The 8th Global Environment Facility (GEF) Biennial International Waters Conference (IWC-8) took place in Negombo, Sri Lanka, last week on May 9 – 13, 2016. The event convened representatives from over 80 countries to tackle some of the most pressing water issues on the planet.
The week-long conference, Scaling Up Investments from Source to Sea in the Context of Achieving the SDGs, is jointly organized by the GEF, the Sri Lankan Ministry of Mahaweli Development and Environment and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
The conference brought together 250 foreign delegates, including government ministers from Seychelles, Maldives and Angola, and representatives of GEF beneficiary countries, non-governmental organizations, transboundary waters management institutions, United Nations agencies, GEF International Waters project managers and staff, and the private sector.
DG Jeremy Bird took part in the opening ceremony of the conference held on May 9. He was also a panelist/presenter at a session on ‘Modern Data and Tools for International Waters’ on May 10 (View his presentation: ‘Modern Data and Tools‘) and again made a presentation (on behalf of Paul Pavelic) on Conjunctive Management of Water Resources: Underground Taming of Floods for Irrigation (UTFI), on May 12. IWMI also had a publications booth at the event.