This topic covers remote sensing and other cutting-edge innovative tools combined with big data for water monitoring through cloud-based water platforms, real-time monitoring, and the Internet of Things (IoT). It focuses on how these technologies are used to detect, analyze, and manage water losses and leakage, improve system visibility, and support data-driven operation and decision-making across water supply and distribution networks.

This topic covers the use of current technological applications such as Artificial Intelligence and Digital Twins for Water Systems to enable digital water management through smart water systems and advanced water informatics. It focuses on AI-based decision support systems and AI-driven tools that support real-time monitoring, predictive analysis, system optimization, and resilient management of water supply, wastewater, infrastructure, agricultural activities, operations, asset management under uncertain and changing conditions.

This theme covers aspects relating to training and capacity building necessary to promote the adoption of digital and innovative technologies in the water sector. It focuses on the development of skills, training programmes and knowledge platforms enabling water professionals, institutions and communities to effectively leverage AI, data-driven tools and smart water systems for sustainable water management and resilient operations.

This topic covers the principles, policies and practices of responsible AI, cybersecurity, and ethics in digital water governance. It focuses on safeguarding data integrity, ensuring system security, and building reliability into AI-driven systems—critical foundations for trustworthy, inclusive, and resilient decision-making, policy and governance in the water sector.

The development of artificial intelligence has led to a significant increase in the digital footprint, accompanied by a growing need for data, storage and analysis. This rise in demand for energy and water for electricity generation and for cooling large data centres requires developing methods to make these centres more water-efficient, whilst taking into account the allocation of water resources and the competition with other sectors.

This topic explores integrated solutions at the agriculture-water nexus within the WEFE framework. It covers solar-powered irrigation, floating solar power, agrisolar and agroforestry as tools for enhancing water efficiency, modernizing irrigation, and sustainable agricultural production. The focus is on how integrated water-energy solutions can reduce water stress while increasing food security and climate resilience.

This topic applies the WEFE-H nexus to urban water management. It focuses on cross-sectoral synergies among water supply, energy use, food systems (e.g., urban agriculture), and ecosystems in cities. The aim is to move beyond siloed approaches, identify critical interdependencies, and promote integrated solutions for resilient urban water systems.

This topic covers the role of renewable energy in strengthening water resilience within the WEFE nexus. It focuses on how clean energy sources such as solar, wind, geothermal, and other renewables can support water supply, treatment, reuse, desalination, irrigation, and groundwater management, reducing carbon footprints, improving energy security, and enhancing the sustainability and reliability of water and food systems.

This theme focuses on coordination and cooperation between different stakeholders — including government bodies, NGOs and the private sector — through effective governance frameworks and capacity-building within the WEFE-H nexus. It emphasises the integration of cross-sectoral policies linking water, energy, food, ecosystems and health, strengthening public health resilience and enabling coherent, inclusive and collaborative action through the use of sustainable and crisis-resilient water supply system models, with due regard for the right to water, the right to food, international humanitarian law and all related SDGs; looking beyond 2030 as well as any international framework such as the UNFCCC.

There has been a huge growth in modelling tools for quantify the WEFE-H interactions and quantifying the trade-offs in this complex system. There is, however, a need to analyse the type of models suitable for this analysis, the scale, and the data needed for suitable analysis.

Case studies and experiences from large scale application of Nexus solutions at regional and national scales are limited. Exposing these applications and their impact is important to the long-term path.

This topic covers the core principles of the circular economy — reduce, recover, and regenerate — to transform waste into resources. It focuses on the reuse of treated wastewater, recovery of water, nutrients, and material, and resource efficiency as key strategies to close water cycles, reduce waste, and create resilient and sustainable water systems that support economic and environmental sustainability.

This topic explores economic models and blended finance mechanisms that mobilize the venture capital sector, unlock investment, and encourage growing market opportunities in the circular water economy. It integrates concepts of virtual water and water footprint with green finance, water pricing, insurance, and instruments such as blue bonds to support risk-sharing, investment, and long-term financial sustainability of water and climate-resilient infrastructure.

This topic covers industry takeaways and outlook for the circular water economy, focusing on practical lessons, emerging business models, technology trends, and investment directions. It highlights how utilities, solution providers, operators, and investors can translate innovation, finance, and policy into scalable, market-ready water solutions that support long-term resilience and sustainable growth.

