Page 17 - NYY Muscat Call 2022 April 24

Yet, underlines that the efforts thus far fail to halt or turn the course of danger, raising the
need of more potent initiatives and mechanisms through which multiple and diverse sets of

actors can get together, examine the issues, identity solutions, and proceed with joint efforts

to operationalise and scale their application. On this basis, we call on all parties for
engagement in the following initiatives:

4.1) Revamping Green Funding - Linking with the Ground

The call for investment in sustainability by governments, multilateral organisations and
increasingly by the financial and corporate sectors worldwide, so far lacks adequate

connection to action on the ground. The prevailing frameworks for identifying, framing,
certifying, verification and validating impact, need to be revamped. Particular weight needs to

be attached to valuing and in action cherishing natural assets of fundamental importance

which presently meet with scanty support, reflecting few means of capturing commercial or
monetary value within the framework of existing institutions and market mechanisms.

In the context of Water and Humanity, precious yet largely unaccounted for benefits of
multiple river systems as well as wetlands and coastal areas underpinning unique ecosystems,

are threatened literally each day by large-scale commercial construction projects who tend to

bestow their investors with swift monetary payoffs.

A concentrated effort is required, bringing together diverse experts and actor categories, to

reshape the mechanisms for ESG, green bolds, SLBs, and carbon credits, to reward resource
mobilisation investing in nature. The Water and Community Voice has already been raised,

the message taken forward to follow-up occasions, such as COP27 in Sharm-El Sheikh,
Egypt, November 11, 2023, and Davos, Switzerland, on January 18, 2023. In this, a

revamping of the mechanisms for green investment has been called for, not by way of

paperwork but by active application, testing, and evaluation of support enabling scaling of
real-world projects.

4.2) A Toolbox for Addressing Cross-Border Water Conflict

There may be a fine line between water serving as a unifier or turning into a spark generating
cross-border conflict. Over a third of the world relies on fresh water from rivers shared by

www.waterandhumanity.com 17