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International Webinar on Content Sharing of IWA World Water Congress in Copenhagen (V)

Updated on November 18, 2022

The 5th webinar in a series for Content Sharing from the 2022 IWA World Water Congress in Copenhagen was held on November 18, 2022. The webinar series is jointly hosted by the International Forum of Water Sustainability (IFWS) and Xi’an University of Architecture and Technology (XAUAT). This webinar was moderated by Dr. Yang Zhuo, School of Environmental and Municipal Engineering, XAUAT. Also, over 8000 researchers, technologists, and students joined the webinar.

Dr. Zhuo first extended a warm welcome to all the experts participating in the webinar. He also explained that the webinar will share the main contents of the Copenhagen IWA World Water Congress Keynote and Plenary Panel Discussions-3. He indicated that after the video sharing, a question and discussion session will be held.

Prof. Xiaochang Wang, an IWA Board Member, gave a brief overview of the keynotes. He illustrated the purpose, significance and international background of this keynote report arranged by the IWA.

This webinar shared a video of the third keynote report given at the Copenhagen IWA World Water Congress entitled “Empowering Communities to Shape Sustainable Water Solutions-Incorporating Indigenous Knowledge” by A/Prof. Dawn Martin-Hill, Indigenous Studies at McMasters University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. She analyzed the current water crisis of the indigenous communities in Canada and summarized experiences from empowering communities by incorporating indigenous knowledge and, also, shared ideas on how to shape sustainable water solutions. After the keynote report, a panel discussion, chaired by Mr Tom Mollenkopf, IWA President, was held. The panelists consisted of Mr. Liby T. Johnson, Executive Director of Gram Vikas, Odisha, India, A/Prof. Bradley Moggridge, University of Canberra, Australia, and Ms. Tanja Nielsen, Executive Director of The Greenlandic House in Aarhus, Denmark. They expressed their perspectives on how to incorporate indigenous knowledge into sustainable water solutions.

Prof. Xiaochang Wang, Prof. Zhihua Li and Dr. Yang Zhuo also joined the discussion to express their perspectives on “indigenous knowledge” that could provide some inspiration for the future development direction of water science and technology.