The Bonn Water Network*) cordially invites you to join a virtual event on the occasion of (and one day after the actual) World Water Day 2021 on Tuesday, March 23, 2021, 5:00- 6:30 pm (CET)

World Water Day 2021: Valuing Water

World Water Day became a UN observance day in 1993. On March 22 every year, people and organizations around the world mark World Water Day by taking action to tackle the global water crisis. World Water Day 2021 focuses on the theme ‘Valuing Water’. This focus extends beyond issues of pricing and includes the environmental, social, and cultural value people place on water. Luna Bharati (Co-spokesperson of the BWN) will open the event. Bonn’s Mayor Katja Dörner will say a few words per video message about how the City of Bonn relates to Water.

Book launch

Danilo Türk (former president of Slovenia and Geneva Water Hub), Margaret Deignan (Springer Nature), and Janos Bogardi (editor) will officially launch The Handbook of Water Resources Management: Discourses, Concepts and Examples’ (published by Springer, 2021). This multi- and interdisciplinary publication aims at facilitating communication and dialogue between actors of the international community involved in water resources management, discourses and multi-level decision-making processes. It provides the reader with facts, theories, methods and practical illustrations from a wide array of disciplines with relevance to water resources management, including hydrology, geology, geophysics, law, ethics, economics, ecology, engineering, sociology, and diplomacy

Round table discussion

Annabelle Houdret (DIE), speaker of the Bonn Water Network, will moderate the roundtable discussion with authors of the handbook and members of the Bonn Water Network relating their contributions to the World Water Day’s topic of ‚valuing water‘. Zita Sebesvari (UNU- EHS) will explain how different drivers, pressures and stressors challenge the value of water. Bernhard Tischbein (ZEF) will explore how to value water for the environment in a context of high demand and negative environmental impacts of water use for irrigation. Ines Dombrowsky (DIE) will explain the role and effectiveness of river basin organizations in mediating different water needs and values. Mahsa Motlagh (Bonn Alliance) will explore how emerging digital technologies can contribute to better valuing water in sustainable governance approaches.

*) The Bonn Water Network consists of ten renowned institutions with longstanding experience on water and related issues: the Bonn International Center for Conversion (BICC); Bonn University with its Institute of Geography (GIUB) holding the UNESCO Chair in Human Water Systems, the Center for Development Research (ZEF) and the Institute for Hygiene and Public Health (IHPH); the German Development Institute/Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE); the IUCN Environmental Law Center; the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and three Bonn-based UN institutions: the United Nations Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) and the Secretariat of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and the Global Water Operators Partnerships Alliance (UN-Habitat/GWOPA).