This topic covers public–private partnerships (PPPs) and risk-sharing mechanisms designed to create financially-viable water infrastructure supported by sustainable water tariffs. It focuses on structuring financial and governance models that attract private capital while ensuring affordability, service quality, and long-term viability of water, wastewater, and reuse projects within the circular water economy.

This topic covers the design and management of disaster-resilient water systems to address the impacts of climate change through effective climate risk management. It focuses on protecting water supplies, wastewater treatment facilities, flood control mechanisms, and ecosystem services from extreme events such as droughts, floods, heatwaves, and sea-level rise, by linking scientific risk assessments with policy and planning for long-term water security and societal resilience.

This topic focuses on combining engineered and natural systems to diversify water sources, improve resilience to drought and scarcity, and support sustainable and adaptive water security and water management strategies. The topic also addresses water efficiency and resource optimization to strengthen water resilience. It also considers Nature-Based solutions, Conjunctive Surface Waters and Groundwater Management and Artificial recharge as complementary approaches to strengthen water security under climate change.

This topic addresses the translation and integration of climate science into policy and action. It covers water diplomacy, cross-sectoral policy coordination, and multi-stakeholder dialogue across borders and sectors. Emphasis is placed on data-driven governance, political will, and institutional frameworks that enable coherent, timely, and adaptive responses to climate change.

This topic addresses inclusion of desalination, fog and rainwater harvesting, wastewater reuse and recycling, cloud-seeding, non-renewable groundwater, and other unconventional technologies and methodologies within integrated water management frameworks to enhance availability of water resources. Cutting-edge methods for identifying, accessing, utilizing, and financing unconventional water resources will be highlighted.

This topic highlights global, regional and local collaborations and water dialogues that produce concrete actions across value chains, using water diplomacy water governance, and water law to strengthen water resilience. It emphasizes science-based (evidence-based) information, political will, and the intrinsic and financial value of water to support adaptive governance, decision support tools, and data-driven decisions and actions, enabling coherent, inclusive, and policy-resilient responses to water scarcity and climate change across countries, sectors, and communities.

This topic considers the role of Science to support policy. It evaluates how partnership, cooperation, and water diplomacy can contribute strengthening the science and policy interface for enhanced sustainable water management and resilience. It considers examples about global, regional and local partnerships and cooperation to advance water science, water management and water governance. It emphasizes the need to foster Open Science and science-based policies, as well as the science policy interface that contributes to developing political will. The topic considers the intrinsic value of water to support adaptive water governance at all scales, appropriate tools for adequate analyses, and data-driven decisions and actions, enabling coherent, inclusive, and policy-resilient responses to water scarcity and climate change across countries, sectors, and communities. It explores examples of partnerships and riparian-led cooperation to facilitate study, assessment, management, and governance of transboundary water (rivers, lakes, and aquifers). This topic also considers the role of water legislation for surface and groundwater, national and international laws and principles, as well as institutional frameworks, including inclusive participatory mechanisms that considers local communities, vulnerable groups, civil societies , and other stakeholders, to contribute to the achievement of the human rights to drinking water and sanitation for equity.

This topic explores the role of traditional and community-based knowledge systems in building climate-resilient water management. It focuses on how locally grounded practices, cultural heritage, and community-driven approaches complement scientific knowledge and modern policy frameworks to enhance water stewardship, reduce risk, uphold human right to water, promote inclusivity, and support long-term sustainability in the face of climate change.

This topic covers evidence-based policy making, cross-sectoral policy alignment, and data-driven decision-making that are supported by interagency integration. It focuses on how robust data, scientific analysis, and coordinated institutional frameworks can improve policy coherence, enhance climate resilience, and enable effective, timely, and transparent governance of water resources under changing environmental and socio-economic conditions.

Safeguarding vital ecosystem services demands deliberate action to quantify benefits and reconcile competing demands between human systems and natural ecosystems. This sub-theme advances understanding of their dynamic interactions, promoting integrated strategies like environmental flows and nature-based solutions for equitable, resilient water management.

This topic covers aquatic ecosystems and biodiversity as foundational elements of the One Water–One Health framework. It focuses on the protection and restoration of rivers, lakes, wetlands, aquifers and coastal waters to sustain ecological functions, prevent soil erosion and degradation, and reduce risks to human, animal, and ecosystem wellbeing.

