UN Water Conference off-site UN Head-Quarters side event

Program

Opening remarks

EU Delegation to UN in NY

Portuguese Environment State Secretary, Portuguese Ministry of Environment and Climatic Action - Mr. Hugo Polido Pires

DG RTD - Head of Water sector - Mr. Panagiotis BALABANIS

DG Environment - Deputy Head of Unit Global Resources, Deforestation, Water International, Mrs. Helge Elisabeth Zeitler

Panel 1 – Environmental law and restoration

Moderator: Carla Cruz, University of Evora, MED Research Institute

1. Ecological Restoration in International Environmental Law. Anastasia Telesetsky; California Polytechnic State University - College of Agriculture, Food, and Environmental Sciences Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences Department

2. The New EU regulation on Nature Restoration. Helge Zeitler; DG Environment

3. Towards a legal definition of ecological restoration: Reviewing international and European legal instruments and case law. Ana Mendes; University of Évora, Portugal

4. International Principles & Standards for the Practice of Ecological Restoration. Bethanie Walder; Society for Ecological Restoration, USA

Q&A

Coffee-break

Panel 2: Practice and Research around the world

Moderator: Antonio LoPorto, CNR, Italy

1. The importance of cooperation - WATER4All partnership – promoting water security for all in the long term trough boosting systemic transformations and changes in society. Ariane Blum, ANR, Horizon Europe project coordinator, France

2. Centers of Excellence on Water - promoting cross-border cooperation in African and Latin America and the Caribbean - Watershed management to promote restoration. Cesar Carmona Moreno; Joint Research Center, European Commission

3. Experiences from International Water Law implementation in Africa. Anthony Akpan; Pan African Vision for the Environment, Nigeria
   

4. International legal and policy frameworks to promote a human rights based approach in river basin communities to protect our right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment – Amanda Loeffen (HumanRigth4water) and Liseth Oliveth Hernandez (Trinational Executive Secretary of the Trifinio Plan)

5. Restoration Knowledge for the Green Deal — Insights from the European Research Cluster Sebastian Birk, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany

Q&A

Panel 3: Practice and Research around the world

Moderator: Maria Ilhéu, University of Evora, MED Research Institute

1. REWET project (REstoration of WETlands to minimise emissions and maximise carbon uptake), a strategy for long term climate mitigation and links to law enforcement in LULUFC regulation – Horizon Europe project. Vanessa Ferreira; IDENER, project coordinator, Spain

2. Phased strategic approaches and standards for river restoration in China. Fengran Xu, Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, China

3. Microplastics In Europe’s Freshwater Ecosystems: from sources to solutions, including legal perspectives. Georgia Carrata; Leipzig School of management, Germany

Q&A

Wrap-up: Bethanie Walder (SER), Nuno Pedroso, Executive Director of MED Research Centre, University of Évora, Portugal

Launch and signature of commitment

Translation to French, Spanish, Chinese and Portuguese will be available on-line (speaking language English)