UN Water conference returned after 46 years

During March 21-23, the first UN Water conference since 1977 has been held. The Swedish environmental company Ragn-Sells was accredited as part of the Water Europe delegation and hosted the UN side session "Climate resilience needs a Water-Smart Society" with focus on the necessary actions needed to deploy circular solutions.

 - Water is essential for basically every societal process, but responsibility for it is often unclear, thus leading to inaction. That can also be a reason why the last time a UN Water conference was held was all the way back in 1977, says Pär Larshans, Director of Sustainability at Ragn-Sells.

Water Europe together with Ragn-Sells and in partnership with the Consulate of Sweden in New York, BIOAZUL, Suez, and Xylem, hosted a UN side session where they discussed the necessary actions of deploying circular solutions for climate resilience and benefits impacting the 2030 Agenda. State Secretary, Daniel Westlén, at the Ministry of Climate and Industry in Sweden made the opening remark.

The objective of the side session was to emphasise the importance of accelerating the implementation of circular processes, which can benefit both rural and urban communities.

- Key stakeholders, including SMEs, utilities, industry, and governments, need to take action by valuing water and utilising the resources that can be found in wastewater. The value of water is at the heart of Water Europe's vision for a Water-Smart Society. This reflects the centrality of water as a human right and its fundamental role in our society, says Durk Krol, Executive Director of Water Europe.

Pär Larshans, Director of Sustainability at Ragn-Sells

Ragn-Sells' Director of Sustainability, Pär Larshans, moderated the panel discussion and kicked off the discussion with the vision that today's wastewater treatment plants are the resource plants of the future producing both energy, nutrients, and water for reuse. This would also help mitigate climate change by, for example, reducing greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere.

- A concrete example of this is the critical nutrient phosphorus found in large volumes in the wastewater. These resources need to be recirculated, because if we don’t use the phosphorus we already have in the system, we will by 2100 be solely dependent on one phosphorus reserve in the world, in Morocco/Western Sahara, says Pär Larshans.

See the full session via this link

For further information, please contact:
Pär Larshans, Director of Sustainability at Ragn-Sells, +4670927 29 63, par.larshans@ragnsells.com
Emma Ranerfors, Press Officer at Ragn-Sells, +4610723 24 16, press@ragnsells.com 

About Water Europe
Water Europe is the recognised voice and promoter of water-related innovation, research, and technology development in Europe. Water Europe was established by the European Commission as a European Technology Platform and is guided in all its activities by its Water Vision, with the ultimate ambition of achieving a Water-Smart Society.