The second goal of the water security project was to raise awareness of vulnerable communities to water security, water vulnerability and climate risk management. This was done by organising a series of workshops.
Building awareness Citizen science Outreach
Building awareness of local vulnerable communities on climate risks
A number of workshops were organized with a view of facilitating a dialogue and transferring knowledge of climate risks and its successful management, including:
- “Climate risk in Africa: vulnerability assessment, early warning and hydroclimatic expertise”, Niamey, Niger, 13-16 June 2017
The objective of the workshop was to identify the gaps and needs for climate risk management in African countries, as well as to present the available tools and methodologies, as provided through UNESCO-IHP and its flagship programmes, such as G-WADI.
- “Building resilience to climate change risk and vulnerability to meet water security challenges”, Langkawi, Malaysia, 10-11 July 2017
During this workshop, participants were introduced to best practices in the area of climate risk management, drawing on the case studies presented. Awareness was also raised on climate risk assessment for water resources, water-related disasters, as well as tools and methods for enhancing water security in the region. Finally, the workshop came up with a set of recommendations for policy advisers and decision makers.
- “Towards sustainable water management in Latin America and the Caribbean: Exchange of experiences of methods to conserve water, increase water availability and improve water use efficiency”, Lima, Peru, 5-6 August 2019
The main objective of this seminar was to exchange and gather knowledge on the techniques for sustainable water management available in the region, and to contribute to the formulation of supporting policies. Three main themes explored during this meeting included: methods to increase water availability; methods to improve water use efficiency in agriculture; and water conservation techniques.
Citizen science
Citizen science workshops were held in Latin America and Africa, engaging local communities and stakeholders in the use of simple scientific tools to monitor water resources, and consequently building capacity in these areas.
- “Citizen science and agroclimatic risk management”, Santiago, Chile, 14 March 2017
During the workshop, the history of citizen science (including typologies, management tools, pros and cons) and its comparison to conventional science was presented. In addition, citizen science tools for water quality management and agro-climatic risk management were discussed.
- “Citizen science for water and drought management”, Santiago, Chile, 24-28 September 2018
The objective of this seminar was to exchange and gather knowledge of different approaches for incorporating citizen science for data collection, data analysis, as well as decision and policy making in the Latin-American and Caribbean region.
- “Leveraging science in water and climate information services to achieve the sustainable development goals”, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 11 May 2017
The following topics were discussed in this meeting: protecting the poor in vulnerable situations, strengthening resilience and adaptive capacity to water related hazards, strengthening regional and international cooperation, and enhancing knowledge sharing.
Outreach activities
COP20, Peru, December 2014
On the occasion of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s 20th Conference of the Parties (COP20) in Lima, Peru, in December 2014, the exhibition “Climate change impacts on mountain regions of the world” was organized by UNESCO-IHP and the Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB) of UNESCO.
7th World Water Forum, South Korea, April 2015
During the 7th World Water Forum in South Korea, a session “Data and products to address flood and drought challenges: case studies from the UNESCO G-WADI Programme” and a high level panel “Water security and sustainable development: co-operation among disciplines and stakeholders” were organized on 14 April 2015 and 16 April 2015 respectively.
COP21, France, November-December 2015
In collaboration with UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB), and with the support of the Permanent Delegation of the French Republic to UNESCO and Flanders Fund-in-Trust (FUST), UNESCO-IHP organized the exhibition “Mountains: early warning systems for climate change” to raise awareness on the impacts of climate change in mountains, and potential solutions, as well as disseminate scientific data to policy and decision makers, diplomats and the general public during the 21st United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP21), held in Paris, France, from 30 November to 11 December 2015.
In the forefront of COP21, the World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS) and UNESCO jointly launched a Glacier App for mobile devices, which provides scientific information on worldwide glacier changes.
COP24, Poland, December 2018
During COP24, the CRIDA publication was presented during a dedicated event “Decision-making under uncertainty for water resources management: CRIDA approach with IHP case studies” on 6 December 2018, co-led by UNESCO-IHP and the Alliance for Global Water Adaptation (AGWA). The event was convened in the form of a lecture given as part of the Climate Classroom session organized at COP24.