COP27 in review: Climate, water and sanitation solutions on TD9 at the Water Pavilion

Some panellists during session one on TD9, from left: Jorge Álvarez Sala (UNICEF), Tanvi Oza (WaterAid), Dr Alison Baker (Water for Women), Lesley Pories (GWP), and Vikas Sheel (Government of India)

On Thematic Day Nine at the Water Pavilion in COP27, Water for Women, came together with key sector organisations to discuss Building Community Resilience Through Basic Social Services: Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene.

The session showcased the inter-connectivities between climate change, water as a resource, and the basic social services that depend on it – importantly, safely managed drinking water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services.

We were excited to discuss Water for Women learning and the value of WASH with representatives from UNICEF, World Health Organisation (WHO), Sanitation and Water for All (SWA), Global Water Partnership and WaterAid along with the Government of India.

Watch TD9 in full

TD9: Climate, Water and Sanitation Solutions for
Health and Sustainable Development

The day brought together insights from 20 organisations and multiple in person and live streamed speakers through the following sessions along with high level launches: 

SESSION 1: Building Community Resilience Through Basic Social Services: Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene

This session showcased the interconnectivities between climate change, water as a resource, and the basic social services that depend on it – importantly, safely managed drinking water, sanitation and hygiene services. Water for Women contributed across two focus areas within this session:

• Shifting social norms for transformative change and climate resilience (Joanna Mott, Water for Women)
• Towards a resilient 2030: partnerships for climate resilient water and WASH in the Asia Pacific (Alison Baker, Water for Women)
• Water–climate–gender nexus: The environmental, social and business benefits of investing in gender-sensitive, climate-resilient WASH solutions (Tanvi Oza, WaterAid)

SESSION 2: A Call to Action for Climate Resilient and Low Carbon Sanitation

This session showcased the status of sanitation sector and its challenges in the face of climate change. It highlighted countries cases of innovative work to future proof the sector.   The session concluded with a global Call to Action on Climate resilient sanitation. Water for Women partner contributed to this session with:

• Urban sanitation and climate change - a public service at risk (Juliet Willets, UTS-ISF)
• Adapting Targeted Sanitation Subsidies for Climate Vulnerable Households (Elise Mann, iDE)
• Understanding the Impacts of Climate-Vulnerable Environments on Effective Sanitation and Faecal Sludge Management in Rural Cambodia (Elise Mann, iDE)
• Designing Climate Resilient Products for Sustained Behavior Change Solutions: A Case Study in Bangladesh (Elise Mann, iDE)

LAUNCHING 1: Global launching of the new Climate resilient framework for water, sanitation and hygiene, and the climate resilient sanitation

HIGH LEVEL SEGMENT: Spotlight Interventions on Leadership: Bridging Climate Action and Sustainable Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene Services for All

Leaders from India and the International Red Cross took the stage the stage to share good practices, lessons learned and commitments to bridge climate change and water supply, sanitation and hygiene solutions.

LAUNCHING 2: Global launching of the Business Declaration on Climate Resilient Water, Sanitation & Hygiene (WASH)

SESSION 3: Climate and Water Enabling Environments, Governance and Accountability

This session showcased how the water and sanitation sector experience puts it in a position, through collective principles and values, to collaborate with climate stakeholders and help confront the challenges of climate change, by ensuring countries have the capacity to deliver and sustain basic services and to build community resilience in the face of negative environmental impacts. Water for Women partner, WaterAid contributed to this session through sharing their experience in Timor-Leste: 

• Integrating water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) into National Climate Planning (NDCs and NAPs): Multi-country experiences of implementation, prioritization, challenges, and opportunities (Tanvi Oza, WaterAid)

Throughout the day, Water for Women's building blocks for climate-resilient WASH were on display to promote our recent report launch, Knowledge and Practice Gaps in Climate Resilient Inclusive WASH. Many attendees and passersby engaged with the game and product promotion.

Key takeaways from TD9

1. Ensuring community resilience through resilient water and sanitation services is a key priority for countries that experience both, insufficient access to water and sanitation and have high exposure to climate risks. 
2. Investments in sanitation contribute to limit the release of greenhouse from wastewater and excreta into the atmosphere by choosing the most appropriate type of sanitation and wastewater treatment processes. Climate resilient sanitation needs greater attention
3. We must strengthen work to ensure the active, free, and meaningful participation of rights-holders and other relevant stakeholders in the formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of climate and water-sanitation policies.
4. We need to provide multi stakeholder platforms where different constituencies, such as governments, development support agencies, civil society, research and learning institutions and the private sector are able to exchange, collaborate and craft joint climate-water-sanitation commitments.
5. Successfully establishing and maintaining an enabling environment conducive of climate resilient water-sanitation services is not easy and a key ingredient is political will. 
   
   

Key Messages

1. Basic social services such as safe drinking water and sanitation are prerequisites to community resilience and therefore need to be a core component of the crafting of the Global Goal on Adaptation.
2. Investing in climate resilient sanitation makes sense both from adaptation and mitigation point of view and efforts are needed to raise the level of awareness and capacity for mainstreaming climate resilience. Climate resilient sanitation needs greater attention
3. Successfully establishing and maintaining an enabling environment conducive of climate resilient water-sanitation services is not easy and a key ingredient is political will.

Launched by Water for Women on TD9