Egypt's Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources Hani Sewilam said the Action on Water, Adaptation, and Resilience (AWARe) initiative stimulates comprehensive cooperation to address water challenges.

This came during a session, titled "Water Action Decade: Accelerating the implementation of the objectives of the Decade, including through the UN Secretary-General's Action Plan" as part of the activities of the UN 2023 Water Conference.

The initiative was prepared in partnership with several international parties, including the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

The minister reviewed the six axes of the initiative:

1- Taking into account that economic growth does not affect the use of fresh water and its deterioration
2- Accounting for green water when developing national plans for water use, adaptation and mitigation strategies, and protection of freshwater ecosystems
3- Cooperation on the scale of international river basins with regard to adapting to climate changes
4- Promoting low-emission, low-cost sustainable management of drinking water and wastewater
5- Developing early warning systems for extreme weather phenomena
6- Linking national water policies to climate action to reflect the long-term impacts of climate change on water resources and demand

The initiative's mission is arranged in three principal aims:
1- Decrease water losses worldwide and improve water supply
2- Propose and support implementing mutually agreed policy and methods for cooperative water-
related adaptation action and its co-benefits;
3- Promote cooperation and interlinkages between water and climate action in order to achieve Agenda 2030, in particular SDG 6.

MENA