Content Sharing of IWA World Water Congress in Copenhagen(Ⅱ)
The 2nd webinar in a series for Content Sharing from the 2022 IWA World Water Congress in Copenhagen was held on November 3, 2022. The webinar series is jointly hosted by the International Forum of Water Sustainability (IFWS) and Xi’an University of Architecture and Technology (XAUAT). Delegates from the IWA Fellows Greater China Interest Group (IWA-FGCIG) and IWA China Young Water Professionals (YWP) attended this event online. Also, over 12000 researchers, technologists, and students joined the webinar.
Professor Zhihua Li first extended a warm welcome to all the experts who participated in the webinar. He especially thanked Professor Xiaochang Wang for providing the important video of the World Water Congress in Copenhagen for the webinar, and for providing the opportunity to share the grand event of the congress with interested colleagues in China. Prof Li indicated that the webinar will replay the highlights of the second half of the Congress opening ceremony, and invite the participants to engage in open discussion and exchange of ideas regarding the Congress.
In a speech, the IWA president, Prof. Tom Mollenkopf said that the World Water Congress in Copenhagen was a remarkable success, and it was regrettable that many Chinese Water Association representatives could not attend due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He stated that since the World Water Congress in Beijing in 2006, the Chinese members have brought great enthusiasm and energy to IWA. He expressed the hope to further strengthen the cooperation between IWA and Chinese water professionals.
Afterwards, a video of the Opening Ceremony-2 was broadcast in the webinar. The video showed an invited keynote titled “Rapid Arctic Climate Change and Water Issues Around the World,” which was given by Professor Jason Eric Box from the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland. Through his field investigation and data analysis, he is calling for worldwide attention to climate change in the Arctic region and its potential impact on global water issues. Subsequently, a short speech was given by Professor Glen Daigger, Past President of IWA, who expressed the willingness of he and his wife to donate to the Emerging Water Leaders Endowment Fund for supporting the development of young future water leaders. At the end of the Opening Ceremony, five awards were presented to outstanding individuals who have made special contributions and achievements to the water industry. These awards were titled: The water and development award – for research, The water and development award – for practice, The young leadership award, The gender diversity and water award, and The global water award.
In the end, delegates from Peking University and National Engineering Research Center for Urban Water Supply and Drainage expressed their perspectives regarding the IWA Congress, and the topics of climate change and water solutions, which generated broad interest from the attendees and stimulated wide-ranging discussions.
Please watch the video of the meeting: