A broad coalition of nations, river basin organizations, business and civil society has announced the creation of the international Paris Pact on Water and Climate Change Adaptation to make water systems more resilient to climate impacts.

Almost 290 water basin organisations are engaged under the Paris Pact on Water and Climate Change Adaptation agreed at the climate change negotiations currently under way in Paris.

The “”Water Resilience Focus” event under the Lima to Paris Action Agenda on climate change also highlighted other key partnerships and coalitions to make river basins, lakes, aquifers and deltas more resilient to climate change and reduce human interference with oceans.

Climate changes, coupled with unsustainable use of water, are causing widespread impacts on societies and economies, creating droughts, floods and warming which affect all water systems and trigger negative and often fatal impacts.

The pact involves a wide geographic coalition of national and cross-border river basin organisations, governments, funding agencies, local governments, companies and civil society.

It encompasses individual commitments to implement adaptation plans, strengthening water monitoring and measurement systems in river basins and promoting financial sustainability and new investment in water systems management.

The major collaborative projects combined represent over US$20 million in technical assistance and potentially over US$ 1 billion in financing. They include:

• A financial commitment by India to build climate resilience through improved groundwater management.
• In the Niger Basin (9 African countries involved), the launch of a 10-year investment plan to strengthen resilience to climate change, with financial support from the World Bank/IDA, WAEMU, KfW, GEF and the countries themselves.
• In Jordan, Lebanon, Monaco, Morocco, Spain and Tunisia, a 7-year commitment under the Mediterranean Water Platform to assess the state and trends of water resources, supported by the European commission.
• In Morocco, a project to increase resilience of the agriculture sector through improved irrigation practice, with financing from IBRD and the Kingdom of Morocco.
• In Mexico: 4-year collaboration to improve management of water resources and water services in the Mexico Valley.
• In Peru, Ecuador, Brazil and Colombia, program Ecocuencas, a 3-year commitment to a financial mechanism for adaptation to climate change in river basins, supported by the European commission.
• In China, a 3-year commitment to improve management of the Hai river basin, supported by France.
• In central Africa in the Basin of Congo, the launch of a hydrological and meteorological monitoring program benefiting over 160 million citizens, with financing from AFD.
• Cities commit to strengthen resilient water systems - the Mega Cities Coalition, involving 10 megacities with 85 million people, is establishing a knowledge exchange platform and launching supporting projects.
• The World Bank Group is separately committing of $200 million to enhance water security and climate resilience in Kenya’s coastal region.

Business community engages to monitor and reduce its water use

Under the Business Alliance for Water and Climate Change the private sector is mobilising a coalition of companies, including 27 which have already committed.

 The objective is to reduce risks related to the quality and availability of water. Actions will include water impact measurement and reduction; reporting and transparency; collective action within river basins and taking stewardship of water use through the business value chain.

The alliance will take advantage of the mobilisation of global networks and individual water on the NAZCA climate action portal to monitor, scale-up and initiate other collaborative initiatives after the COP21 climate change conference.

Countries join coalition to enhance resilience on deltas

The Delta Coalition includes 12 countries (Colombia, Egypt, Indonesia, Japan, South-Korea, Mozambique, Myanmar, Netherlands, Philippines, Vietnam, France and Bangladesh) to bring deltas to the forefront of global policy discussions, build partnerships and focus on action, aiming to increase resilience for almost 250 million people in deltas in these 12 countries.

National and local governments, international organisations and the private sector are also building concrete initiatives on three main topics addressing the marine environment: marine protected areas and shoreline management and commercial shipping.

Adaptation and marine ecosystem conservation initiatives include more marine protected areas, World Heritage recognition and innovative funding support such as debt-for-nature swaps.

Coastal risk management and adaptation initiative will look at solutions to rising sea levels, coastal erosion, flooding and extreme climate.

The LPAA initiatives addressing water and oceans resilience are as follows:

• Paris Pact on Water and Adaptation
• MegaCities Coalition on water
• Business Alliance for Water and Climate Change
• Adaptation of the West African coastal areas
• Maritime Regions in Action against Climate Change