Hybrid Event: The EU Blue Deal Initiative and the example of rivers: sustainable water management
22nd January 2024 – 14:30 – 16:45 CET
Hybrid event: European Economic and Social Committee, Brussels
(Rue Belliard 99 – JDE Building – room 62) / online
Participation to the event:
Participation in person is permitted exclusively by individual invitation.
Please click here to watch the web stream of the event
Water is intrinsically linked to climate change and its impacts. Rivers, an essential and visible part of the great water cycle, bear witness to this: an increase in extreme droughts and floods; conflicts of use between energy, irrigation and drinking water; loss of biodiversity; tension between countries or territories for control of the resource.
What will a +1.5°C world look like with lower quality and more scarce freshwater resources? By 2050, the demand for water could increase by 55%, and 40% of the world’s population will face water shortages. While mitigating the effects of climate change by drastically reducing greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere is essential, water must also be better integrated into the various sectoral adaptation strategies: agriculture, environment, energy, industry, transport and consumption.
How can the preservation of water resources be better taken into account in public policies to develop the resilience of European territories and provide effective responses to the cross-cutting challenges of climate, biodiversity and the health of ecosystems and humans?
In October 2023 the EESC presented its Call for an EU Blue Deal to comprehensively address these issues. In the context of the forthcoming European elections and the announcement of a Water Resilience Initiative by the European Commission, this event will help identify the levers to better promote and implement integrated and concerted water management in Europe by focusing on the concrete example of rivers, which are easily accessible water reserves and providers of many services to societies.
This meeting is hosted by the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), as a follow-up of its call for an EU Blue Deal. It is organised in partnership with the European Parliament Intergroup on “Climate Change, Biodiversity and Sustainable Development” and the Compagnie Nationale du Rhône (CNR).
Please click here for more information.
Draft Agenda:
Moderator: Regine Roncucci, Secretariat of the European Parliament Intergroup on “Climate Change, Biodiversity and Sustainable Development”
14:30 – 14:35: Welcome
Pietro Francesco de Lotto, President, Consultative Commission on Industrial Change (CCMI), European Economic and Social Committee (EESC)
14:35 – 14:50: Opening
Oliver Röpke, President, European Economic and Social Committee (EESC)
Pernille Weiss, MEP, Member of the ITRE and ENVI Committees
Pedro Arrojo-Agudo, Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation, United Nations (tbc remote)
14:50- 15:00: Keynote speech
Eric Divet, Director in charge of water resources, Compagnie Nationale du Rhône (CNR).
15:00 – 16:00: Panel discussion
“How to implement sustainable water management as a pillar of the new European water strategy? The EU Blue Deal initiative at river level”
With:
Claudia Olazabal, Head of Unit of Sustainable Freshwater Management, DG ENV, European Commission
André Viola, Member of the Committee of the Regions (CoR), Member of the Departmental Council of Aude (France) and President of Réseau Solidarité Eau 11
Chris Baker, Director, Wetlands International Europe
Durk Krol, Executive Director, Water Europe
Florian Marin, EESC Member, Rapporteur of the umbrella opinion “A call for an EU Blue Deal”
16.00 – 16.20: Exchange of views with the Members and Delegates of the EESC’s Consultative Commission on Industrial Change (CCMI), MEPs and stakeholders
16:20 – 16:30: Comment by
Erik Orsenna, Chairman of Initiative for the Future of Great Rivers (IFGR)
16:30 – 16:45: Closing remarks
Tiemo Wölken, MEP, Co-chair of “Water Management” Working Group, European Parliament Intergroup on “Climate Change, Biodiversity and Sustainable Development” (remote)
Pietro Francesco de Lotto, President, Consultative Commission on Industrial Change (CCMI), European Economic and Social Committee (EESC)
Interpretation provided from BG/ES/CS/DE/EL/EN/FR/HR/IT/PL/SK into BG/ES/DE/EL/EN/FR/IT/PL/SK (in presence only)
