The International Water Resources Association (IWRA) held an Online Conference under the theme Addressing Groundwater Resilience under Climate Change on October 28–30, 2020. The conference attracted more than 1,400 participants from 131 countries.
This successful, innovative event was organized with support from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization – Intergovernmental Hydrological Programme (UNESCO-IHP), and in collaboration with the International Association of Hydrogeologists (IAH) and IHE Delft Institute for Water Education (IHE Delft). Due to the support provided by UNESCO-IHP, IWRA was able to grant free access to all registered participants, and was able to ensure open access to all conference-related material, including recordings, abstracts, presentations and posters, policy briefs, and the final report. The participation of experts from Africa and low-income countries, women and youth was particularly welcomed.
Overall, IWRA’s virtual conference provided the opportunity to promote the sharing and exchange of the latest scientific and policy knowledge on the links between groundwater resilience and climate change, focusing on sustainable governance, use and management of groundwater in all regions of the world. The conference was extremely well organized, and presented a great opportunity to network from afar. It will likely be followed by the second IWRA Online Conference this year (2021).
Furthermore, this conference gave impetus to the launch of IWRA’s new Groundwater Task Force Bureau.
Early announcement of the IWRA Groundwater Task Force Bureau
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