The International Water Association (IWA) and the Australian Water Partnership will convene government and business leaders, NGOs, scientists and international organisations to a global summit on water scarcity and drought this autumn.

 The summit will take place on October 10 in Brisbane, (Queensland, Australia) in connection with the World Water Congress and Exhibition.

A report published in February put the number of people affected by water scarcity at four billion as opposed to two billion in earlier reports. The report says meeting humanity’s increasing demand for freshwater and protecting ecosystems at the same time will be one of the most difficult and important challenges of this century

The World Economic Forum ranks the ‘water crises’ as the top risk facing societies and business over the next decade. Today tens-of-millions of people are impacted daily by severe water scarcity and drought in Africa, Asia and Latin America, a situation that will only intensify in coming years.

Dr. Ger Bergkamp, Executive Director of the International Water Association commented:

“Cities, industries, agriculture and the environment are seriously impaired by water scarcity. Cities around the world have literally run out of water this year, resulting in major havoc and costs for citizens, business and government.”

“The world needs decisive action, a modern day Marshall Plan for global water scarcity. We need all stakeholders to agree a clear agenda and begin to manage water more wisely.”

The Summit will focus on:

• Creating climate preparedness and resilience
• Establishing portfolios of water supply and demand management
• Strengthening mechanisms to measure and exchange on water scarcity and drought
• Mobilising public and private investments in water management

The Brisbane Summit will be the first step in a planned multi-year and multi-stakeholder agenda-setting programme.

Gary Jones, Chief Executive, Australian Water Partnership said:

“Drought management is not just about new infrastructure and technologies, but also about demand management and effective water allocation policy. It is about building systems that are broadly resilient to drought and scarcity, managing demand as well as improving supply.”

The IWA will seek governmental level participation from the most impacted countries: Australia, Botswana, Brazil, China, India, Iran, Japan, Jordan, Korea, Mexico, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, South Africa and the USA.  The private sector will be represented by water technology leaders and companies affected by water scarcity and droughts.

The IWA a non-profit organisation with members in more than 130 countries, is expecting broad participation from NGO, research institutes, development partners and urban areas heavily affected by water scarcity.