COP26 - GROUNDWATER AS A TOOL FOR CLIMATE ADAPTATION AND RESILIENCE: A HIDDEN TREASURE

A hidden treasure: Groundwater as a tool for climate adaptation and resilience

The Conference of the Parties (COP26) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) held in Glasgow, Scotland from November 1 - 12, 2021. Taken this opportunity, a groundwater forum “A hidden treasure: Groundwater as a tool for climate adaptation and resilience” was hosted with the main aim of highlighting the key role of groundwater in climate adaptation, disaster risk reduction, and integrated resilient nature-based solutions.  

 

In alignment with UN Water’s 2022 theme of “Groundwater: Making the Invisible Visible”, this session will focus entirely on groundwater and critical role it plays in climate change mitigation, resilience and adaptation. Groundwater accounts for more than 57 percent of the available freshwater on the planet, yet, due to its invisibility below ground, many decision makers are not aware that agriculture, industry and residences depend heavily on groundwater or that groundwater risks depletion and degradation as a result of climate change impacts and over exploitation. Topics to be explored include how groundwater data supports decision-making for climate adaptation in sub-Saharan Africa and coastal Asia, how Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) uses groundwater as a tool for climate change resilience, how groundwater is a key component of nature-based solutions, and how offshore groundwater represents the last untapped reserve of freshwater on the planet. 

Can Tho University’ voice at COP26

On behalf of Can Tho University, Dr. Nguyen Dinh Giang Nam - Head of Department of Water Resources - Can Tho University gave the voice on groundwater current status in the Mekong delta of Vietnam at COP26. Dr. Giang Nam is a member of INOW-ASIA project (CTU team).


Broadly speaking, groundwater is already, and increasingly, relied on around the world for resilient livelihoods, cities, agriculture and ecosystems. It is the largest water source underpinning resilience across the globe. While this adaptation has taken place over decades - actually since time immemorial - relatively little attention has been accorded groundwater issues. As a result, relatively little has been achieved in terms of safeguarding the resource, with clear signs of depletion and degradation evident from around the world. This is having a negative impact on human and ecosystem resilience and economic development opportunities in regions and societies experiencing groundwater depletion and degradation. Groundwater holds significant opportunities for enhancing adaptation to the climate scenarios and risks we are experiencing, but it requires concrete active action now, integrated into broader climate adaptation and resilience planning at the country, local and international levels. That is what we doing right now.

The first INOWASIA internship students in post from mid-April

The INOWASIA internships started in mid-April 2023. Each Southeast Asian partner was able to send two students to another partner university. Each student will spend three or more months practicing on water-related issues. The Academic and Professional Committee (APC) members have been asked to participate to the subjects.    For now, the students who started […]

New high level publication from the HUS team engaged in INOWASIA: a new photocatalytic method to clean dye waters

Congratulations to Dr Tran Dinh-Trinh and his team from the VNU Key Lab. of Advanced Materials for Green Growth (Hanoi University of Science, Vietnam) for their new publication in Science of Total Environment , an international multi-disciplinary natural science journal for publication of novel, hypothesis-driven and high-impact factor (10.75) : https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.164358 A novel tertiary magnetic […]

The INOWASIA third biannual meeting in Laos: the second part within Souphanouvong University (SU)

From April 1 to 7, the INOWASIA steering committee hold in Laos for its third biannual meeting. All the INOWASIA partners were there. The first part of the week was dedicated to NUOL activities : https://inowasia.com/the-inowasia-third-biannual-meeting-in-laos-the-first-part-within-nuol/ The second part of week (from 5th to 7th April) was organized by the SU’s team, as following. SU’s local […]