Water crisis and choices ADB and partners conference 2010

Background

So much is talked about water and sanitation, from Millennium goals to climate change, from poverty to pollution that we can become desensitized. We risk overlooking big emerging issues that we need to start addressing today if we are to head off tomorrow's potential water crises.

That is why we need to collectively step back for a moment, reassess our status, rethink the issues, consider the solutions at hand and initiate actions—on policy, on structural change and on the softer but critical factors of capacity development and institutional reform.

This event aims to do just that. ADB has been and continues to be heavily engaged in the water sector, not just as a financier but also as a knowledge source—advising on policy, advocating and facilitating reform, helping with capacity development and fostering regional cooperation. In our role as a knowledge bank, together with our partners, we offer this opportunity for policy-makers, water, health, food and environmental ministries, utilities, city mayors and administrators, water professionals and civil community representatives to spend time together, to hear the facts about what is happening in our Asian and Pacific region and to understand the emerging crises, possible choices and need for action.

Objective

The conference aims to share knowledge and innovative solutions to ensure momentum and continuity of water and sanitation developments up to and beyond 2015.

Themes

Our preliminary program has an overall focus on water sufficiency—for living, livelihoods and the sustainability of the environment underpinned by four key themes:

Cities and Water: Solutions for Efficiency - There is no doubt cities need to improve water sufficiency or face alienating millions. What are the issues and solution choices? Technical sessions will deal with this and more, touching on water losses, managing demand, bankable utilities and helping climate change in slashing energy costs.

Water in Food: Productivity Gains - About 70% of available water is used for irrigation and food production. Greater demands are expected because of population growth, nutrition changes and adverse climate change effects. Meanwhile there are big irrigation water losses and poor water on farm productivity. Choices to resolve these sufficiency issues will be discussed.

Clean Water: A Question of Quality - Can we add to our water sufficiency by stopping pollution of our clean water and reuse our waste water? Choices on how to finance river and ground water cleanups, enforce pollution legislation and implement water reuse will be explained and shared.

Basin Level Management: Can IWRM work better? - Taking a integrated approach to water resources and services is not new. It just seems to have proved difficult. This theme's technical sessions deal with the Asian IWRM scorecard to date, explore expanded water capture and storage and reflect on choices to cope with flooding brought on by climate change.

Keynote presentations will mark the beginning of each day's proceedings. It is intended to host concurrent South Asia and Southeast Asia Ministerial Conferences. Prior to the event, a two-day Southeast Asia Water Forum is scheduled and on Friday 15th there are field visits and small group discussion arrangements.

The session related to climate change and disaster risk reduction is:
4.2 Climate Change - Risk and Resilience