{"id":592,"date":"2023-11-30T16:42:58","date_gmt":"2023-11-30T16:42:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/waterfront\/?p=592"},"modified":"2025-12-24T01:23:02","modified_gmt":"2025-12-24T01:23:02","slug":"water-high-level-priority-cop-28","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/waterfront\/2023\/11\/30\/water-high-level-priority-cop-28\/","title":{"rendered":"Water is a high-level priority at COP 28, we need to look to ground-level users for solutions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Water has finally reached the highest levels of global climate negotiations. The path to a sustainable freshwater future, however, lies with ground-level users. At COP 28, EDF is elevating their voices, their needs and the approaches they find most useful.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

_______<\/p>\n

While greenhouse gases drive climate change, many of its impacts are inherently liquid. Whether through drought, flood, sea-level rise, or contamination, water increasingly forms the turbulent core of the climate crisis.<\/span><\/p>\n

Over the past year, this basic reality was finally acknowledged at the global planning table.\u00a0 Thanks to a strong push from its Egyptian hosts, last year\u2019s edition of the main UN climate conference, COP 27, made water a central theme. The cover decision \u2014 the summation of the conference\u2019s key agreements \u2014 featured water and food for the first time. The decision acknowledged the central role of water in countering climate impacts and called for water-related targets in national climate planning.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On paper, this was a breakthrough. 2015\u2019s Paris Agreement didn\u2019t mention water once and COP organizers have long resisted calls to introduce it, citing concern with potential distraction from core emissions negotiations.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The shift in positioning at COP 27 has precipitated a year of high-level, high-profile discussion of water as a core climate issue. For the first time in 50 years, the UN convened a global conference on water in March 2023. A few months later, World Water Week 2023 spotlighted unfolding water-related commitments in global climate discussions. Now, as COP 28 kicks off in Dubai this week, the UAE presidency has <\/span>promised<\/span><\/a> to \u201cdrive water up the climate agenda\u201d and listed water as a core priority for the entire conference.<\/span><\/p>\n

While it\u2019s encouraging to see water finally reach the highest levels of the climate conversation, we urgently need to see movement on the ground. It is ground-level frontline users who simultaneously: 1) confront increasing water scarcity, excess, and contamination issues daily, 2) carry under-utilized knowledge on a wide spectrum of local water solutions and 3) can, if allowed, wield impactful decision-making power that could push the world closer to a more sustainable freshwater future.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s why EDF is bringing ground-level perspectives on water management to COP 28. We\u2019ve invited farmers from the Global South, Indigenous leaders and partners working on localized solutions \u2014 particularly on the food-water nexus \u2014 to share their perspectives, their needs, and the approaches they find most useful.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n