WWF 2012 Marseilles // The Ministerial Roundtable "Water, Energy and Food Security Nexus"

This roundtable is co-convened by the German Government and the Government of Oman. Participants will discuss how the nexus perspective can be incorporated in local, national and international planning activities and decision making with a focus on water, food, or energy. It will specifically touch on opportunities for change and the necessary enabling environment to make change happen. In this context, expectations with regard to the outcome of the Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development will be addressed. The roundtable will be co-chaired by Mrs Gudrun Kopp, Parliamentarian State Secretary in the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development BMZ and His Excellency Mohamed bin Abdullah bin Mohamed Al Mahruqi, Chairman of the Public Authority for Electricity and Water, Oman.

Detailed programme

as of 17 February 2012

Part I — Welcome and Introduction

08.30-09.00 Welcome and Introductory Remarks

-Gudrun Kopp, Parliamentarian State Secretary, Federal Ministry for Economic Co-operation and Development, Germany -Mohamed bin Abdullah bin Mohamed Al Mahruqi, Chairman of the Public Authority for Electricity and Water, Oman

Part II - Understanding the Nexus

09.00-09.20 Understanding the linkages between water, energy and food

Presentations by -Dr Dirk Willem te Velde (Overseas Development Institute, EDR-Team) and -Holger Hoff (Stockholm Environment Institute)

9.20-10.00 Tour de Table: National Perspectives on the Relevance of the Interlinkages between Water, Energy and Food

10.00-10.30 The Water, Energy, Food Security Nexus — Perspectives, Challenges and Opportunities

~Food (Alexander Müller, Assistant Director General FAO) ~Water (Letitia Obeng, Chair Global Water Partnership) ~Energy (NN) ~Cities (Joan Clos, Executive Director UN-Habitat)

Part III — Towards Nexus-Solutions

11.00-12.45 Discussion of guiding questions

~Policy and strategies for the water, energy and food security nexus ~Institutions to make it work

12.45-13.00 Wrap up, summary and results

KEY QUESTIONS TO BE DISCUSSED AT THE ROUNDTABLE

-How do the inter linkages among water, energy and food as well as trade-off between relevant objectives affect planning and decision making in your country? How do you interact with your ministerial colleagues from the different sectors? -What is needed to better understand and explore the trade-offs and synergies in improving access to water, food, and energy from your point of view? -What has proved to be helpful to avoid/minimize these trade-offs and realize synergies in the past? -Which incentives do we need to further improve inter-sectoral planning and thinking? -What initiatives can governments initiate to address the water, energy and food security nexus in a more coherent way? Which role other stakeholders including the private sector should play?

EXPECTED OUTCOMES

-Increased understanding on the nexus challenges and possible solutions among participants -Confirmation of the importance of an inter-sectoral nexus perspective and on the necessity of urgent action -List of priorities for strategic and operational steps to implement a nexus approach -Strong "message" to Rio plus 20 on the need to address water, energy and food security from a nexus perspective.