Side event details

The Global Commission on the Economics of Water and IWMI are organizing High-Level Roundtable to explore how the Ramsar Convention can collaborate with other Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) to enhance global efforts to restore and safeguard freshwater ecosystems as a cornerstone of resilient water futures. Echoing the call of the Global Commission on the Economics of Water (GCEW) to recognize the hydrological cycle as a global common good, it will consider how water as an organizing principle can provide a foundation for global policy dialogue and collaboration.  

The High-Level Roundtable will bring together key stakeholders working across four of the MEAs – the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar), the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Participants will explore how water cuts across those frameworks and discuss how centering water as an organizing principle would aid each in their efforts to advance their mutually reinforcing mandates.

The dialogue seeks to launch a conversation that will build through the upcoming COPs of each of the four framework conventions to the United Nations Water Conference in December 2026. Its purpose is to develop a pragmatic proposition for building global coordinating and implementation architecture that is fit-for-purpose in a rapidly changing world.

The outcome of the Roundtable will be a roadmap for next steps that guide further research, continuing stakeholder consultation and inter-MEA collaboration. It will lead to recommendations for the development of needs-tailored architecture, frameworks, and mechanisms to inform diplomatic negotiation at the 2026 UN Water Conference, and beyond.

Draft program - many participants still to confirm: 

Welcome (13:30 -13: 35)

Musonda Mumba (Ramsar)/ Zimbabwe Government Representative 

Setting the context (13:35-13:40)

Importance of the global hydrological cycle for ecosystems, development and resilience  

Elizabeth Mrema (UNEP)

Summary of GCEW report/findings (13:40-13:46)

Henk Ovink 

Mark Smith (Tbc)

Ramsar: Wetlands as water infrastructure for resilience and ecosystem services (13:46-13:50)  

Ramsar Representative (Tbc)

UNFCCC: Water’s role in climate adaptation, mitigation, and loss & damage (13:50-13:54)

UNFCCC Representative (Tbc)

CBD: Water-dependent ecosystems and freshwater biodiversity (13:54-13:58)

CBD Representative (Tbc)

UNCCD: Water security in land degradation and drought resilience (13:58-14:02)

UNCCD Representative (Tbc)

Perspectives from countries and others (14:02-14:22)

 (2 mins each)

Contracting Parties/Member States

• France
• Brazil

UN Water Conference 2026 Co-hosts

• UAE or Senegal

G20 Water Investment Summit Host

• Republic of South Africa

United Nations

• UN Special Envoy on Water 

Youth Representative

Elizabeth Wathuti (Founder, Green Generation Initiative and Commissioner, GCEW

Global Climate Financing Mechanisms

• Global Environmental Facility (GEF) - Carlos Manuel Rodríguez, CEO and Chairperson of the GEF

MBDs

World Bank - Mr. James Origa Otieno

NGO/Nonprofit/Expert

Director General of IUCN - Dr. Grethel Aguilar (IUCN)

Summary – reflections and next steps (14:22-14:28)

Summary of common ground, suggested pathways for follow-up and the roadmap to the 2026 UN water conference

Henk Ovink

Closing Remarks (14:28-14:30)

Musonda Mumba