The panellists exploring these themes consisted of Mr Alex Mejia, Director, of the Division for People and Social Inclusion, UNITAR; Dr Rhonda Lenton, President and Vice-Chancellor, York University; Ms. Marion Barthelemy, Director, UNOSAT, Ms. Claudia Taboada, Director, of Science, Technology, and Environment, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dominican Republic; Professor. William Chaung, Director, Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, University of British Columbia; Ms. Catarina Fonesca, Director of Pusling Tide, IRC-Wash; Professor, Sapna Sharma, Department of Biology, York University; Professor Kallim U. Shah, Associate Professor, Energy and Environment Policy, University of Delaware; and Professor Yvonne Su, Assistant Professor, Department of Equity Studies, York University.

In the opening remarks, by the Director, of the Division for People and Social Inclusion, UNITAR, Mr Mejia stated:

SIDS are faced with unique challenges and are more and more subjective to global socio-economic situations, in particular, the reliance on freshwater security is essential for various economic activities including agriculture, and the tourism industry for SIDS…ensuring stable and reliable freshwater sources is indeed crucial for sustaining economic development and reducing dependency on external aid and other resources.

President and Vice-Chancellor of York University, Dr Rhonda Lenton, further suggested…

In reality, if even one country or part of the world is impacted by the water sustainability crisis, it impacts us all.