Water and Climate Change Inter-dependencies - workshop at Bonn Climate Conference

Participants from the UN-Water Expert Group, co-coordinated by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and officials from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and United Nations (UN) Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), discussed and identified what is known and not known about the dependency of Paris Agreement climate change-related targets on the sustainable management of water resources. 

The workshop considered the available information about the water requirement of the clean energy transition, the water requirements of natural systems to fulfil their carbon absorption roles, and the mitigation benefits from the improved management of water systems and water resources.

This information is expected to assist Parties to the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement to incorporate water issues in their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and in UNFCCC processes, and to consider whether there should be any further assessment of these issues by the IPCC.

The Bonn Climate Conference, in June 2023, built on the mandates that emerged from the UN Climate Change COP 27 in Egypt last year, and continued discussions on issues of critical importance, such as the global stocktake, global goal on adaptation, just transition, loss and damage and the mitigation work programme. The purpose of the Conference was to make progress on these and other issues and prepare draft decisions ahead of COP 28 in the United Arab Emirates in December 2023.

• Read the summary report of the workshop discussions here.
• Watch a briefing on the workshop here.