Regional Conference on Megacities Alliance for Water and Climate (MAWAC): "Latin America: Megacities, Water and Climate change"

The international conference "Latin America: Megacities, Water and Climate Change" is co-organized by UNESCO and its partners ICLEI, ARCEAU Ile- de-France and SIAAP, with the generous support of the National Water Agency (ANA) of Brazil. This will be the first regional event of the Megacities Alliance for Water and Climate (MAWAC), with the participation of representatives of megacities, water and sanitation managers, academics and researchers. The event aims to bring together representatives of megacities in the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region to address issues and solutions related to water management in the face of climate change, as well as to discuss about the establishment of MAWAC's regional alliance.

The Conference, organized in the framework of UNESCO's International Hydrological Programme (IHP), will be the first regional event of the Megacities Alliance for Water and Climate (MAWAC). It will bring together a broad representation of seven megacities from Latin America and the Caribbean (Bogotá, Buenos Aires, Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Lima and Santiago de Chile), São Paulo City Hall and São Paulo. During the Conference, representatives of megacities, politicians, water and sanitation managers, academics and researchers from the Latin American and Caribbean region (LAC) will have the opportunity to:

• Present and discuss the current and future climate change impacts on the water security of the LAC megacities, the risks to their economic activity and social stability, and to propose possible solutions;
• Present the framework of a regional alliance based on the membership of megacities and discuss the Terms of Reference of the regional MAWAC chapter and that of the Global platform, in order to enhance the cooperation of Megacities in the fields of research, technical solutions, education and information and more generally public policies in water management;
• Contribute to a survey on the proposed cooperation platform requirements from a user’s point of view;
• Discuss the publication of new thematic monographies for the LAC region as part of a new publication aimed to be released in Paris during the MAWAC International Conference (EauMega 2020).

The conference will take place in the 7th floor Auditorium of the Edifício Matarazzo - Matarazzo Building, Viaduto do Chá, 15 – Centro, São Paulo, Brazil. The conference will provide an excellent opportunity to strengthen the dialogue among stakeholders on water and climate change issues in the LAC region, and to prepare their future participation in the Eaumega2020 conference, to be held at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France, between 29 June to 3 July 2020.