Engineering plays an essential role to achieve the SDGs. This webinar presents insights and an international context into the SDGs and their progress, in particular SDG6 which calls on all stakeholders to “Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all”. It discusses the role of engineers and how engineering solutions and knowledge can work with all sectors to contribute to achieving the SDGs.
The United Nations SDGs are an “urgent call for action by all countries – developed and developing – in a global partnership. They recognise that ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth – all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests.”
4.00pm — 5.00pm AEST, 13 October 2022
Additional information
The two international presenters will provide in-depth insights into the progress that has been made and an outlook into the future.
Tom Soo will give a brief introduction with focus on SDG6 and examples of the role of engineers in this process. He will talk about the SDG progress, the challenges and the accelerators.
Olcay Unver will talk about the custodianship of the SDG indicators, on the monitoring of the SDG progress, and about the ongoing efforts to accelerate the achievement of the targets. He will provide insights into the roles of non-state actors, such as business community, municipalities, academia and citizen groups.
About the speakers
Tom Soo
Executive Director, International Association for Hydro-Environment Engineering and Research
Tom Soo is the Executive Director of the International Association for Hydro-Environment Engineering and Research (IAHR). He has previously been Executive Director of IWRA and the World Water Council. He has a background in consulting to international institutions, public authorities, academia and private industry. Tom’s current focus areas include institutional arrangements, the science and policy interface, hydraulics for sustainable development, digital water futures, nature-based-solutions and climate change. He is a member of the Steering Committee of the Global Water Partnership, the Water Policy Group, the Executive Board of IWRA and also chairs the International Advisory Committee of the UNSW Global Water Institute.
Olcay Ünver
Professor of Practice, Arizona State University
Olcay Ünver is currently Professor of Practice at Environmental and Resource Management Program at Arizona State University, member of Water Policy Group and Industry Fellow at Australian Rivers Institute. He serves as a senior advisor to Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) and UNESCO Intergovernmental Hydrological Program. In his public service career at the United Nations spanning over three decades, he led FAO’s water programs and activities, UN-Water’s World Water Assessment Program and UNESCO’s Program Office on Global Water Assessment. He served as Vice-Chair of UN-Water from 2018 to 2020.
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