This topic addresses the quality of water bodies, including rivers, lakes, wetlands, aquifers, and coastal waters, unconventional water, drinking water and wastewater treatment and sanitation, prevention water-borne diseases, linking WASH to public health resilience, equity, and outbreak prevention. It also focuses on treatment standards, regulatory frameworks, and health risk management to ensure that unconventional sources contribute safely to water scarcity reduction and public health protection under climate change.

This topic covers the detection and mitigation of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs), antimicrobial resistance (AMR), and microplastics etc. in water systems. It focuses on how monitoring, surveillance, and advanced analytical methods can identify health and environmental risks early, supporting evidence-based interventions to protect human and ecosystem health.

Water ecological products are provided by water ecosystems for human beings. This topic covers accounting system of water ecological products with measuring, mortgages, transactions and ecological compensation standards for aquatic ecosystem health and long-lasting maintenance.

This topic explores Artificial intelligence as a data-driven approach to detecting Aquatic Ecosystem, drinking water safety and wastewater treatment. It focuses on integrating surveillance, advanced analytics, and digital tools to provide early warning of water risks, enabling proactive decision-making and adapting to a changing world.

This topic explores transformative water sources that could reshape supply paradigms in the coming decades. It covers emerging approaches such as cloud seeding, offshore groundwater extraction, atmospheric water harvesting, and urine resource recovery, focusing on how these innovations could expand water availability and strengthen long-term security under climate and population pressures, while considering the sustainable development and use.

This topic covers water-wise cities, sponge cities, and the design of cities of the future that integrate urban water, climate resilience, and ecosystem services. It focuses on innovative urban water management, decentralized systems, green infrastructure, flood control, water reuse, and recharge to create livable, climate-adaptive, and resource-efficient cities. Future urban paradigms where technology is one integrated component of broader transformation.

This topic covers water futures, future scenarios, and strategic foresights to understand how water, climate, population, technology, and development will interact over the coming decades. It focuses on future water scenarios, water-society-development interaction, and the future of water as tools to support long-term planning, investment, and resilient policy making.

This topic covers how diverse water narratives, from indigenous and traditional knowledge to cultural stories and scientific insights shape policy, behavior, and public engagement, bridging “fiction to reality” in storytelling and transformation processes. It focuses on water literacy, social awareness, participatory water governance, and resilience perspectives to foster a shared water security and sustainability vision across societies.

This topic covers innovative financial instruments and economic visions for future water systems, including blue bonds, long-term investment models, and sustainability-linked financing. It focuses on aligning finance with future water risks, infrastructure transformation, climate resilience, and the transition toward sustainable and inclusive water economies.

This topic seeks contributions that can help shape the future of water cooperation by envisioning possible innovations and new strategies for cross-sectoral cooperation. Building on approaches such as participatory governance, knowledge and experience exchanges, and cross-sectoral strategies and mechanisms for reconciling competing water demands, the topic will examine how emerging innovations can strengthen cooperation in an increasingly uncertain climate. Particular attention will be given to new climate-resilient and adaptive water governance approaches, including the use of artificial intelligence, digital twins, remote sensing, real-time data, and predictive tools to improve joint monitoring, early warning systems, scenario planning, and decision-making processes. The topic will also explore innovative forms of data and knowledge sharing, nature-based solutions, inclusive and multi-stakeholder cooperation, and new financing and governance models. It will also consider innovative strategies among riparian countries for the sustainable and equitable use and management of shared rivers, lakes and aquifers. Case studies demonstrating how these approaches can build trust, anticipate conflicts, reconcile competing uses, and enhance resilience across shared water systems are particularly encouraged.

This topic seeks contributions that present a vision of the future we want for water use and governance beyond the 2030 Agenda. Contributions should reflect on how to build on achievements in SDG 6 implementation.  It considers how water can better support social equity, lasting peace, and universal access to safe water and sanitation particularly during conflicts and humanitarian crises, and water security. Contributions should put forward innovative and forward-looking approaches that help societies prepare for sustainable, equitable, and resilient water futures, particularly in developing countries and in contexts marked by social inequalities. Contributions may present national, regional, or international strategies, as well as community-based initiatives. They may also address future actions that promote gender-sensitive and participatory approaches to ensure that vulnerable groups are not left behind. Overall, contributions should connect evidence with action and demonstrate how water security can become a driver of equitable and shared prosperity.

Safeguarding vital ecosystem services demands deliberate action to quantify benefits and reconcile competing demands between human systems and natural ecosystems. This sub-theme advances understanding of their dynamic interactions, promoting integrated strategies like environmental flows and nature-based solutions for equitable, resilient water management.