IWC6: 6th Biennial International Waters Conference - "Raising the Bar: 20 Years of GEF Transboundary Water Results"

The Sixth GEF Biennial International Waters Conference, as in prior IW Conferences, will be a signature active training and experience-sharing event for the GEF IW focal area. The general objective of the GEF Biennial International Waters Conference is to facilitate portfolio-wide experience sharing. They also exist to solicit advice from the IW project portfolio on burning issues and assist in building participant capacity in key management and technical areas.

The Conference will be organized under the slogan Raising the Bar: 20 Years of GEF Transboundary Water Results, and will focus on knowledge sharing on water management issues and results after 20 years of interventions. This years Conference will coincide with the 20th anniversary of the GEF’s establishment. As such, the IWC6 will focus on the transboundary results & impacts of the GEF International waters portfolio after 20 years and they inform programming for the future. 

This year the Conference will coincide with the 20^th anniversary of the GEF’s establishment. Thus the Conference will be organized under the slogan Raising the Bar: 20 Years of GEF Transboundary Water Results, and will focus on water management issues and results since 1991. There will be sub-themes focusing on environmental finance (featuring for the first-time a roundtable on corporate and social responsibility with private sector companies), as well as considerations of the institutional & sectoral transformation. 

The IWC6 will convene at least 300 participants, including GEF IW project managers, representatives of beneficiary countries, non-governmental organizations, transboundary management institutions, UN agencies and the private sector. Collectively they will represent about 70 active GEF IW projects, 80 countries and the various GEF Agencies. The conference is by invitation only, with participants nominated by the GEF Agencies implementing IW projects. 

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The GEF International Waters Learning Exchange and Resource Network (IW:LEARN) is responsible for organizing the IWC (www.iwlearn.net). The project is implemented jointly by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), with UNDP leading on supervision of the IWC. The Global Environment Facility itself also leads on the conference organization. The Conference would not be possible without critical support of the UNEP-hosted Mediterranean Action Plan for the Barcelona Convention, which executes the Mediterranean Regional project as well as critical support of the Croatian Government via the Ministry of Regional Development, Forestry and Water Management. 

A Steering Committee exists to oversee the coordination and programming of the 6th Biennial GEF International Waters Conference and ensure its strategic role in the context of international waters management. Its membership includes all of the GEF Agencies.