28th ICOLD Congress and 93rd Annual Meeting, Opening Ceremony Speech of Loic Fauchon, President of the World Water Council

🌍 “Reserve and preserve”, a plead by the President of the World Water Council during ICOLD 28th Congress.

The World Water Council was pleased to be invited at the 28th Congress of ICOLD and its 93rd annual meeting from May 15th to the 23rd in Chengdu, China.

Loïc Fauchon, President of our organization, was honored to give a speech for the opening ceremony of the Congress.

🌊 A speech advocating for three of the World Water Council priorities.
Water for Health, Water for Food, and Water for Nature are three strategic priorities for our organization, as we cannot be healthy without water, we cannot grow food without water, and nature cannot thrive without water.

Acknowledging the crucial role dams have played in China, President Loïc Fauchon advocated for intelligent dams, which have to conform to our modern-days durability expectations and to respect ecological principles.

Dams are essentials in certain countries, such as Morocco or China, as they prevented deadly hydric-stress but they must be managed in a reasonnable way to ensure they do not cause more harm than good.

📜 To do so, the President of the World Water Council highlighted three pillars for our action: knowledge, decentralised governance and innovative investments.

Reserving water in dams through these principles can help preserve it for health, agriculture, energy and ecosystems.

Storing water wisely can help protect ecosystems. But in the face of population growth and environmental degradation, rethinking water management is crucial. As we navigate between too much water, too little water and too polluted water, we have to advocate for the use of non-conventional water resources.