This year’s World Water Week in Stockholm focusses on water resources in a rapidly urbanising World. On the mayors’ panel, city managers from all over the world exchanged their experiences and ideas on how to keep providing drinking water to fast growing urban populations while clean water is becoming a scarce resource.
Cities are dynamic magnets for growth, migration, innovation, culture and finance – but also for pollution and consumption. For each person who is born in or moves to the countryside, 19 will come into the city. By 2050, urban residents will account for 80 per cent of all people on the planet and they will outnumber our entire global population today.
This will shift the dynamics of where, and how, water will flow for domestic, industrial and agricultural needs. On a local level, the challenges and opportunities this will present fall upon the shoulders of one person more than any other: the mayor.
The panellists:
- Aisa Kirabo Kacyira
Governor of Eastern Province and former Mayor of Kigali, Rwanda
- Rajeshwar Tiwari
Hyderabad Development Authority, India
- Mary Jane Ortega
Secretary General of Citynet and former Mayor of San Fernando, Philippines
- Jennifer Hosterman
Mayor of Pleasanton, California, USA
- Eduardo Jorge
Environment Secretary of Sao Paulo, Brazil
- Sten Nordin
Mayor of Stockholm, Sweden
- Serge Lepeltier
Mayor of Bourges, France
- Joan Clos
Executive Director of UN-HABITAT
- Li Wei
Vice Mayor of Chengde, China
World Water Week is hosted and organised by the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) and takes place each year in Stockholm. The World Water Week has been the annual focal point for the globe’s water issues since 1991.
You might also like
CDP Awards: Celebrating European frontrunners in green transition
