The international Summit “Water and Climate. The Great Rivers of the World in Comparison” was held in Rome from October 23 to 25, organized by the Ministry of the Environment in collaboration with the UNECE (United Nations Economic Commission for Europe), the RIOB/IMBO (International Network of Basin Organizations) and the GAWaC (Global Alliance for Water and Climate).
This event brought together for the first time the heads of the most representative river basins from all continents with the aim of promoting the exchange of experiences, information, and know-how on sustainable water management.
The Summit concluded with the signing of two documents, the “Rome Declaration,” a pact among the managers of the world's major rivers and lakes to jointly address the effects of climate change on water basins, and the Alliance among Italian companies on water and climate. Furthermore, there was a strong commitment from the more industrialized countries to assist Africa.
On the final day of the Summit, President Mattarella emphasized how the relationship between climate change and water resources is fully among the issues that require a collective commitment:
“A commitment that, starting from the behavior of individual citizens, flows through all social components and institutions, leads to an indispensable collaboration at the international level.”
“Water - he added - is a fundamental and inalienable right for every inhabitant of our planet, an essential element of life, inherent to our very existence: health and food security depend on water.”
The three main outcomes of the Summit
The “Rome Declaration”: the important document signed by the managers of the world's major rivers and lakes aimed at placing the issue of rivers at the center of the debate on climate change.
The Italian Alliance for Water and Climate: the union of environmental issues with those of industries. Representatives from 37 companies and associations have joined the initiative, aware of the crucial role they play in water management and the impact that the resource has on climate change.
The Alliance of businesses and associations, in line with the Ministry of the Environment and Protection of Land and Sea and other central and local institutions, will ensure coordination among the various entrepreneurial and industrial realities, promoting the development of strategic lines and identifying appropriate tools to facilitate adaptation.
In the short term, the organization of a launch campaign for the Alliance, the creation of a dedicated website, the organization of a launch campaign for the Alliance and awareness-raising on the proposed themes, and the promotion of periodic themed events in various areas of the country will be planned.
Commitment to Africa: Italy has committed to allocate 5 million euros to a monitoring project for the two African rivers, Congo and Senegal.
“The Rome Summit - explains Minister of the Environment Gian Luca Galletti - aims to strongly affirm Italy's commitment and that of many governments of the Planet towards Africa: the industrialized world has a profound environmental debt to this continent, which needs to be filled with the transfer of resources, knowledge, and technologies that can reduce the vulnerability of those lands to climate change. Water and its accessibility, which is discussed in this Summit, is, for example, one of the major issues leading to epochal phenomena such as migrations. The Paris Agreement starts precisely from this strong ethical-moral principle, from a leap in quality in international cooperation: creating new conditions for social and economic growth through the environment.”
The next summit will be in 2020, an appointment given to all participants by Minister Galletti: “We will repeat this summit – he stated - which will become an important event in the calendar of international environmental events.”
(Source: Ministry of the Environment and Protection of Land and Sea)
