Promoted by the International Network of Basins Organizations (INBO), and after having contributed to its drafting, MedWet has signed a document calling for action on climate change adaptation in basins – the Paris Pact on water and adaptation to climate change in the basins of rivers, lakes and aquifers – prepared for the occasion of the 21^st Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP21) due to be held in Paris on 30 November – 11 December 2015.

The Pact and its results will be presented at the “Action day on resilience to climate change” on 2 December 2015 at COP21 in Paris, which will include half a day on water and climate change adaptation.

The MedWet Coordinator will be attending and participating in the debates on that day, to be held in the “Blue Zone” (Governments), while an important wetlands presence will feature at the Partenariat France-IUCN’s stand in the “Red Zone” (civil society), thanks to a collaborative effort between MedWet and a number of French partners (Mediterranean Wetlands Observatory, Tour du Valat, Pôles relais Zones Humides, Ramsar France association, and Onema).

The Paris Pact on Water emphasises, inter alia, that “Climate change is already affecting and will increasingly affect the quantity and quality of freshwater and aquatic ecosystems, especially through the intensity and greater frequency of extreme hydrological events, such as floods and droughts, as well as the increase in ocean level…”

The signatories of the Pact affirm that with their varying mandates, they will engage, among other things, to “enhance the services of water-related ecosystems in adaptation to climate change through inter alia protection and restoration of wetlands and coastlines, reforestation and other Natural Water Retention Measures (NWRM)”.

See the full text of the Paris Pact in English here

Le Pacte de Paris en français se trouve ici

More information

Representatives of governments, international organizations, donors, national and transboundary basin organizations, local authorities, the civil society and companies are invited to sign the Pact by 20 November by email as described at the end of the Pact.

See the article on INBO website here

Paris Pact on Water and Adaptation to Climate Change in the Basins of Rivers, Lakes, and Aquifers related to the SDGs

See the article on Partnerships for SDGs here