Opening session: A water resilient EU - key challenges, definition & vision

We rely on water for all human activity. All the time, everywhere – the right quality and in sufficient quantity. All sectors and industries, from energy production, public health and inland navigation to agriculture and productive industries, depend on it. So do all ecosystems. And we in turn depend on these natural ecosystems and their services, for healthy and prosperous lives and a sustained industrial economic base. But this indispensable resource – water – is under increasing pressure from global warming, biodiversity loss, pollution, overconsumption, structural mismanagement, unsustainable land use, and all-round human influence.

The consequences are painfully visible. More frequent or prolonged droughts, more extreme precipitation and floods, and serious threats to water-related ecosystems are causing considerable damage to our society and economy, public health and pose risks to social peace and stability.

The EU already has a robust set of laws in place to manage water sustainably, many of which have been updated in the recent past. Despite these improvements, water stress has become so alarming that industry and policy makers at all levels are now urgently considering what new courses of action are needed to make the EU more water-resilient and better equipped to adapt to current and future water challenges, while leaving no-one behind. 

Speakers in the opening session of Green Week 2024 will share their perspectives and reflect on how to ensure that a burgeoning public discussion on water leads to effective action and a systemic shift in our approach to water - away from responding in a crisis mode towards a proactive management of risks in a water resilient Europe.