The UfM Water Task Forces, Water, Environment, Food and Ecosystems (WEFE) Nexus, Water Access, Sanitation & Hygiene (WASH), Water, Employment and Migration (WEM) Nexus and Water Climate Change Actions (WCCA) meeting took place on 16 and 17 February 2023 in the Union for the Mediterranean premises in Barcelona.
The meeting brought together the leaders of the task forces, strategic partners and UfM countries representatives as well as civil society in order to reflect on the Biannual Work Plans 2023-2024, and next steps towards meeting the objectives determined by the UfM Ministerial Declaration on Water (Malta, April 2017). It also aimed at revising and agreeing on the 2023-2024 Workplans, including the context and direction of milestone activities.
The meeting was also an opportunity to depict the different actions and projects that will strongly support the implementation of the UfM Water Agenda such as the Match Maker project, WES, the Smart Desert project, the WEFE Knowledge Hub for the MENA region, the newly designed UfM Water and Youth Strategy, the new network of youth think tanks ENTREMED, and the upcoming 5th Mediterranean Water Forum as a regional preparatory process towards the 10th World Water Forum .
The road towards a new political revitalization of the declaration on water was also put on the table and more concrete steps will be determined upon the next 13th Water Expert Group (WEG) meeting that will be held on 7-8 June 2023.