REWET at the UN Water Conference 2023

In the framework of the UN water conference, REWET has been invited to a round table at the EU delegation of the UN in New York, the USA. Check the details of the event here.

UN water conference logo

On 23 March 2023, the REWET project was presented at one of the side events of the United Nations Water Conference. 

The United Nations Water Conference was a key event for the global water community as it was the first UN Water event in 47 years. It was co-hosted by the Governments of Tajikistan and the Netherlands, and has been a moment to mobilize Member States, the UN system, and stakeholders to take action and bring successful solutions to a global scale. 

One of the key outcomes of the UN Water Conference 2023 is the Water Action Agenda, which captured over 700 commitments aimed at driving transformation from a global water crisis to a water-secure world. 

In the framework of this major international event, REWET had its spot in the side event “Mainstreaming Ecological Restoration in freshwater ecosystems” organized by the Society For Ecological Restoration (SER) and hosted at the EU Delegation to UN in NY. 

Organized in collaboration between SER and the University of Evora, Portugal, one of the REWET project partners, the event was opened by the Portuguese Environment State Secretary, Portuguese Ministry of Environment and Climatic Action, Mr Hugo Polido Pires, the Head of Water sector of the Directorate General for Research and Innovation of the European Commission, Mr Panagiotis Balabanis, and the Deputy Head of Unit Global Resources, Deforestation, Water International of DG Environment, Mrs Helge Elisabeth Zeitler. 

The event was organized into two panels: Environmental Law and restoration and Practice and Research around the world. 

Professor Ana Mendes (University of Evora, Portugal), coordinator of the Open Lab #7 of REWET, delivered the presentation “Towards a legal definition of ecological restoration: Reviewing international and European legal instruments and case law”. 


REWET was included in the second panel and was introduced by Vanessa Ferreira (IDENER), REWET project coordinator. Says Mrs Ferreira:

“It was an honour to represent the REWET project in this event and show the consortium efforts since the project kick-off meeting last October. Discussing with experts in the area was extremely important to boost REWET efforts in restoring wetlands, not only for mitigating climate change, but also to enhance biodiversity and propose sound business models based on ecosystem services. All of the event participants have agreed on the urgency and importance of acting on these topics, and regarding the REWET project, they were interested in contributing to the project and checking the Open Labs advancements along the project”.

Votes 5/5 of 2.