WAMU-NET’s 5th International Conference (9-11 October, Porto) provided three incredible days of exchanges, discussions, mutual learning, and new connections.
Throughout the sessions, we heard how in societies where rivers and water play a central role cooperation not only improves the conditions of rivers, but also enhances the well-being and livelihoods of local communities. In doing so, water helps reduce conflict and is a force for peace.
A key focus of the conference was the mediating role of water in conflicts, alongside the urgent need to map our precious hydraulic heritage. Today, many freshwater resources and related heritages—both tangible and intangible—are being destroyed, overexploited, or neglected. As we no longer place water at the center of our lives, mapping water heritages is more crucial than ever for fostering a new water culture and advocating for water’s ecological and cultural importance.
As a flagship initiative of UNESCO-IHP (Intergovernmental Hydrological Programme of UNESCO), WAMU-NET and its members remain dedicated to protecting and restoring freshwater resources through water sustainability education.
The 5th International Conference, titled ‘Cities of Water: Peace and Prosperity through Water Sustainability Education,’ was hosted by Águas e Energia do Porto, Portugal, in cooperation with the UNESCO Chair ‘Water, Ports and Historic Cities’ based in Delft, Netherlands, and the Autonomous Province of Trento and Civiltà dell’Acqua, Italy.
HIGHLIGHTS AND NEW PROJECTS
5th WAMU-NET International Conference
The role of WAMU-NET in UNESCO-IHP Phase 9
Contributions by Rahmah Elfithri and Alexander Otte (UNESCO-IHP Secretariat) outlined the state of the art in the implementation of Phase 9 of IHP (Intergovernmental Hydrological Programme), with particular reference to priority 2 on Water Sustainability Education. Growing attention on multiple water-uses and the need to balance them in a sustainable and eco-systemic way requires new conceptual and methodological approaches. In this frame, it has been stressed how water museums can play a key role in capacity building for sustainable and inclusive water uses. It is also planned to collect more systematic data on the activities carried out by individual water museums and those of the WAMU-NET network in order to show their actual contributions to achieving the objectives of IHP Phase 9.
Keynote by Carola Hein on mapping water heritage
In her keynote, Prof. Carola Hein (UNESCO Chair ‘Water Ports and Historic Cities, TU Delft) addressed how to connect UNESCO’s Urban Heritage Atlas and the World Heritage List with the World Inventory of water museums and heritage sites developed by WAMU-NET. In this perspective, a pilot project dedicated to Amsterdam, Paris, and Porto as cities included in the World Heritage List that simultaneously host water museums will be implemented to get a better understanding of the interconnections between the representations of hydraulic heritages in the world heritage sites. This activity will highlight the good practices to preserve and activate relevant water museums on rivers, canals and sea in order to tell new narratives aimed at connecting the multiple functions of water—including drinking, sewage, energy generation, and shipping—and advancing more sustainable water practices.
Cooperation agreements between several water museums in Malta, Cuba, Iran and Italy
Several cooperation agreements were signed in Porto between different water museums for the co-design of a new online educational platform: AQUAPLAY. In addition, demonstrating the key role of water museums in promoting peace and sustainability through bilateral cooperation, a historic cooperation agreement was signed between Ghajn Interpretative Centre, Malta, and the Albear Aqueduct Museum, La Habana, Cuba. The agreement was signed by representatives of the respective national agencies that manage these museums aimed at educating on more sustainable uses of water: The Energy and Water Agency (Malta) and the Instituto Nacional de Recursos Hidraulicos (Cuba).
Equally significant is the agreement reached between the Yazd Water Museum (Iran), which is managed by the UNESCO cat.2 centre on ‘Qanats’ (ICQHS) and the Water Museum of Naples ‘Lapis’ (Italy), which houses one of the best-preserved ancient Greek aqueducts in the Mediterranean. Unfortunately this agreement could not be signed physically in Porto, due to the escalation of the conflict in the Middle East. However, it was signed online - demonstrating that water is a key element in building new dialogues of peace and cooperation.
Virtual Science Museum of UNESCO
At the 5th Conference, we presented a new video report of the network’s contribution to the 10th World Water Forum. WAMU-NET participated with an immersive, multi-channel video installation titled The Voices of Water. The installation aimed to illustrate how ancient water cultures are an inspiring source of innovation for sustainable water management and an ecological transition.
The eight case studies of Ancient Hydro-Technologies (AHTs) from Indonesia, Australia, Morocco, Algeria, Ghana, Iraq, Peru, and Brazil included in the video installation are now also available in a digital exhibition on our website. This exhibition curated by WAMU-NET offers a preview of the forthcoming Virtual Science Museum of UNESCO.
Among the ministerial delegations that visited WAMU-NET's installation and expressed interest in supporting it in their respective countries were Indonesia, Morocco and Saudia Arabia. As shown in the video, these countries participated directly with the following ministers: Basuki Hadimuljono (Minister of Public Works and Water Resources of Indonesia), Baraka Mehdi Ben (Minister of Infrastructure and Water Resources of Morocco) and Alshaibani Abdulaziz (Deputy Minister of Water Resources of Saudi Arabia, which will host the next WWF in 2027).
Phase 2 of the World Inventory of Water Museums (WIN)
The Porto Conference was an opportunity to take stock of the progress of the World Inventory (WIN) of water museums and heritage sites, as stated by UNESCO-IHP Resolution No. XXIV-7 (2021). After the completion of phase 1 of the pilot project in Italy and the Netherlands, a group of researchers from the UNESCO Chair in Delft will be in charge of the realisation of Phase 2 in the Netherlands. In the meantime, the census of other case studies on Ancient Hydro-Technologies (AHTs) aims at collecting data and materials that besides implementing the WIN will be extremely useful to represent new case studies of the Virtual Science Museum of UNESCO.
