On the 28 april, the President of the World Water Council was invited to Lisbon Speed Talks to discuss the geopolitics of water, water security and hydro-diplomacy.
Loïc Fauchon stressed that ” water is our future and that it is our duty to allow all populations to have access to water as a universal right.
However, water security is threatened by population growth, which creates many constraints, and by intensive agriculture, which also contributes to water pollution. In addition to this threat, there is the threat of climate evolution.
In addition, a new obligation is emerging, which is to share water between humans and nature.”
The President put forward 3 pillars to solve these problems. These are knowledge – which is essentially based on innovation – financing – and from now on we will have to talk about “blue finance” – and governance – water needs democracy.
He also mentioned:
the implementation of the right to water is also essential. It is a very complex right that is easy to proclaim but difficult to implement. Thus, water can be a source of tension and conflict between different countries. Dialogue is the key element to limit or resolve these tensions so that they do not turn into wars.”
An important point in the discussion was the impact of the Covid 19 pandemic on water:
the virus has no impact on water quality, but the pandemic has highlighted the role of water in barrier practices (hand washing). We have also learned to detect traces of Covid-19 in wastewater, which is valuable for the future”, explained Loïc Fauchon.
To conclude, Loïc Fauchon stressed the need to rethink water storage, with the implementation of real “aquatic water reservoirs”. And he highlighted Portugal’s progress in water governance and infrastructure implementation.
> Download the full speech of Loïc Fauchon
Watch the vidéo of the Lisbon Speed Talks with Loïc Fauchon
The event is organized with the partnership of APDA, Portuguese Association of Water and Wastewater Services.