Water resources: new technologies can help to achieve sustainable development goals, Unesco Ihp workshop in Paris organized by Sant'Anna Life Sciences Institute
In September 2015, UN member states adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to end poverty and promote prosperity for all while protecting the environment and addressing climate change.
The new 2030 Agenda has water and sanitation at its core, with a dedicated Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 on water and sanitation with clear linkages to other Goals relating to health, food security, climate change, resiliency to disasters and ecosystems, among many others. Achieving the ambitious objectives of the 2030 Agenda demands that we address universal access to drinking water and sanitation along with issues of quality and supply, in tandem with improved water management to protect ecosystems and build resiliency.
The Objectives of the workshop are to discuss how using Information and Communication Technology Tools (ICT) in the water sector may help in reaching the SDG6 related targets with an emphasis on creating synergies with the EU HORIZON 2020 Research and Innovation Programme. Additionally, the workshop will explore how UNESCO’s International Hydrological Programme’s (IHP) Hydro Open-source software Platform of Experts (HOPE) play a concrete role in achieving the SDGs by providing a free and open alternative to the commercially specialized engineering software in the field of hydrology such as Conjunctive Water Management etc.) .
Speakers will point out which are the main and more relevant targets that may benefit by massively applying ICT tools and which ICT tools are available to particular sectors of water management. The needs of new ICT tools will also be devised. Through project activities and results presentations it will be possible to examine the state of the art with particular attention to open source and public domain software. The discussion at the event will finally analyze how the ICT sector in water management may create opportunities for innovative job creation and for young water professionals fostering the achievements of SDG8 inclusive and sustainable economic growth, employment and decent work.
Among the speakers, are worth to mention the MEP Brando Benafei, the Italian Ambassador at UNESCO H.E. Mrs. Vincenza Lomonaco, Flavia Schelegel (UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Natural Sciences), Blanca Elena Jimenez Cisneros (Director, Division of Water Sciences – Secretary International Hydrological Programme) and the Coordinators of relevant water related H2020 projects.
At the event, Luca Sebastiani (Director of the Life Scencies Institute) will give a talk about water management from plant to agro-ecosystem scale, Rudy Rossetto (coordinator of the H2020 FREEWAT project) will address the issue of Science and data based water resource management using open source software presenting the FREEWAT platform. The afternoon session will be chaired by Enrico Pè, Dean of the Experimental Classes of the School.
The programme and more information on the event may be found at:
