Reflecting on AGWA's 2022 Achievements
2022 proved to be another momentous year for AGWA as an organization and for climate and water issues more generally. Headlines again focused on the hazards and challenges brought about by climate change — of which there are many to be sure — while the AGWA network continued to take a resilience-based and action-oriented approach to facing these issues head on.
To remind us that progress is possible, below is a summary of some of the main accomplishments and milestones AGWA saw in 2022. None of these would have been possible without the continued support of our incredible global network of members!
Organizational Developments
AGWA’s budget for 2022 increased by nearly 50% over the previous year through a combination of large, multi-year grants and smaller, targeted projects and partnerships.
Positions supporting the Secretariat and Board of Directors increased with the addition of three new AGWA Fellows in 2022 on top of the existing Strategic Advisory Council. We also worked with over a dozen consultants for short- and long-term project support.
Membership grew steadily, with a 14% increase in the past year to 2400 members.
A return to travel and in-person events took place in 2022. COVID precautions were taken by AGWA to minimize risk, and online/hybrid events remained very prevalent. For example, AGWA’s 12th Annual Meeting was held in person in Stockholm after a two-year break but also featured online participation.
Communication and messaging remained a priority as we utilized the services of two comms professionals to support our engagement with the press and broader communication efforts.
We launched several new publications throughout the year including a report on drought risk management under a changing climate co-published with Deltares and a report on Nature-Based Resilience co-published with GIZ.
AGWA regularly participated in other climate or water events throughout the year including several UNFCCC processes, World Water Week, World Water Forum, Cairo Water Week, UNECE’s Meeting of the Parties, SWA’s Sector Minister’s Meeting, the 12th Meeting of the Hague Roundtable on Climate and Security, and many more (some mentioned in context below).
Policy Engagement
AGWA sent three members of its Secretariat to COP27 in Egypt, as well as the participation of an AGWA Fellow, many Board Members, and dozens of partners/members. We also organized our first official COP side event as an observer organization on top of co-organizing or participating in another dozen side events and pavilion sessions.
AGWA again served on the steering committee of the Water Pavilion for COP27, where we served as the co-organizers for the Adaptation, Resilience, and Cooperation Thematic Day. We also co-led the Resilience Hub’s Water and Nature theme.
We were engaged in other noteworthy climate policy events including UNFCCC’s LAC and MENA Regional Climate Weeks and the UNFCCC Intersessionals.
We continued to represent the water community in international climate policy processes, including active participation in the UNFCCC Adaptation Committee, Marrakech Partnership for Global Climate Action (MPGCA), and inputs to the High-level Experts and Leaders Panel on Water and Disasters (HELP).
As part of the Adaptation Action Coalition, AGWA has been leading the Water Tracker for National Climate Planning initiative. The first 18 months have included direct engagement with a set of seven pilot countries to help identify and strengthen water linkages in national climate plans. In 2022 AGWA met with more than 20 countries about the WT, with the next phase of work, new partners, and an expanded scope planned for 2023.
AGWA is a lead organization in the UNFCCC CASTT Adaptation Academy — a training program for national adaptation focal points around MRV and NDC guidance. After holding three online, regional courses in 2021, the first multi-week in-person training took part in the Netherlands in Oct. 2022 with 25 participants.
Technical Programming
Under Pacific Institute, AGWA has served as one of the lead developers of the Water Resilience Assessment Framework (WRAF). The original framework published in late 2021 and a separate guidance document for corporates was launched at COP27.
With UNESCO and ICIWaRM, we hosted a year-long webinar series on bottom-up approaches to climate adaptation featuring case studies and panel discussions, with 35 different speakers and between 200-300 attendees per session.
AGWA has been active in a number of ongoing applications of the CRIDA approach to climate risk assessment with UNESCO and other partners, as well as capacity building efforts (workshops, coursework, etc.). We have been part of multi-year programs to build climate resilience in Zimbabwe and South Africa, which included a multi-week field visit in May/June 2022. The CRIDA publication is expanding to new audiences, too, with a French and Arabic version each released during COP27 and complemented by language-specific online training courses through UNESCO.
We continued to seek ways to mainstream the use of NBS for adaptation in 2022. Two examples of this broader area of work included the publication of an ADB guidance document on integrating NBS for CCA and DRM (July 2022) and AGWA’s collaboration with WRI on a discussion series around barriers and opportunities to implementing NBS for adaptation projects and wider uptake.
A relatively new initiative that picked up momentum in 2022 was Water Resilience for Economic Resilience (WR4ER). The goal is to help financial and economic institutions manage and invest in building resilient economies that will endure and thrive amid a shifting climate. The ongoing event had a launch at COP27 and will feature heavily in 2023, including a major report.
In June AGWA entered into a partnership with the reputable scientific journal Frontiers in Water, which will aim to foster interdisciplinary research within and outside of the AGWA network. Special issues of the journal will be guest edited by AGWA in 2023, including issues on Deep Resilience and Economic Resilience through Water Resilience.