Exploring Solutions for Building More Resilient Cities to Water Challenges

During the last 50 years, the OAS has promoted integrated water resources management as part of its commitment to promote peace, development and cooperation between Member States. As part of these efforts, the OAS-SEDI Department of Sustainable Development, in partnership with the U.S State Department, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the U.S. Water Partnership, convened the “WaterTech for Resilient Cities” Conference at IDB’s headquarters on March 6, 2015. 

The Conference gathered more than 200 experts from the water sector and focused on the large impact droughts and floods have on urban water infrastructure in many countries of the Americas. The discussions highlighted the need for designing more resilient cities, capable of coping with these challenges in the long term.

A series of small roundtable discussions focused on new practices, solutions and funding alternatives for matters such as natural disasters and early warning systems, conservation, adaptive management and public-private partnerships, among others. During the forum, participating public and private organizations discussed ways to encourage solutions at the regional level to promote resilient cities through the development, financing and implementation of efficient technologies on water management in cities and rural areas.

Maximiliano Campos, Chief of the Integrated Water Resource Management Section at the OAS-SEDI, recognized that “the conference provided an opportunity to discuss the challenges and the opportunities faced by cities in the region in the context of increasingly common situations of shortage or excess of water. Most importantly, it was a unique forum to discuss funding sources available for cities as they seek to be more resilient.”

As a result of the Conference, the OAS, IDB and the US Water Partnership organized a Webinar on “Cities to Cities” as a way to further the establishment of partnerships, to build capacity and to facilitate the exchange of experiences from different cities across the region. The Webinar was held on March 23 within the framework of the World Water Day celebrated on March 22 and the World Water Forum. Contributions from the three main organizers offered evidence of the complex dynamics of water governance in the Americas, and the fundamental need to continue these discussions  to address elements of policy and technical implementation.

The WaterTech for Resilient Cities Conference and the Cities to Cities Webinar served as a milestone to launch a regional report on the water challenges faced by the region that will serve as a useful framework for the upcoming 7^th World Water Forum 2015 (WWF-7) to be held in Korea on April, where the OAS, IDB and the US Water Partnership will join forces once again on a side event in cooperation with partnership organizations from Asia and Africa.