High-level Symposium on “Integrated Water Cycle Management in the post-COVID-19 era” at the 9th International Conference on Flood Management (ICFM9), 18 February 2023, Tokyo, Japan

The Untied Nations Centre for Regional Development (UNCRD) co-organized the High-level Symposium on “Integrated Water Cycle Management in the post-COVID-19 era” with the High-level Experts and Leaders Panel on Water and Disasters (HELP) and the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) on 18 February 2023 in Tokyo, Japan. The objective of the symposium is that leaders from politics, governments, academia, and civil society organizations (CSOs) as well as all the other stakeholders would discuss, share experiences and knowledge, and reaffirm the commitment for actions to facilitate the integrated water cycle management in the recovery process from the COVID-19 Pandemic. The symposium was attended by the Emperor of Japan and 250 participants from all over the world.

The opening remarks were delivered by Dr. Han Seung-Soo, Chair of HELP/Former Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea, Prof. Hiroko Ota, President of GRIPS, and Mr. Li Junhua, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations. Following the opening, the morning session featured keynote speeches on water and disasters by world leaders and experts. Mr. Csaba Kőrösi, President of the UN General Assembly warned that some 1.8 billion people on the planet are threatened by flood risks. Prof. Petteri Taalas, Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), stated that the UN is trying to cover the world with an “early warning system” to inform people of the risks of climate change-related disasters. The afternoon session on “Integrated Flood Management in the post-COVID-19 era” was the panel discussion moderated by Prof. Kenzo Hiroki, Professor of GRIPS/Coordinator of HELP, with presentations by high-level experts and a lively exchange of views.

The collective messages compiled based on the discussion will be input to the important processes towards and after the 2023 UN Water Conference. The messages will encourage the facilitation of the concrete actions for the resolution of world flood issues at national and local levels as well as in the UN and international communities.

The UN News features the event with a link to the archived video of the event on UN Web TV.