Bringing younger generations to the World Water Forum makes sense – they are the future

Liliane Geerling – Programme Coordinator, Partners for Water

‘At the WWF, we will present the Netherlands as a “Centre of Excellence with a shared pavilion where we showcase our broad expertise and knowledge related to water security. Partners for Water serves as host, but there are many other organisations involved, such as the Dutch embassy, Dutch companies and several Indonesian organisations. We feel that by attending the WWF we will benefit greatly because it will bring together so many stakeholders including; governments, multilateral institutions, academia and businesses.’

Enhancing cooperation

‘The pavilion will offer a comprehensive programme with lots of opportunities for interaction and in-depth sessions. For example, we are organising some sessions around the theme “Status and trends in global water cooperation”, where we will discuss what makes water cooperation work, how we can enhance bilateral cooperation and which role the international multilateral system should play. Another example is a presentation by the Ecoshape consortium about their research into Nature-based Solutions for increased water resilience in South-East Asia.’

‘At this year’s WWF, there will be many young water enthusiasts attending which is a great idea as after all they’re the future of the water sector. This is why we involved them in the run up to the event and it will continue to engage with them during and afterwards. One of the “youth activities” at the forum is a “pressure cooker challenge” (Raincarft Bali). Young professionals must come up with solutions to specific water challenges on the spot and then present them. I will be part of the jury and am very curious to hear what they come up with.’

Water action agenda

‘For me the WFF will be successful if, through our pavilion, we can spark discussions on how to advance innovative water solutions and how we can make these inclusive to all. Following that, I hope we can share knowledge and approaches towards water security for all. I also hope we can build upon the Water Action Agenda, which was launched at the UN Water Conference in New York in 2023. Since then, we’ve taken the lead on further developing this agenda and we hope to continue this in Bali. There is plenty of overlap between the action agenda and the themes of the WWF so I’m confident we will manage this.’

Ivo van der Linden – Delegated Representative, Indonesia

‘The fact that this year’s World Water Forum (WWF) is taking place in Bali is special for the Netherlands, due to our long-standing relationship with Indonesia. This collaboration was formalised in 2007 through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), but we have been working together for much longer. We do this in an integrated, inclusive, sustainable and equal manner. We want to commend Indonesia for hosting this WWF and applaud their leadership role in addressing global water and climate challenges. We will help them out wherever we can, to ensure this edition is a memorable one.’

‘Indonesia is developing rapidly and we have ambitious goals regarding our collaboration. This includes new ways of working, where we work together to create an agenda and activities. As we’re both delta countries, we face common challenges such as coastal erosion and rising sea levels. We’re not only partners on water issues, but we also collaborate on other topics too, like renewable energy, sustainable cities and agriculture innovation. But water is an important driver for our broader collaboration.’

Shared knowledge agenda

As we knew that this year’s WWF would be hosted in Bali, we’ve been working together with the Indonesian Government to organise several joint activities. One aspect of this is giving young people a greater platform, as Liliane already explained. In addition to that, we also created a shared “knowledge agenda” for the event, which will culminate in two panel sessions that we’re jointly moderating. In one of them we will discuss small islands development and how we can help mitigate the water problems they face, like a lack of fresh water or climate change-related challenges.’

In the coming years, we will continue investing in our relationship with Indonesia through enhanced dialogue and aligning policy agendas. Part of that process includes evaluating our past collaboration and discussing how we can further improve it. During these sessions, we also include other partners such as the Asian Development Bank as they can use their funding programmes to help turn ideas and plans into concrete, actionable projects.

For more information about the Netherlands Pavilion programme, visit the event page.

Or, directly download the programme!