WAL Newsletter 2023 - World Water Atlas

Race Against the Clock

A lot has happened since our last newsletter in January 2022. Although Covid-19 is still around and affects us now and then, it has faded into the background compared to the beginning of this year.

It has been an exciting year with substantial progress made in jointly working towards implementing our programmes in Chennai (India), Khulna (Bangladesh) and Semarang (Indonesia). The next phase of the feasibility study has started in both Khulna and Semarang, with the consultant teams on the ground. In the Water as Leverage City update in this newsletter, Mr Abir, one of our local WaL Ambassadors, tells you all about it. And the Water Balance demonstration project of the City of 1000 Tanks is almost up and running, more news about this in the same chapter. Even more exciting is the launch of Water as Leverage Cartagena – Construyendo con el Aqua in the city of Cartagena (Colombia) last summer and the official publication of the Call for Action for WaL Cartagena this month. Read all about it in the Water as Leverage City update as well.

Next to the three cities in Asia and the city of Cartagena in Colombia, on-going discussions are underway in Africa, in India (Ganga) and in Thailand. Preliminary discussions confirm a strong demand for similar developments in various countries and regions of the world.

Looking at the years ahead, the time has come to build on experience accumulated so far and make Water as Leverage a resource for project owners and partners around the world. The way forward includes both culture and structure. Water as Leverage is a culture. That culture needs to be nurtured, enriched, and disseminated in a variety of environments: across geographies, professional curricula, civil society, and policy arenas. Water as Leverage will support the design and dissemination of training and curricula, to reach a wide range of audiences.

Water as Leverage needs a structure, an entity that supports the development, planning and financing of the projects it has inspired. The intention is to set up an entity that provides opportunities to develop and engage a global network of project owners and partners inspired by Water as Leverage.

The commitment to develop Water as Leverage as a culture and a structure could become a transformative engagement to be shared and scaled up at the UN 2023 Water Conference. Please let us know on wal@rvo.nl if you would like to participate or are in New York at the UN Water conference – we will send you updates on our progress in the coming period.