Talking about Pricing Water
Event description:
This seminar will help to set out some of the debates and big questions for World Water Week 2022. It will address the fundamental topic of balancing water’s quantitative and qualitative values, with a focus on how pricing water fits into the multitude of contemporary water.
Within the spectrum of any discussion on valuing water, water pricing has to be addressed as well. Valuing water isn’t only about pricing but is about creating an enabling environment, protecting water as a right, creating equitable societies and recognizing that when water is used as a resource to create economic value, its costs need to be addressed.
In Session 1/3, the Netherlands Special Envoy for International Water Affairs and the Valuing Water Initiative will introduce the subject of valuing water for better decision making and systemic change. Ceres will then present the results of their work in partnership with VWI on creating awareness and action on water risk in the financial sector.
This session will thus focus on providing a general background to the seminar (series of 3 sessions) through an introduction to the Dutch Government’s policy on valuing water and the Ceres case study of how valuing water is being operationalised in the finance sector, to ensure the audience is aware of the breadth of the topic before focusing specifically on the pricing debate. It will conclude with a short preview of the second and third sessions which will focus on the pricing discussion in depth.
Speakers:
Henk Ovink
Netherlands Special Envoy for International Water Affairs
Iris Bijlsma
Lead, Valuing Water Initiative
Kirsten James
Senior Programme Director, Water, Ceres