About Event
Euro-Mediterranean Water Forum
The "One Water" Committee has promoted the celebration of the first Euro-Mediterranean Water Forum in Rome in the autumn of 2026. This event will be co-organized with the Mediterranean Water Institute of Marseille and in partnership with the Union for the Mediterranean. While in past years the Forum has focused solely on Mediterranean countries, the ambition of this sixth edition is to broaden its scope geographically and thematically, involving other EU member states and the Balkans, with an eye toward the Arabian Peninsula and sub-Saharan Africa. It will be a Major Event , a platform for dialogue between policymakers, civil society, and academia, supported by an exhibition where businesses, industries, and specialists can exchange best practices, process innovations, and new technologies. The goal is to jointly address the challenges we face to achieve greater "water security" in the Mediterranean. The Euro-Mediterranean Water Forum's agenda will focus on the issues most pressing to the public (drought, resource scarcity, prevention and management of extreme events in cities), as well as those looming in the near future (the water-energy nexus, new uses in the technology industry, water-related financial and insurance products, and protecting the quality of freshwater). The preparatory process, which benefits from the active support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and the technical partnership of CIHEAM in Bari, includes national and international workshops and events, with a significant presence at the Venice Biennale, missions and events in Riyadh, Brussels, and other European and Mediterranean capitals. The Institutional Organizing Committee brings together the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, the Environment and Energy Security, Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry, Infrastructure, Civil Protection and Maritime Policies, University and Research, as well as Rome and the Lazio Region . Meanwhile, its Scientific Committee will be open to contributions from major Italian research institutions, public agencies dealing with these topics, individuals, the private sector, and civil society.
We aim to attract thousands of people to the event, and will involve the network of the Mediterranean Water Institute of Marseille (organizer of the Mediterranean Water Forums for over twenty years, the latest of which was held in Tunis), the CIHEAM network (an international Euro-Mediterranean organization for agricultural issues with offices and projects throughout the region), and all the stakeholders in the Italian sector, from large companies to SMEs, industries, multi-utilities, design studios, and even new players (banks, insurance companies, IT companies, the agri-food, fashion, and space economy sectors).