Euro-Mediterranean Water Forum

A platform for dialogue among policymakers, civil society, and academia, accompanied by an exhibition.

The “One Water” Committee has promoted the celebration in Rome, in the autumn of 2026, of the first Euro-Mediterranean Water Forum.
The event will be co-organized with the Mediterranean Water Institute of Marseille, in partnership with the Union for the Mediterranean.
Whereas in past years the Forum focused exclusively on Mediterranean countries, the ambition of this sixth edition is to broaden both its geographical and thematic scope, engaging EU Member States and the Balkans, while also looking towards the Arabian Peninsula and Sub-Saharan Africa.

This will be a major event: a platform for dialogue among policymakers, civil society, and academia, alongside an exhibition where companies, industries, and experts will exchange best practices, process innovations, and new technologies. The goal is to address, together, the pressing challenges ahead to ensure greater water security in the Mediterranean.

At the heart of the Forum’s agenda will be issues of great concern to the public—such as drought, water scarcity, and the prevention and management of extreme events in cities—as well as emerging topics for the near future: the water-energy nexus, new uses of water in the tech industry, financial and insurance products linked to water, and the protection of freshwater quality.

The preparatory process benefits from the active support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, the technical partnership of CIHEAM Bari, and will include workshops and national and international events. Key milestones will feature a significant presence at the Venice Biennale, as well as missions and events in Riyadh, Brussels, and other European and Mediterranean capitals.
The Institutional Organizing Committee brings together Italy’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security, Ministry of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry, Ministry of Infrastructure, Civil Protection and Sea Policies, and the Ministry of University and Research, along with the City of Rome and the Lazio Region. Its Scientific Committee will welcome contributions from Italy’s leading research institutes, public agencies working in the field, individual experts, the private sector, and civil society.

The Forum is expected to welcome thousands of participants and will be supported by the extensive networks of the Mediterranean Water Institute of Marseille (organizer of the Mediterranean Water Forums for over 20 years, most recently in Tunis), CIHEAM (the Euro-Mediterranean organization dedicated to agriculture, with offices and projects across the region), and by the full spectrum of Italian stakeholders—from large companies, SMEs, industries, and multi-utilities, to design and engineering firms, and new actors such as banks, insurance providers, IT companies, the agri-food and fashion sectors, and even the space economy.