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Mobilizing Finance for Climate-Resilient Greener Growth through Water Sector Interventions

Abstract

This talk will provide an overview of climate-resilient growth and discuss the role that water plays in the green economy. In particular, it will discuss some of the limits of a mitigation-based approach to achieving sustainability and highlight the importance of adaptation in achieving climate-resilient growth through interventions in the water sector. Three areas of support are discussed including policy development; investment planning; and mobilizing innovative finance – with a discussion of supporting case studies. This discussion can help to address two questions, namely how can climate change adaptation –in particular, adaptation to water variability - help the achievement of sustainable green growth. And how can climate-resilient growth contribute to reducing the impacts of water variability? Answering these questions can help water practitioners in better contributing to and mobilizing finance for climate-resilient, greener growth while also developing solutions for sustainable water management.

About the speaker

A development practitioner and engineer, Laila Kasuri has more than nine years of experience in the water and green growth space, working on projects in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Jordan. She has played a key role in providing advisory support to national and municipal governments on green policy and strategy development; developing sectoral plans and investment pipelines; conducting technical assessments, spatial analysis and feasibility studies; project design, appraisal and management; and stakeholder engagement. Currently, she is working as a Water Investment and Policy Solutions Analyst with the Global Green Growth Institute, where she is involved in strategy and business development for low-carbon, bankable investments in the water sector.

Prior to this, Laila was a Faculty Associate at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) where she helped establish the Centre for Water Informatics and Technology. She has worked before as a water resources consultant with the World Bank; as a researcher at the UC Davis Centre for Watershed Sciences; as a research fellow with the Harvard Water Security Initiative; and as a consultant with the ADB-led Friends of Democratic Pakistan Water Sector Task Force. Laila has contributed to multiple reports and published in the Water Policy Journal, the Harvard College Review of Environment and the Handbook of Applied Hydrology, McGraw-Hill and has also been awarded many awards including the Interdisciplinary Graduate and Professional Student Association Award, the Corps of Engineers President’s Award for Excellence and the Thomas T. Hoopes Award for Outstanding Academic Research at Harvard.

Laila has a Bachelor’s degree from Harvard University in engineering sciences, and a Masters in Water Resources Engineering from University of California, Davis.

Please RSVP: Dr. Nastaran Arianpoo; Research Associate at PWRC, REM