Ecocivilisation Year of Water 2023 and water as a circular system of life

May Webinar on “Legal Rights for Water”

31st May 2023, Online, Hosted by Ecocivilisation Secretariat, Slovenia

Date: Wednesday, 31st May 2023

Time: 3:00pm – 4:30pm CET, 90-Minute Session
Venue: Online Virtual,
Host: Ecocivilisation Secretariat, Slovenia

About the webinar

This webinar is part of the Ecocivilisation 2023 the Year of Water and Water as a Circular
System of Life. The Purpose of the Ecocivilisation Year of Water 2023 is to bring forward fresh
views for the demanding challenges from around the world related to water, including
accessibility to drinking water, gender perspective, the governance, the management, the role,
the essence, the inspiration of water in the framework of glocalization.

The Vision

The right for drinking water into every constitution in the world.

The Mission

To re-invent the integration of the water topics into the emerging (eco)civilisation.

To acknowledge water as the inner strength of life.

To raise the awareness about the essential role water plays for the life on the planet Earth.

The opening ceremony of the Ecocivilisation Year of Water, inauguration webinar, was held on
8th Feb 2023. On 22 Feb 2023, the first scientific webinar on the issue of “Water Risk
Management & The Climate Change” has been conducted. In March, two webinars were held.
One was in conjunction with UN Water Conference 2023 as its official side event No. V213,
entitled “Co-Creation: The New Water Governance Paradigm”, and another webinar was on the
topic “Water and Circular Economy”. The 4th webinar in the series was held on 26th Apr 2023
dealt with the topic “Responsible Investments in Sustainable Water Management” to explore
how financial organizations of the 21st century in post-Covid era progressively address
investments in water, evaluation criteria, opportunities with new innovative financial tools and
the emerging change makers.

Page 1 of 7
During the month of May, the fifth webinar is scheduled to be held on 31st May 2023 with the
topic “Legal Rights for Water”. The historic UN Water Conference March 2023, the most
significant global conference on water in five decades set out many tasks to take urgent actions.
The most urgent one is access to clean drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH). The
World Health Organization (WHO) and UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) called on all nations to
invest in better access to water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) for all. has completed in March,
and many tasks were set out to take urgent actions.

Climate Change induced water related disasters, floods, droughts and famine resonated with a
new Covid-19 subvariant (happened since January 2023) which is rapidly spreading across the
countries, with the possibility of another surge, threatened our fresh water resources and
highlighted the need for system change in water resources management and governance. To co-
create a new water management/governance paradigm, we need to discuss the existing system
components, portion by portion. Each portion is taking care of by Ecocivilisation Year of Water
series of webinars; however, all important issues may not cover within a year. That is why we
have chosen to discuss the top 12 priority issues/topics in 2023.

This month webinar “Legal Rights for Water” will address the Legal Rights from the different
points of view including our Ecocivilisation points of view by seven speakers starting from the
Founder and Curator’s opening speech, followed by five distinguished speakers across the Globe
who are internationally recognized professionals in their respective specializations under the
broad umbrella of water legislation; water law, water policy and water rights, and then concluded
by Ecocivilisation Wing Myanmar Chairperson, who is the lead author of the Myanmar National
Water Policy, Myanmar National Water Framework Directive, and Myanmar National Water
Law (daft), during (2015-2021).

The fresh look of this webinar is not only talking about the positive and not so positive impacts
of existing water legislation/water rights but also to look into the future with the lens of
ecocivilisation, humility and conscious leadership while taking into account of physical
deterioration caused by climate change, pandemics, and war. We will hear very interesting
voices from the distinguished panelists who are relevant professionals/ visionary thinkers/
curators/ authors/ practitioners, etc., and get the opportunity to interact with them.

---oo0oo---

Page 2 of 7
 Agenda

Wednesday, 31st May 2023

3:00pm – 4:30pm CET

3:00 – 3:03pm “Announcement of house rules for the webinar”

CET Ms. Natasa Campelj

Ecocivilisation, (https://www.ecocivilisation.eu/en/)

“Opening Remark
3:03 – 3:08pm
Dr. hc Violeta Bulc
CET Founder and Curator of Ecocivilisation, Former EU Commissioner for
Transport, Former Deputy Prime Minister of Slovenia
(https://www.ecocivilisation.eu/en/)

3:08 – 3:10pm Grandmothers Prayer MUSIC

CET
PANEL PRESENTATIONS
Each presentation will be followed by Q&A
Moderator, Dr. hc Violeta Bulc, will introduce the speaker, each Panelist
speaks for 10 minutes followed by the Q&A 5 minutes within the 15 minute
slot
3:10 – 3:25pm “From ‘Rights to Water’ to ‘Rights for Water’: some reflections on
CET
how far we have come and how much further we still have to go.”

Prof. Jeff Camkin

Adjunct Prof., Univ. of Western Australia, Senior Fellow, Institute for
Study and Development World Wide, Co-Editor-in-Chief, World Water
Policy Journal,
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeff-camkin-8858996/

“Harnessing the limits of international water law through water

3:25 – 3:40pm diplomacy”
CET
Ms. Lena Salame
Lawyer, Conflict management and mediation specialist
Trustee - Water Witness International
Chair - Water Interest Group, Environmental Peacebuilding Association
https://waterethics.org/water-ethics-working-group-lena-salame/

Page 3 of 7
3:40 – 3:55pm "Basin Rights: The Water Rights Problem for Nature, People and
CET States in 21 Century"

Dr. WANG Zhijian

Associate Professor in International Law, Hohai University
Adjunct Professor of International Relations, Johns Hopkins-Nanjing
Centre, Nanjing University, Member of Water Law Professional Committee
of China Hydraulic Society
https://europa.eu/capacity4dev/hhlawaid/wiki/wangcv

3:55 – 4:10pm “Some options for resolving water crises under the Climate Change
CET Threat”

Dr. Ohn Myint

World Bank Consultant
Former Senior Water Resources Engineer, World Bank
https://www.myanmarwatersacademy.com/our-team/

4:10 – 4:25pm “Future of Life: Are we entering into sixth mass extinction of species?
CET
Prof. Nick Schofield FRSN
Director, Global Future Research
Visiting Professorial Fellow, UNSW
Adjunct Professor, Murdoch University
Former CEO of Australian Water Partnership
https://globalfutureresearch.com/

4:25-4:30pm “Closing Statement: Where do we go from here?”

CET
Prof. Dr. Khin Ni Ni Thein
Founder, Myanmar Water Academy
Initiator, Myanmar Water Think Tank
G100-Ecocivilisation Wing Myanmar Country Chair
https://www.myanmarwatersacademy.com

4:30 pm Webinar ends with Water Music

Page 4 of 7
Background of the Event

Page 5 of 7
Page 6 of 7
Page 7 of 7