27 October | 10:30 – 11:30
HOST: KfW
VENUE: Finance Area Booth (FfB Foundation & FAIRR), Exhibition Hall, Blue Zone – Yerevan, Armenia
FORMAT: Panel
DESCRIPTION
Relevance of water ecosystems
Water is a fundamental component of the earth system, connecting biodiversity, climate, food, energy, human health and economic development. However, water is still managed largely as a resource to be extracted, allocated and controlled.
Freshwater ecosystems are among the most degraded and threatened ecosystems globally, despite their fundamental importance for biodiversity, climate resilience, and human wellbeing. At the same time, increasing pressures from overexploitation, pollution, infrastructure expansion, land use change, and climate change are accelerating the degradation of water ecosystems in general, and weakening their capacity to provide essential ecosystem services.
Role of financial institutions
Financial institutions have a decisive role in advancing a sustainable water management, water conservation, and a sustainable blue economy by acting on three levers: (i) financing and mobilising capital for the sustainable use of water ecosystems and their resources, water efficiency, wastewater treatment and reuse, resilient water-related infrastructure and nature-based solutions; (ii) integrating water into risk management (including credit, operational, legal/regulatory, physical and transition risks) to improve portfolio resilience; and (iii) promoting accountability from investments though KPIs, that allow impact monitoring, and reduction of financing that increases water stress and pollution.
OBJECTIVES
- Present a newly published study on fresh water ecosystems from Senckenberg Society for Nature Research and KfW Research department
- Place water ecosystems and water security more centrally within the implementation of the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF),
- Explore how biodiversity, climate, and development objectives can be addressed more coherently through integrated water governance and investment.
- Provide a platform for dialogue between science, finance and other stakeholders on practical opportunities to strengthen water considerations and its related biodiversity in national and international implementation processes.
More details on the programme will follow.