2018-03-27
High-level panel during the 8th World Water Forum
The session, which counted with the participation of the European Union - Brazil Sector Dialogues Support Facility, aimed to bring scientific knowledge and advances on water management practices closer to the formulation of public policies and decision-making. "Long term financing and effective international cooperation are pillars for facing global water challenges and are the heart of EU policiy-making"," said Ambassador João Gomes Cravinho, Head of the European Union Delegation to Brazil.
In the EU, this investment reached 635 million euros by 2017, according to the Deputy Head of the Eco-Innovation Unit – DG for Research and Innovation of the European Commission, Dr. Panagiotis Balabanis. "These resources have been used to support the needs of relevant EU water, climate and resource efficient policies; reinforcing water innovation capacity and market uptake of successful research results; and strengthening international R&I cooperation in the field of water to support the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals”, explained.
The need for cooperation was stressed by the Minister of Science, Technology, Innovation and Communications, Gilberto Kassab. "The world needs to be prepared to have a convergence factor on water, not divergence. This forum is an emblematic moment that shows that the world is moving toward convergence, in order to exchange knowledge and train human resources to find solutions. This event is the gateway to a public policy vision, "he said.
Olcay Unver, Director of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Land and Water Division, warned that water demand for food production is expected to increase by 50 percent by 2050. "Feeding safely the population is a challenge. There is currently inefficiency in the use of water. But we have to produce more with less. That’s why we have to seek, through science, technology and innovation, solutions in this process and promote funding for research in this area."
Iranian Energy Minister, Reza Ardakanian, also highlighted the crucial role of science in finding solutions to water management. "The sectors have to dialogue with the academy, with the scientists. We need social science acting as a glue with each of the parts to be a whole and overcome the problems we have with water. All ministers must be committed to water. We defend an interministerial policy on this issue, with everyone working together”, he said.
Likewise, Xavier Leflaive, Environment Director of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), stated that "the more investment in knowledge, the more it is possible to investigate the use, quality and types of water we can consume".
However, former Minister of the Environment of Portugal and Professor of the University of Lisbon Francisco Correa recalled that knowledge, technology and innovation without the construction of public policies do not solve any problem. "Science is fundamental to the development of technologies, but technologies alone do not solve things. The policy should drive the projects for technology to work."
For the Director of Regulation of the National Water Agency (ANA), Oscar Cordeiro, it is also necessary to raise public awareness, in addition to public managers at all levels. "Brazilians need to know where their water comes from. And water must have priority on the political agenda."
Solutions for Brazil
Professor Dr. Antônio Eduardo Lanna, a specialist in water and sanitation, suggested that Brazilian public managers begin to consider the technological solution for desalination of seawater, as countries like Israel already use. "All the capitals of the Brazilian coastal states between São Paulo and Ceará are currently going through a serious water crisis or may face this in the near future. With the exception of São Paulo, many capitals are close to the sea, an interesting feature of our territory. This brings a possibility of science and technology to support the development of seawater desalination units."
According to him, the costs of desalination are under $ 1 per cubic meter. "This cost has been reduced rapidly, and it is approaching the cost of fetching distant fresh water by transposing interbasin waters, as are the investments made by many Brazilian cities, such as Rio de Janeiro. Another relevant point is the waste in distribution. Our urban water supply systems have up to 40% loss of treated water. It is necessary to reduce these numbers, increasing the efficiency of the availability of drinking water, avoiding the waste of an increasingly scarce resource."
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