The countdown is ticking. The 2021 Danube Water Conference is three weeks away today, and in case you are still wondering if you should follow the link at the end of this story and register – please read on and learn about a conference program full of exciting highlights.

Three afternoons. Two conference tracks. Eighteen sessions, covering hot topics - and! You do not even have to get up from your chair to attend, because for the sake of everybody's safety, the 2021 Danube Water Conference will be a virtual conference, albeit on a platform that uses latest technology to give us all an “as good as live” experience. Join to enjoy roundtable talk formats, private chats with your peers, in short, everything that is exciting about international conferences.

Pick your program from two theme tracks. One is Water Security and deals largely with water resources management issues in the face of climate change. The other is Water Supply and Sanitation, and deals with paths forward for the utilities of the Danube region.

Are you quite interested, but not yet fully convinced? Let's randomly pick five sessions. You'll probably find at least one "must-not-miss" among those, and many more in the rest of the conference schedule:  

“Taking the pulse – A Water Security Diagnostics for the Danube Region” deals with a new, comprehensive, balanced view of water security and its wide-ranging social, environmental, and economic implications. The World Bank’s Water Global Practice kicked off a Water Security Diagnostic Initiative in 2017, and part of it is the ongoing development of a Water Security Diagnostics for the Danube Region. Get information on the Water Security Conceptual Framework and related analytical work targeting the Danube Region, and take a peek at a finalized diagnosis and its impact on water sector development in a country or region.  

“Do you speak Danubian?” is an innovative virtual roundtable format that seeks to gathers representatives of the various organizations and institutions that work in and for the Danube region to forge new synergies between various actors, to promote new partnerships and to increase the reach of the sector when targeting future challenges like climate change, water security or wastewater treatment.  

“Droughts and climate change: An increasing threat, is the Danube Region prepared?” deals with recent findings from the first Danube Droughts Workshop and supporting case studies from areas hit by widespread, significant droughts that have affected the Danube region from 2017 on.  

“Ask me Anything: Everything you wanted to know about water” is exactly what the title promises: Meet Gustavo Saltiel, Lead Water and Sanitation Specialist at the World Bank, and take the floor with a question you always wanted to ask. Get your answer from an expert with three decades professional experience in the Water and Sustainable Development Sectors. Mr. Saltiel has been with the World Bank for 17 years, managing, among others, the Nile Basin and Cooperation in International Waters programs, as well as the Water Program in Kenya.  

“Innovative Technology for Water Security” presents science, not fiction, that will come handy in the very near future. The UN estimates that by 2050, half the world's population will be at risk for water insecurity due to climate chage and pollution. This session presents the state of play in the development of innovative technologies that will help to achieve water security, including practical examples and ongoing projects from Austria, Bulgaria, Israel and Singapore.  

For the content and speakers of thirteen more sessions, please browse the Agenda under the link below, where you can also study the – pretty straightforward - details of the registering process and register yourself.

You will register? Right away? We thought so. Welcome to the 2021 Danube Water Conference.
It's about the future. It's about us. It's about you.