AQUAPLAY
AQUAPLAY is an interactive educational tool for students worldwide to explore the importance of water through creative coloring activities. AQUAPLAY collects some of the best artworks submitted to our youth contest and award 'The Water We Want. Now, with AQUAPLAY, these drawings can be colored online by children worldwide! While having fun, the children will also learn why many students are inspired to stand for water - the most precious resource for life - its biodiversity and heritage.
AQUAPLAY was developed as part of CREDIT (Creative Digital Tools) - a project funded by the European Union’s Creative Europe Programme, in collaboration with DOC Servizi, Virtualgeo and other partners. In Porto, 16 Memoranda of Understanding were signed between WAMU-NET and the following museums: Instituto Nacional de Recursos Hidráulicos, Cuba; Water Museum of Ireland; Danube World Engelhartszell, Austria; Aquatim Timisoara, Romania; Musée Mohamed VI de la Civilisation de l’Eau au Maroc, Morocco; Agua Para Siempre, Mexico; Museos de Mequinenza, Spain; Museum Broekerveiling, Netherlands; Living Waters Museum, India; IHE Delft, Netherlands; National Water Museum of China; Museu de l’Aigua y el Textil, Spain; Brazilian Water Museum, Tocantins; Community based Water Museum of Kalapara, Bangladesh; Ghajn, National Water Conservation Centre, Malta; Hydra, Italy; Museu da Agua de Lisboa, Portugal.
You can click HERE to explore AQUAPLAY.
Water Cloud: Resources for Inclusive Sustainable Futures
On Day 2 of our 5th International Conference, we launched an ambitious project for the Global Network of Water Museums: the creation of an online repository for water education! This platform will offer students, teachers, and museum professionals a single, easy-to-access space for water education resources, tools, and best practices.
We heard from six inspiring speakers who shared their insights and experiences using learning tools for water education. We also explored exciting ideas to push this project forward and decided collectively on its name: Water Cloud – Resources for Inclusive Sustainable Future.
We believe that this repository can meaningfully contribute to the field of water education practices in museums and beyond, aligning with WAMU-NET’s commitment to water sustainability education and water awareness, as stated in the UNESCO-IHP Resolution n.XXIII-5 (2018). This is also a unique opportunity to showcase WAMU-NET’s diversity and expertise and share existing skills and knowledge beyond the network. A special newsletter on the content of this session and the next steps of this initiative will follow shortly.
6th Edition of The Water We Want
The 6th edition (2025) of The Water We Want (TWWW), our Youth Prize Contest, is now open for submissions. We invite contributions from students aged 6 to 25 in the form of drawings, videos and other creative media. The deadline for submission is Saturday 26 April 2025 and winners will be announced in our June General Assembly. Please refer to the Call for Contributions for more details and participation guidelines.
All works shortlisted by WAMU-NET members for the past five editions of the contest are available on the project’s online hub at www.thewaterwewant. watermuseums.net.
Interactive collaboration through the Danube4All project
The ‘Danube4all’ project was presented in Porto, which aims to connect in an innovative way all existing museums and water interpretation centres along the Danube river basin in order to map and explore the different relationships with water that have arisen historically in various geographical and historical contexts. With a view to co-creating a travelling exhibition on the multiple human relationships with water along the river, conference participants were interactively involved in the creation of a puzzle wall. Based on citizen science methods of involving riparian communities, the exercise proved to be a good practice that can be replicated by water museums in different contexts worldwide.
NEXT STEPS
On the final day, we held our 2nd General Assembly of 2024. We welcomed the new members who have joined us in 2024 with a short presentation from each of them and we opened the floor for questions, suggestions and comments.
Two books produced by the UNESCO Chairs of Strasbourg (France) and Montevideo (Uruguay), with which WAMU-NET has been actively collaborating for years, were presented on this occasion. These are ‘Life as a Dance to the Rhythm of Waters’ by Karl M. Wantzen (UNESCO Chair ‘Rivers and Heritage’, University of Strasbourg) – a UNESCO study on biocultural diversity in the world's riverscapes – and ‘A guide to water museums in Latin America and the Caribbean’ by Javier Taks (UNESCO Chair ‘Water and Culture’, Udelar), in cooperation with the UNESCO PHI Regional Office, Montevideo.
Other projects aimed at stimulating new collaborations were presented by Sara Ahmed (Living Waters Museum, India) and Yixin Cao (University of Lyon, France): the ‘Aquamuse’ project (a project based on new collaboration with artistic platforms) and a survey on human-river relationships through museums.
In the spirit of growing WAMU-NET’s membership and fostering communities of practice focusing on different aspects related to water heritage, during our general assembly we invited expressions of interest to join the following committee and drive forward the following strands of work.
- Education Working Group: this group’s work is currently focused on (but not limited to) the online repository for water education;
- Funding Working Group: this group will be dedicated to identifying and pursuing opportunities for core and project-based funding at the international level;
- Art and Water Working Group: this group will focus on deepening the connection between water heritage and art practice through new initiatives spotlighting artists and art organisations whose practice focuses on water, and membership campaigns to grow the artistic constituency of the network.
If you’d like to be part of any of these committees, please contact us at communication@watermuseums.net