Convergence – handling rising hazards

Convergence – handling rising hazards: Last month at Singapore International Water Week (SIWW) 2024 it was clear that hazards are rising, risks are converging but so were people, over 24,000 – the most ever for the event.

Don’t worry if you weren’t able to attend, we share key takeaways from the week-long event. Also, get the latest on how Singapore is protecting its coasts, hear how some cities are making the most from disaster recovery, and read about the key role of water membrane technology.

Among the thousands that attended SIWW were 500 water and city leaders and over 50 CEOs – also the most ever – representing major urban centres such as New York, Tokyo, Dhaka, Copenhagen, Sao Paolo, Chennai, Hong Kong and more. Water is clearly moving up the agenda for global leaders, which is as it should be given global water crises and rising water insecurity thanks to climate change.

The agenda at SIWW 2024 did indeed progress crucial conversations, with a new key pillar on climate adaptation focused on coastal protection and flood resilience, and more on how to achieve a net zero water sector.

However, the immense challenges we face aren’t going away, such as delivering SDG 6 and finding where the vast sums needed for adaptation will come from. Instead, they are going to become more challenging due to escalating climate hazards, and not just in developing countries. Get more on these challenges, views on how policies need to “adapt”, and other interesting moments at SIWW 2024 in our key takeaways.

On display and discussed in various sessions during the week were Singapore’s impressive and leading efforts to future-proof the city-nation’s coastal spaces and build inland and coastal flood resilience.

To get on top of what Singapore is doing, we sat down with Sarah Hiong, Deputy Director, Strategic Planning & Partnership of Coastal Protection Department of PUB. Hiong shares PUB’s adaptive planning approach, innovative projects like ‘Long Island’ and why community engagement is so important.

Also at the event, the Singapore Water Association launched a new Coastal Protection Chapter to foster collaboration among companies and support the implementation of coastal protection infrastructure.

More focus on adaptation is a must as climate hazards are already outpacing our efforts. Current efforts will not stand up to future natural disasters according to Piet Dircke, Global Advisor Climate Adaptation at Arcadis.

Dircke urged, during one of the Hot Topic Workshops, that we need to be prepared for the unexpected and must stop designing infrastructure based on past events, which prepare us for the previous disaster and not the next one. He also shared some cases where places including the Netherlands and New Orleans made the most of disaster recovery, while New York learnt a more painful lesson.

There will be more painful lessons with rising hazards and the convergence of risks. Water scarcity will be one because as Satoshi Shimoyama, Vice President of Toray’s Water Treatment & Environment Division says water scarcity is getting even more serious.

Satoshi says water reuse technology is the key to this dilemma. Toray is one of the pioneers of membrane technology, having started R&D in 1968 and is now one of the top players in the membrane business. Hear more on the company’s evolution, their own water targets, early partnership with SIWW and ongoing reuse projects around the world.

SIWW 2024 delivered on its theme, “The Global Platform To Share and Co-Create Innovative Water, Coastal and Flood Solutions”. But it is another two years until the next full SIWW (next year is Spotlight) so we all (regardless of whether you attended or not) need to build momentum on these challenges and solutions. And we need to do this faster than we have been or rising hazards will outpace our efforts even more and risks will converge even more.