Schedule COP30

Over the past five years, crucial steps have been made towards water, climate and peace. The Climate CoPs have been catalysts of new initiatives and declarations. While peace has dropped off the agenda of the CoP30, the session will take stock of past initiatives, their progress and the way forward.

Official Inauguration of the Water for Climate Pavilion at COP30.

COP30 in Belém marks a historic first: a UN Climate Conference hosted in the Amazon, a region where climate impacts and solutions converge. In response to the Brazilian Presidency’s call for a global mutirão, a collective effort to accelerate climate action, the Neighbourhood of the Mutirão for Cities, Water and Infrastructure comes to life.

Water resilience is at the core of climate adaptation, yet cities, utilities, and industries continue to face mounting risks from droughts, floods, groundwater depletion, and extreme weather. Building resilience requires an integrated view of the entire urban water cycle—both above and below ground.

Cities are on the frontline of climate-driven water challenges: from floods and droughts to water quality and access. This session explores how Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) can address these issues while delivering broader benefits for biodiversity, public health, and community resilience.

By 2050, nearly 6 billion people will live in cities, placing immense strain on water resources and risking severe shortages. To ensure sustainable and equitable water use, we must adopt Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) to reconnect cities with their natural water basin on which they depend. Simultaneously, Citywide Inclusive Sanitation (CWIS) is crucial for integrating safe and sustainable sanitation into urban planning for everyone.

How evidence-based tools enable reporting, accountability, and scaling up of locally led actions in urban and basin contexts

An opportunity to learn from multi stakeholder collective action initiatives focused on building climate resilience and impact through water. It showcases best practice examples that addresses site, catchment or river basin level challenges and highlights how through dialogue, joint action and water stewardship partnerships, impactful change can be achieved. These efforts are often not recognised and acknowledged in national planning and reporting processes, despite the scale of impact and contribution to long term resilience. Lessons on how to improve public sector recognition and strengthen linkages, will be explored.

As climate pressures intensify, managing water across boundaries demands both scientific insight and diplomatic skill. This session brings together diverse voices to discuss inclusive approaches for resolving water conflicts and fostering collaboration. It underscores the vital role of trust, dialogue, and shared learning in advancing global climate resilience.

Sharing experience with the provision or reception of adaptation support, and the main knowledge and capacity gaps that need to be bridged to develop system-wide, long-term and investable/implementable adaptation plans

Highlighting the crucial role that Nature-based Solutions (NBS) play across rivers, wetlands and particularly mangroves as part of a broader Source-to-Sea approach.

Demonstrate how lakes, rivers, wetlands, and aquifers serve as a unifying platform for implementing the Rio Conventions. Inland waters link biodiversity conservation, climate adaptation, and land restoration, providing measurable outcomes across all three agendas.

Discussing the importance of securing a robust and balanced set of water and sanitation indicators within the expected list of the GGA indicators, while stressing their cross-sectoral relevance and avoiding a siloed approach. The event will highlight why water and sanitation indicators are politically and technically critical, not only for the Global Stocktake and Biannual Transparency Framework, but also as thematic enablers for resilience across Rio Conventions, Sustainable Development Goals and Sendai Framework.

Looking beyond COP30 and explore the work needed to implement the UAE Framework for Global Climate Resilience. This session will connect indicator adoption with the practical needs of monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL), and will reflect on what water and sanitation practitioners need to turn targets and indicators into actionable guidance, finance, and systemic resilience on the ground.

This side event aims to explore how mitigation and adaptation can be strategically integrated across planning, investment, and implementation—while accounting for macroeconomic implications.

This panel will explore how science-based standards for climate resiliency in water resources can support developing nations in implementing Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and National Adaptation Plans (NAPs). By applying these standards, countries can strengthen the resilience of water infrastructure (SDG13), ensure sustainable management and access to clean water (SDG6), and protect communities from climate-related risks. The session will also highlight the critical role of collaborative partnerships (SDG17) in scaling these solutions, enabling governments, the private sector, and civil society to work together effectively. Through these practical examples, the panel will demonstrate how integrating standards and partnerships can advance global sustainable development, improve climate adaptation strategies (SDG13), and foster inclusive and cooperative approaches to water management (SDG6, SDG17).

This opening panel introduces a transformative vision for water and climate resilience through systems-based approaches. It sets the stage by emphasizing water’s dual role in climate mitigation and adaptation and the need for cross-sectoral, inclusive collaboration. Different experts will highlight innovative solutions – from digital water tools to community partnerships – that break down silos. The session will underscore how integrated strategies, informed by science and date (including citizen and open science, AI,) and the role of bottom-up and inclusive approached such as Youth and Indigenous perspectives, are critical to building resilience in the face of growing climate risks. 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. By drawing on expertise from diverse fields, this session will emphasize the importance of cross-sectoral collaboration, the integration of science and data (including citizen and open science and AI), and the role of bottom-up approaches in strengthening water systems in the face of increasing climate risks.

This dialogue will bring together partners from across the Bairro do Mutirão to reflect on early outcomes and insights from the Water Days and ongoing COP discussions.

Just Water Partnerships are national-level platforms proposed by the Global Commission on the Economics of Water to put social equity at the centre of water investment decisions. They offer a concrete way to connect water and climate action, drive collaboration across water resources management and WASH, and mobilise resources more fairly and effectively with a view to the long-term sustainability of water resources for people and planet. Developed through a diverse and inclusive global consultation, the principles support governments to lead national implementation. This global launch kicks off a collective effort to put the principles into practice at a country level.

The latest round of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC 3.0) represents a pivotal time for water and climate adaptation. With an increasing number of countries mainstreaming water into their NDCs and National Adaptation Plans (NAPs), attention must now be given to how to implement these plans in an effective, sustainable and inclusive manner.

a short documentary about the situation of the local population, both urban and rural, in relation to water & climate change. The film screening will be followed by a roundtable discussion, highlighting the voices of the indigenous people.

The High-level Panel will examine how water is being mainstreamed in climate commitments and being used as a connector across sector strategies and plans at the country level. COP30 will be the first COP post the September 2025 deadline for NDC 3.0. It is therefore an important opportunity to maintain focus on NDCs and NAPs, identifying how to move the new plans from paper to action. With the amount of NDCs and NAPs including water looking likely to have increased by the end of 2025, emphasis must now be on moving these plans into effective and inclusive implementation, maximizing synergies with other sectors to ensure sustainability.

Across Africa, the changing climate has exposed the fragility of rain-fed agriculture. Erratic rainfall, recurrent droughts, and degraded land threaten millions of livelihoods. Irrigation therefore stands as the cornerstone of food security, resilience, and inclusive growth.

Highlighting the urgent need for inclusive, climate-resilient solutions to address water scarcity in underserved urban communities. This COP30 event, led by Resilient40 in partnership with AWPI/W4SECA, will explore grassroots innovations, gender-responsive governance, and cross-sector collaboration to ensure safe, affordable water for all especially women and marginalized Communities.