Marko’s Visit to World Water Week 2024 Conference in Stockholm
Hello everyone!
My name is Marko Fickert Ariza, and I am a third-year Geography and Management student at the University of St Andrews. Throughout my degree so far, I have developed an interest in sustainability, but more specifically in water scarcity. Therefore, this past summer, I have attended two leading Water conferences in Brussels and Stockholm. A few weeks ago, I posted a summary of the three learnings I took away with me from the EU Green Week 2024 conference in Brussels. Here, I am posting the summary of my three main highlights from World Water Week 2024, which is the leading conference on global water issues and is held annually since 1991. You might have already read my summary of the conference in Brussels, but if you have not yet, feel free to check it out. For now, enjoy reading this summary of World Water Week 2024!
From the 25th August to 29th August, I had the great privilege and opportunity to attend World Water Week 2024 in Stockholm. Following the EU Green Week 2024 conference in Brussels, this was my second water conference and World Water Week 2024 has been another truly insightful and inspiring experience.
During World Water Week 2024, I attended multiple panel discussions and talk shows from leading experts in the water sector, and took part in interactive workshops which entailed rich discussions on various water issues. In this LinkedIn post, I cannot do justice to everything I have learned throughout this week, however, I would like to share my three highlights.
1- The High-level Workshop. Towards the end of it, I had the great opportunity and honour to, alongside the United Nations Water Vice-Chair Bruce Gordon, share my thoughts with the participants, including Water and Sanitation Ministers, The World Bank Group Managers and NGO Representatives on the actions needed to improve the future pathways of water. I remarked how a greater inclusion of young people can bring new and different perspectives to discussions on global water issues. Doing this at the United Nations 2026 Water Conference, for example, could accelerate the progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and water-related targets.
2- The Water in Business sessions explored how the water crisis is impacting corporations in different sectors and how regulations, including the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) are affecting the way corporations report on and respond to the emerging challenges of climate change. I found it interesting how panelists were calling for sustainability to be embedded not only within individual businesses, but also across entire value chains. Doing this will be challenging but essential in creating more sustainable and resilient economies.
3- Critical thinking in the New water strategies in MENA: Similarities and differences session, where panelists (representatives from 4 MENA (Middle Eastern and North African) nations – Egypt, Jordan, Saudia Arabia and Tunisia) compared and contrasted their situations of water scarcity and respective water strategies. Following this critical and comparative analysis, the panelists highlighted the importance of water solutions needing to be context- and country-specific. Thus, just because one agricultural or desalination solution might help alleviate the drought in Egypt, this does not mean that it will equally work in Jordan.
World Water Week 2024 has pushed myself out of my comfort zone in multiple ways and showed me the importance of cross-sectoral, cross-cultural and cross-generational collaboration to solve the world’s most complex contemporary challenges. Finally, I would like to thank SIWI – Stockholm International Water Institute and the World Water Week team for organising such a remarkable conference.
If you have any questions about my experience at the EU Green Week 2024 conference in Brussels or would simply like to connect, contact me either on LinkedIn at Marko Fickert Ariza or send me an email at: [email protected]