Water is a vital resource for life, necessary as drinking water and for sanitation, to maintain healthy ecosystems, cultivate agricultural land, produce renewable energy, and much more. This is why water is a key topic area within which ICLEI Europe works. In order to increase our impact in this field, connect with like-minded leaders, and ensure that ICLEI Members have access to the best water-related knowledge, ICLEI is proud to have officially joined the Water Europe community.
Water Europe, a member-based multi stakeholder platform, is the voice and promoter of water-related innovation, research and technological development in Europe. It fosters collaboration amongst its members – ranging from SMEs to multinational corporations, from utilities to large water users, and from municipalities to civil society – in order to create a “Water-Smart Society”. Members share a common vision, which advocates for the true value of water, highlights efficiency and pollution reduction, aims at climate change resilience and circularity in the water sector, and promotes stakeholder engagement.
In order to ensure social and economic well-being for all, water must be managed sustainably. Local governments play an important role in dealing with increasing demand for water and ensuring that water is not polluted or wasted in this process. By engaging, for example, in action-oriented initiatives like the Green City Accord or water-related research, such as for exploring the use of nature-based solutions in water treatment (see e.g. NICE and MULTISOURCE), ICLEI Europe provides local leaders with guidance on integrated urban water management and good governance in the water sector.
“ICLEI Europe has long advocated for the crucial role that cities play in safeguarding and managing water. By joining Water Europe, we can further empower local actors to share their expertise and encourage more municipalities to double down their efforts for dealing with our precious water resources in a more sustainable manner,” explains Barbara Anton, Senior Coordinator with a focus on urban water management at ICLEI Europe.
For more information about the WE Community, explore their website. To hear more from Barbara Anton, revisit a 2020 interview she gave to Revolve Magazine explaining that “The City of the Future is a ‘Water-Sensitive’ City”.