Schedule

This session, "Scaling impactful food land and water solutions in fragile and conflict affected settings: The role of science-based agribusiness acceleration," draws on experiences from the CGIAR and the World Food Programme in supporting local innovators in scaling impactful innovations for food land and water systems in FCAs.

The session will facilitate discussion about how action in the water arena can support the goals of the Declaration for Climate Relief, Recovery and Peace. Representatives form governments, donor agencies, UN program agencies, and the humanitarian community will join a round table discussion to share their ideas and reflections, thus informing a CRRP Water Action Agenda and scoping a coalition for its implementation

Official Opening of the Water for Climate Pavilion at COP29.

In view of the upcoming revision of the NDCs, the session will focus on identifying persisting challenges, but also key entry points and opportunities for multi-level governance and for leveraging, mainstreaming and upscaling the urban water content into national climate planning and policies to support the implementation of local urban water resilience solutions.

The Asian Development Bank is committed to improving water security and resilience in the region by supporting inclusive, resilient, sustainable, and well-governed services delivery and resource management. This video screening will showcase how ADB supports its developing member countries in achieving water-related Sustainable Development Goals, including resilience to climate change, access to basic water and sanitation, increased food security, rural revitalization, gender equality, improved health, and a better environment.

At COP29, the Climate Champions Team in collaboration with the Water Pavilion Partners will host a closed door roundtable.

This session focuses on advancing urban water and sanitation equity by emphasizing inclusive and accessible services for vulnerable populations. It highlights the role of human rights, participatory planning, and climate resilience in achieving equitable access to essential water and sanitation services.

Improving and maintaining urban resilience can appear to be a complex and costly challenge for public authorities and utilities. For many city leaders, financing their city’s ability to adapt and transform to cope with the multitude of risks or to rebound after a major incident may seem out of reach, However, it can be done, even in the most difficult circumstances.

This segment will open with a review of where water is reflected in current NDC submission and then feature three regional roundtables where constituencies from each region can reflect on their efforts and progress made in incorporating water in preparations for the next round of NDCs and other climate policy commitments and strategies. Three roundtables will be organized covering the Asia/Pacific Region, Africa Region, and the Middle East and North Africa.

The high-level panel will examine how water is being mainstreamed in climate commitments and being used as a connector across the three Rio Conventions and across sector strategies and plans at the country level. The perspectives of Parties to the Paris Agreement will be shared as well as those of the donor and development communities to showcase lessons learned and experiences in helping to integrate sustainable water resources management and water services in national plans, strategies and project pipelines for actionable NDCs. Mobilizing finance for implementing the NDCs will also be discussed within the context of the New Collective Quantified Goal on Climate Finance (NCQG).

The session will feature interactive tools and guidance instruments for assisting countries to mainstream water considerations in their NDCs, NAPs and climate policies. Each 30-minute segment will present a tool, a sample application or case study and then open for questions and exchange with participants to allow for an interactive discussion on how these knowledge resources can be accessed for support. The session will end with a summary of the key messages generated during the thematic day.

The online event will allow the Indo Pacific to feature, engage and hear from diverse stakeholders working to address and advance water-related challenges and opportunities across our region. Given that many in our region will not be travelling to COP29, the online webinar format will allow for our community to come together to share progress, hear directly from the Water for Climate Pavilion and feel (virtually) connected to each other and the events/discussions happening in Baku.

This event will involve participants from across the water, biodiversity, climate, and sanitation communities, in a collaborative exercise, to take stock and provide feedback to the ongoing indicator development process for water-related targets. This will include a look at freshwater indicators for the two GGA targets where water is mentioned explicitly and also a focus on how water connects the other GGA and associated sustainability framework targets, including the Sustainable Development Goals, the Sedai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

The second part of Achieving the Global Goal on Adaptation thematic discussion at the Pavilion will explore how the climate and water communities can work together to turn the water target of the UAE Global Climate Resilience Framework into on-the-ground action. The focus here is on moving from official commitments to tangible results.

After a busy day, unwind with this captivating documentary by director Rubén Abruña, which explores innovative solutions to global water and fertiliser shortages. At the end of the film, there will be a Q&A session with Abruña himself.

The Compute for Climate Fellowship event at COP 29 will spotlight pioneering AI solutions for water resilience, featuring startups like Coastal Carbon, Xatoms, and Cosma, alongside the EU-backed RAIDO project. Showcasing Slovenia’s collaborative efforts, this event highlights how AI and cloud computing drive real change in climate action through water innovation.

