Seminar entitled ‘Water, common good: challenges and the future’

One of the main events on Barcelona’s World Water Day agenda is a seminar entitled ‘Water, common good: challenges and the future’. Organised by Barcelona City Council and the Aigua és Vida (Water is Life) platform , it will be held on 21 March at the Recinte Modernista de Sant Pau.

Open to everyone and free, the event is intended to become a forum for exchanging ideas on how to manage water in the 21st century. Guest speakers at the seminar, which will take the form of lectures and roundtable discussion, include the prestigious American-born French activist and thinker Susan George and the Irish member of the European Parliament Lynn Boylan.

Janet Sanz, Barcelona City Council Deputy Mayor for Ecology, Urban Planning and Mobility, and Míriam Planas, a spokesperson for Aigua és Vida, will start the proceedings, which will continue until 8 pm.

Throughout the day there will be roundtable discussions on the several themes for reflection on water: the role of ordinary citizens, transparency and accountability; the need for a regulation that covers all aspects; its role as a human right; and the economic system it should be based on.

The seminar will end with a roundtable on municipalising water management, a growing trend in Europe in recent years and which has gained momentum in Catalonia, with numerous success stories.

Taking part in the discussion, to talk about the challenges facing cities that have recently come out in favour of public water management, will be Eloi Badia, Barcelona City Councillor for Water and Energy, Célia Blauel,Deputy Mayor of Paris, Luigi de Magistris, Mayor of Naples, María Sánchez, Deputy Mayor of Valladolid, and Jordi Ballart, Mayor of Terrassa.

 

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Information on the programme and registration

Seminar Programme