Water and the Environment: 8th World Water Forum Results and Discussions

The Regulatory Agency for Water, Energy and Sanitation of the Federal Dis- trict - ADASA, in partnership with the National Water and Sanitation Agency (ANA), and the World Water Council (WWC), had the honor of organizing the largest event on water and sanitation ever held on the planet, the 8th World Water Forum, with participation from more than 120,000 individuals from 172 countries. This Forum took place in Brasília, from March 18th to March 23th, 2018 under the theme “Sharing Water”. Experts consider the Forum to be much more than an event that takes place every 3 years. It is a permanent process of reflection and discussion of issues related to water and its different dimensions: technical, political, social, eco- nomic, cultural, environmental, spiritual, development-related, among others. In keeping with the Forum’s spirit of sharing, ADASA, through the publication of this document, seeks to systematize the results and discussions stemming from the 8th World Water Forum as a means of contributing to the sequence of discussions and fostering the necessary advances in water and sanitation sectors worldwide. This publication is the result of a study coordinated by ADASA providing an extensive analysis of the discussions and documents generated during the Forum and is divided into three major thematic perspectives: “Water and the Environment”, “Water and Development”, and “Water and Society”. Studies focusing on each of these themes generated three publications/volumes on the 8th World Water Forum: Results and Discussions. As part of these efforts, after the systematization of the audio and reports for the approximately 300 sessions that took place during the event (more than 400 hours of recordings), a single methodology was established for the analysis and identification of the main sessions to be assessed as part of each of the studies. Different working groups subsequently reviewed the sessions and analyzed doc- uments in order to identify initiatives, ideas, comments, and experiences that would guide discussions and indicate trends and recommendations in relation to the proposed themes. In this first volume, which deals with the theme “Water and the Environment”, the main messages on three selected key topics were extracted, summarized and indicated: climate change, nature-based solutions (NbS), and the financing of the NbS. We hope that the results of the effort made as part of these publications can contribute to the continuous improvement of initiatives implemented by the sectors involved, not only with regards to ADASA’s activities, but to those insti- tutions and actors working in the areas of water resources and basic sanitation in other parts of the world as well.