Launched by the UAE, The Mohamed bin Zayed Water Initiative aims to help address global water scarcity by supporting the development and application of breakthrough technologies while raising the importance of water scarcity on the global agenda.

This session aims to disseminate key findings from the brief, discuss practical strategies for integrating water into climate policies, and foster collaboration among policymakers, experts, and stakeholders in support of achieving climate change mitigation goals.

Presentation of techniques available to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from water and sanitation utilities: leakage control, wastewater recycling, energy self-production, etc. These solutions will be illustrated by concrete examples of operations implemented for or by local utilities around the world.

The side event will discuss approaches that can help achieve co-benefits (adaptation and mitigation) and net-zero transition through freshwater water resources management and related infrastructure.

The Global Water Partnership Mediterranean (GWP-Med), WINZ and Nature Conservancy, convenes a High-Level Segment, "Fostering adaptation and mitigation co-benefits in the freshwater- coastal- marine ecosystems continuum: Leveraging opportunities and mobilizing finance for resilient and net-zero development" to discuss the relevant approaches to foster adaptation and mitigation co-benefits in the freshwater- coastal- marine ecosystems continuum.

Global climate and environment conventions are highly state-centric, while the impacts of a changed climate are felt locally, with city and regional governments being the frontline responders to climate-related disasters such as droughts and floods. The session will discuss collective action approaches to locally led adaptation across two areas: Political: highlighting the need for support at local level, sharing stories of inspiration and a call to action. Technical: outlining the extent of the climate challenge at local level and introducing emergent approaches to collaboration on water resilience

This opening panel will introduce the concept of systems approaches strengthening and its critical role in building resilience to water and climate-related challenges. It aims to establish a shared framework for understanding the complexities of water and climate resilience, focusing on breaking down barriers between sectors and stakeholders.

This solution showcase will be held in two parts: the first session will take place in the Spanish Pavilion on 19 November from 13:00 to 14:00, followed by this second session.

The We Art Water Film Festival is an international short-film competition organised by the We Are Water Foundation, which aims to recognize and reward the talent of all those people with a clear awareness of the water problem around the world which are also able to capture it in their own film productions.

Young climate and water professionals will share their knowledge, experience and ideas with policy and decision makers, on how national and international systems can increase climate resilence.

The closing wrap-up session will summarize the key takeaways from the day's discussions, highlighting the importance of an integrated cross-sectoral, intergenerational collaboration for building transformational resilience.

The UN 2026 Water Conference, co-hosted by the United Arab Emirates and Senegal, will convene in December 2026 in the UAE. As mandated by the modalities resolution, adopted in September 2024, the Conference will consist of six interactive dialogues. The themes of the interactive dialogues will be identified through extensive consultations and will build on the themes of the five interactive dialogues of the UN 2023 Water Conference. This session will act as one of the early targeted consultations on the thematic focus areas of the interactive dialogues, where the co-hosts will engage with the Water for Climate Pavilion community and other actors from beyond the water sector on suggestions for the themes.

The intergenerational dialogue is intended – particularly within the context of the UNFCCC to strengthen the transition of food systems towards water resilience, while safeguarding and restoring the natural resources upon which these systems depend.

An announcement on how the Green Climate Fund (GCF) will partner with Conservation International and the Government of Colombia to enhance water security in the Bogotá Region. The proposed project will catalyze ecosystem-based adaptation investments that aim to improve climate resilience, livelihoods and reduce weather related disaster risks.

This solution showcase will be held in two parts: the first session will take place in the Spanish Pavilion on 19 November from 13:00 to 14:00, followed by this second session.

This summary session aims to reflect on the day discussion and the proposed way forward on the transition of food system toward more water resilience.

Hosted by Van Oord, WWF, and Wetlands International, and with the support of Royal Haskoning and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs this 90-minute event will feature insightful presentations and engaging discussions on integrating water management and ecosystem restoration into global biodiversity and climate action plans. Learn from experts and be part of the conversation driving sustainable change.

The restoration of springs, riverbanks and other wetlands support the targets of several agendas simultaneously: water, climate, desertification, biodiversity, disasters. Could the recovery of riverbank and spring vegetation be a global goal for water-related climate adaptation?