Faced with recurrent water-related crises, this edition of the EU Green Week 2024 annual conference will debate what is needed to make the EU more water resilient, today and tomorrow.

Water is a vital shared resource to be passed down from generation to generation and one of the essentials for people, the environment and a just, sustainable, and resilient economy.

In recent years, citizens across different parts of the continent have faced a surge in natural disasters, such as droughts and floods, which have made EU’s water challenges even more severe and triggered a new awareness about the need to ensure a water-resilient Europe. Pressures on water resources are not only due to the impacts of climate change, but also primarily to decades of structural mismanagement of this precious resource and to pollution and ecosystem degradation. But water resilience is not only a challenge for the EU. Worldwide, the water cycle is out of balance, closely intertwined with climate change and biodiversity loss, mutually further exacerbating each other.

The need to address water resilience is at the forefront of the EU’s environmental agenda. To this end, in March the Commission will launch, as announced by President von der Leyen in the 2023 State of the Union Speech, a Water Resilience Initiative which will include a number of immediate actions and kick off a public debate about achieving water resilience. This will lay the ground also for possible new actions in these areas in the next Commission mandate.

The 2024 EU Green Week is part of a wider communication campaign dedicated to the topic of water resilience. The objective is to stimulate an EU-wide conversation around the EU’s water present and future, with an emphasis on fostering awareness and promoting positive, collaborative solutions.

At the conference, guest speakers will discuss various aspects of integrated water management. This includes topics such as:

• fostering a water smart economy within the EU
• addressing the challenges of restoring and safeguarding the disrupted water cycle
• ensuring widespread access to clean and affordable water and
• sanitation and international water cooperation. 

The Conference will take place between Wednesday 29 May and Thursday 30 May. Conference registration will open in April.