Conference on Critical Perspectives on Governance by SDGs

Acacia Water went to the Conference on Critical Perspectives on Governance by Sustainable Development Goals: Water, Food and Climate organized on the 25th and 26th of June 2018 by The Centre for Sustainable Development Studies of the University of Amsterdam. Scholars, policy makers, business, and civil society shared their perspectives on and critically review the three related goals and their related targets.

Arjen de Vries participated in one of the panels on “Global challenges: The global dimensions of local realities” where he could reflect on the (missing) linkages between the global agenda, national strategies, and local implementations. His presentation receives a lot of interest from the participants.

Marie Hürlimann went to four different panels on the link between climate change and migration, the type of knowledge needed to implement the SDGs in Latin America, the Dutch Delta master plans in Vietnam, Bangladesh, and Indonesia, and also on critical perspectives on the Public Private Partnership model advanced by the SDGs. A wide range of speakers were involved allowing intense and interesting debates. Lessons or at least points of comparison were retrieved from the conference to reflect on our own work and potential impact, especially when working abroad.

As a Dutch company working in international contexts, we are aware of our position and responsibility that we have and want to hold. The core of our principles when working in international projects is to always work in collaboration with local partners, local organizations to respond to their specific needs or fulfil their requests. The core is to create horizontal and long-term relationships with our partners and stakeholders.

We also aim at keeping close collaboration with universities, policy makers, and civil society.