Last year at COP28, the Climate Champions Team and the COP28 Presidency launched the SAA Urban Water Resilience Working Group. The SAA Urban Water Resilience Working Group’s overarching objective is to foster multilevel collaboration and coordinated action between local, regional, and national levels of governments and stakeholders to effectively address water-related climate challenges in urban areas. This will be achieved through:
- Recognition of the critical role of cities in tackling water and climate challenges and the importance of cities and urban areas in achieving equitable and just transitions in response to climate change;
- Improving representation of cities in the international climate agenda;
- Leveraging the partners to enable cities to develop aligned strategies and systematic approaches in dealing with climate and water-related challenges, and mainstream climate change and integrated water management in their development plans and strategies;
- Coordination of the work of different partners to support countries in enhancing their national climate commitments around urban water resilience.
At COP29, the Climate Champions Team in collaboration with the Water Pavilion Partners will host a closed door roundtable to consult and agree on:
- The key messages for UWR from COP29 and beyond;
- The work plan for the group in 2025 (post-COP29)- including an agreement on delivering a joint outcome on UWR that will be used to report in the 2025 SAA Report.
- Partners to lead different aspects on the work plan in 2025.
