INBO and IWA, with the support of the OFB (the French Biodiversity Agency) and SIAAP (the greater Paris Sanitation Authority), have produced a methodological guide on the strengthening of multi-scale governance between urban areas and river basins, which was previewed at the World Water Forum of Dakar in March 2022, and officially launched during the IWA World Congress in Copenhagen on 13 & 14 last September.
This guide was conceived as a means of supporting the reflection on the sustainable city already underway, but still too sectorial and focused on urban specificities, without achieving the required optimisation in terms of costs, resilience of water resources, preservation of biodiversity, risk management, etc.
For IWA and INBO, the establishment of a "city-basin dialogue" is a mechanism to move towards sustainable water management: different stakeholders can be engaged in identifying and implementing appropriate and sustainable solutions for effective multi-level governance of cities and basins.
This connection finally aims to improve awareness and protection of water sources within and beyond urban boundaries, to maintain the quantity and quality of water resources and to prepare for extreme events and climate change impacts.
This "city-basin" guide is not an end in itself and will continue to be developed by collecting more "basin stories" and presenting it at the various international events in which the two structures take part.
On the other hand, IWA is interested in carrying out concrete activities involving its members on topics such as information systems, adaptation to climate change, governance, NBS, IWRM and deepening the "city-basin" dialogue.