Video - Conference "What contribution can international hydro-diplomacy make to ensuring equitable water sharing and preventing conflicts in France?

Eric Tardieu, Director General of OiEau, has been invited to speak at the conference "What contribution can international hydro-diplomacy make to ensuring equitable sharing of water and preventing conflicts in France?", organised on 22 June 2023 by the Cercle Français de l'Eau.

While France is still spared from armed and widespread water-related conflicts, many other countries have been facing this problem for a long time. Some of these countries have developed a model of hydro-diplomacy aimed at promoting dialogue between riparian countries and ensuring the equitable sharing of transboundary water resources. The aim of this model is to prevent potential conflicts over this strategic resource.

How could this model be applied in France? What would be the social and economic consequences of water scarcity, and how could they be identified and managed to prevent a proliferation of conflicts over use? What lessons can be learned from international experiences of cooperation and partnership in the area of sharing water resources?

It is important to examine how the hydro-diplomacy model can be adapted to the French reality.

Programme :

• Erik ORSENNA, President of Initiatives pour l'Avenir des Grands Fleuves (IAGF), writer and member of the Académie Française;
• Fadi COMAIR, Ph.D., Professor of Applied Hydrology, Director of the EEWRC (Energy, Environment, Water and Research Centre) at the Cyprus Institute, initiator of the Hydro-diplomacy concept;
• Alice AURELI, Ph.D., Senior Expert in water cooperation programmes, UNESCO coordinator of the UN World Water Day 2023 campaign;
• Eric TARDIEU, Director General of the International Office for Water (OiEau), Secretary General of the International Network of Basin Organizations (INBO) and Vice President of the World Water Council.

Conclusion by Thierry BURLOT, President of the Cercle Français de l'Eau and President of the Loire-Bretagne Basin Committee, and Abdoulaye SENE, guest of honour, Executive Secretary of the 9th World Water Forum 2022, President of the Global Water Partnership for West Africa, former Chairman of the Board of Directors of SOGEM, in charge of managing the hydroelectric dams of the Organisation pour la Mise en Valeur du fleuve Sénégal (OMVS).