Co-organized by the University of Évora, the Society for Ecological Restoration and Water4All, this UN Water Conference side event promotes standards-based ecological restoration of inland and coastal waters to build synergies with the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. The symposium brings together a global panel of experts to discuss legal and policy challenges and opportunities related to restoration in freshwater ecosystems.
The UN Water Conference also encourages voluntary “transformative” commitments. At the closing of the event, we intend to announce a voluntary commitment to promote the adoption of standards-based ecological restoration for inland and coastal waters in order to improve ecological, human health and wellbeing, and ecosystem services outcomes from restoration investments in these ecosystems. The commitment will include an emphasis on legal frameworks to create consistency in the delivery of local, national, and global restoration programs while also stimulating policy momentum for the revision and update of water and pollution conventions to better incorporate restoration. The side-event will focus on building synergies with the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration and will include an interactive dialogue with the audience.