Water Action to Tackle Food and Climate Security

Presentation: Valuing localised nature-based solutions in South East Asia

The interlinked actions and coalitions resulting from the 2021 United Nations Food Systems Summit call for revesting national and global priorities to advance the transformation of agrifood systems to be more efficient, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable. It also calls for more environmentally-responsible and climate-smart agricultural production to reverse trends in the deterioration of land and water resources and promote inclusive growth.   

In this session, AWP will present on the role of Nature-based Solutions in Advancing Water and Climate Security.  

This session will address actionable, replicable, and scalable integrated water–agriculture–climate nexus approaches that will contribute to the FAO newly-established inter-regional Technical Platform on Water Scarcity Work Programme, by adopting interconnected systems thinking that embraces complexity, innovation, and partnerships.  

We will address the following issues   

1. Exploring ways to advance the work of the regional and national actors in the water, agriculture, and climate communities to fortify the security of our water resource with a clear notion of how and where to intervene 
2. Flagging the main water, food, and climate-related issues at the ground level that need further attention in research and innovation.  
3. Suggesting proper advocacy mechanisms to advance multi-level inclusive governance and participation. (i.e., national and local government, rural communities, the private sector, and governance that empowers women, youth, and communities in decision-making). 
4. Identifying entry points to support regional and global efforts concerning standardisation of methods, identification of gaps, upscaling of investments, and mobilisation to funding resources.  

This session is convened by FAO Interregional Technical Platform on Water Scarcity (iRTP-WS) and UFMS-Union of the Mediterranean, Australia Water Partnership, UNICEF, LAS. 

 Topic 3.5 Early Warning Systems | Tuesday 18th October, 4:00–5:30pm UTC/GMT+2

Session: The Role of Water Resource Management in Disaster Risk Management

Presentation: Joint action to enhance flash flood early warning systems in the Pacific

Convened by FAO Interregional Technical Platform on Water Scarcity (iRTP-WS)  
Co-convened by UNDRR-ROAS, Australian Water Partnership   

Climate-water-related risks are increasing globally. Water scarcity, combined with the 3 ‘C’s – climate crisis, COVID-19 and conflict – point to a new reality: one that requires water resource management to underpin the disaster risk management agenda.  

Water Resource Management plays an integral role in sustaining food and climate security and reducing the impact of climatic events and socio-economic shocks. 

This session aims to discuss the key role that the management of water resources plays in reducing disaster risks. It will draw key examples from the MENA and Asia Pacific regions, while exploring three key topics:   

1. Barriers preventing effective integration of water resource management and climate communities 
2. Interregional examples of best practices where the water and climate communities have collaborated to increase impact and effectiveness and to initiate commitments for scaling-up collaborative efforts and promote new synergies and partnerships.  
3. How hydrometeorological data and analytics is shaping the future of disaster risk management, and in particular the anticipatory action space.  

Keynote Speakers

• Chair: Mohamed Al Hamdi, FAO-WSI delivery Manager  
• Moderator: Heba Al-Hariry, iRTP-WS Technical Advisor  

Topic 4.6 Legal and Institutional Frameworks to Cope with Climate Change | Wednesday 19th October, 11:30am–1:00pm UTC/GMT+2
Session: A Word from the Wise: Enhancing water scarcity management with increased regional integration and cooperation

Presentation: Water scarcity management in Australia: Key features and lessons learned

Lead convener: FAO Inter-Regional Technical Platform of Water Scarcity  
Co-Convener:  Australian Water Partnership 

Water scarcity management is increasingly a priority for governments in both the Asia-Pacific Region and the Near East and Northern Africa (NENA) Region. Both regions face similar water scarcity challenges, with extreme levels of water stress and the fastest rates of groundwater depletion globally. A high reliance on (often poorly performing) irrigation systems and concentrated rural poverty exacerbate these issues. 

The objective of the session is to discuss areas of integration and cross-regional learning between the Asia-Pacific and NENA regions. It will also highlight key examples of experiences, success and challenges of the WSI in an effort to enhance and improve the WSP, while also seeking to share best practices and key lessons from Australia’s water reform journey, establish new professional partnerships between practitioners and stakeholders in both regions, facilitate the exchange of new knowledge and lessons between practitioners and stakeholders in both regions, and discuss ways in which future interaction between the two regions can be systematised.  

Keynote Speakers

• Chair & Moderator: JeanMarc Faures, Regional Programme Leader, FAO-RNE  
• Rapporteur: Heba Al-Hariry, Technical Advisor, FAORNE  

More details about this event are available on the Cairo Water Week website.