It appears that the climate emergency has taken all the attention and everyone has forgotten about the water crisis. While the last two centuries were about putting carbon into the atmosphere, this century is about its direct impact on the world’s water: boiling oceans, melting ice, rising sea levels, unprecedented downpours, major and more frequent storms, pluvial and fluvial floods.

The entire global water regime is affected, driving the shifting of seasons, natural regions, ecosystems and agro-ecological zones. Today, water-related disasters are the major manifestation of the climate emergency, and managing these disasters should be a major preoccupation of governments, corporates, organisations, academics and citizens.

This conference will show how and why water matters and will bring water back, right into the center of climate discourse, where it rightfully belongs.

The climate and water emergency has exposed the underlying dysfunctions in global, national and local economies and shown how these systems are failing to produce economic, environmental and social justice for people and for planet Earth.

Pakistan has successfully made its case in COP 27 that it is a very small producer of global greenhouse gases, but carries the brunt of the pollution caused by the developed world. They must all be heard. The floods of 2022 in Pakistan, caused by unprecedented rainfall, affected 30 million people and its impact is likely to last over decades.

This conference will take up the question of water and climate justice as direct and stated goals for action and will give voice to the unheard.

The global policy environment appears somewhat feasible for positive reinforcement of water management, nature-based solutions and resilience-based programming. Time is also ripe for developing platforms for water and climate action led by women and by young people. This conference will advocate for women and youth taking up their rightful place in policy, strategy, decision-making platforms, and on local adaptation, preparedness and resilience initiatives and interventions.

The conference aims to bring together the thought leaders, actors and players of the water, environment, climate, health and food security sectors, along with representatives of groups that are impacted by water and climate-related challenges. They will think, talk and work together in a vigorous and experiential environment. The outcomes and conclusions that emerge from the conference will inform the discussions at COP 28 in Dubai, and feed into the next World Water Forum in March 2024 and support the efforts of the government of Pakistan.