WATER SAFE CITIES

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed how vulnerable cities are to extreme events and has brought the inequalities that exist in our societies into stark focus. It has demonstrated that the poorest and most vulnerable are often exposed to greater risk and find it harder to access essential services. At the same time, in many areas of the world, the COVID-19 pandemic has been a crisis within a crisis — a public health emergency that requires frequent handwashing in conditions where access to water is not universal.

Across C40, cities are prioritising investments in basic services and using nature-based solutions to strengthen resilience and safeguard citizens. This event will focus on the short- and long-term risks that water poses to our cities, and the potential to make communities more resilient by investing in water management, nature based solutions and increasing safe guards to water hazards.

Introductions by Simon Hansen, C40 Managing Director for Climate Solutions and Networks 

Presentation by Rebecca Ilunga, C40 Water Security Network Manager on C40’s work on water management. 

Panel debate:

Marissa Aho, Chief Resilience Officer, City of Houston         

Jane Eagle, Deputy Director for Open Space Planning, Water and Biodiversity, City of Johannesburg        

Peter Trillingsgaard, Group Vice President, Corporate Communication, Public Affairs and Sustainabilty at Grundfos       

Declan Conway, Interim Deputy Director and Professorial Research Fellow at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment.   

Moderator:       

Lykke Leonardsen, Head of program for Resilient and Sustainable City Solutions, City of Copenhagen