Cape Town - Cape Town is being celebrated for its water resilience during the Day Zero crisis of 2018 at an international conference this week.
The city’s experience provides an opportunity to capture some of the valuable perspectives and experiences from the various participants, especially from within the City of Cape Town, as the crisis played out.
A statement from the conference organisers said: “Two years on from that crisis, the W12 Congress now provides a platform for the different roles, responsibilities, and responses to be analysed in a way that helps citizens, businesses, and city governments better understand how complicated the process of urban water management and climate change adaptation is and how to adequately prepare for future city-level water crises.”
Shelley Humphreys, executive director of SOSNPO, the South African water NPO behind the event, said: “The costs and consequences of inaction on water are colossal, both in economic and human terms. The W12 congress is a meeting of the best water minds from across the globe.
“I am confident that, with the best information at our fingertips, political will, financing, and some time, we can deliver Better Water Policies and solutions for Better Lives.”
The W12 Framework Conference takes place at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) ahead of the W12 Congress which was postponed from this month to May.
Organisers said: “A contingent of dozens of professionals from academia, business, civil society, NGOs, local and national government have engaged with leading international water experts and worked together over the last few months to create a framework which is the basis for the Major Cities Best Practices Water Protocol.”
The event is a collaboration between W12, UWC, Institute for Ecological Civilisation, City of Cape Town and other local stakeholders.
Task teams, made up of professionals from natural sciences, social sciences, politics, economics, technical sciences and civil society, have been established to develop a guiding framework for cities facing escalating water shortages.
They will discuss and develop papers into a Water Framework, which will be the basis for a protocol for cities and governments to ensure water security for 30 years.
The W12 Congress public-facing sessions will be held on May 18 and 19 at the Cape Town International Convention Centre. Arnold Schwarzenegger is billed as a keynote speaker.