Background

Water scarcity is one of the leading challenges of the twenty-first century. To advance this need, the FAO Director-General, officially launched in Rome in April 2017 the Global Framework for Action to Cope with Water Scarcity in Agriculture in the Context of Climate Change. Soon after, close to 100 partners and stakeholders met in Rome and issued a joint Rome Statement on Water Scarcity in Agriculture. They agreed on a common vision and mission for WAter Scarcity in AGricolture (WASAG), developed its TORs and established an interim Steering Committee.
WASAG aims at collaboration between partners for the development and implementation of policies and programs for the sustainable use of water in the agricultural sectors and aims to identify priority actions for the adaptation of agriculture to climate change. In this way, the global framework aims to help countries, communities and businesses to meet their needs for increasing food production in the face of climate change, while preserving the ecosystems and services they provide.
For 2018, the overarching theme of the 8th World Water Forum is “Sharing Water” that implies: sharing of ideas among civil society; sharing of the best practices and solutions; sharing the benefits of rational water use and; more broadly, sharing actions and responsibilities among nations. For these reasons it is proposed to share this important framework during the meeting on "Sharing Water, Knowledge and Information: Italy for WASAG".
The workshop aims to involve the largest number of actors such as academics from a wide range of research sectors, civil society, end users and professionals, to share ideas, good practices and experiences; to create synergies, cooperation and to raise the level of political commitment towards more sustainable practices in water management across sectors, with the final goal of fostering the conscious and rational water utilization, through active and highly reactive participation in WASAG.
Venue
A half day meeting will be held on Thursday 28th March 2018, from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., Sala Cavour - Ministero delle Politiche Agricole Alimentari e Forestali - Via XX Settembre, 20, Rome
Audience
The workshop is addressed to people working in the field of Water Resource Management, including Institutions, Universities, Operators, Civil Society, Private Actors, Decision Makers, Water Users Association board members and International Organizations.