Work on the GRoW cross-cutting topics has begun

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With a kick-off event in Berlin, the first three cross-cutting topics in the GRoW programme began their work in March. Three days of exciting and insightful discussions resulted in the first concrete results, including a joint GRoW position paper highlighting what the GRoW projects see as the key challenges to achieving SDG 6. This paper has since been channelled into the current political process on SDG 6 monitoring (such as the UN HLPF meeting in July). In addition, two online meetings (on agricultural irrigation and digitalization) allowed a number of colleagues to exchange ideas and possible avenues for further collaboration.  

Harnessing synergies

Here’s a little reminder about why GRoW partners also work on cross-cutting topics: Although GRoW covers very diverse research areas, a number of thematic and methodological overlaps exist. The cross-cutting topics therefore allow us to harness synergies and share knowledge across the individual projects. The GRoW steering group has defined three topics so far: [SAB1] 

  • Incentive mechanisms in the context of governance
  • Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Hitting the targets
  • Water footprints

The work on these topics doesn’t drive itself, though. It requires partners who are willing to invest time and energy in them, and who want to engage with fellow researchers. Support from the owner of each topic is therefore crucial to keeping up the momentum.

The way forward

A number of online meetings about topics such as digitalization and irrigation agriculture have recently taken place, and the next “real-world” meetings are coming up soon:

  • Water footprints: 27 September, Berlin
  • Incentive mechanisms in the context of governance: 22 October, Frankfurt (tbd)
  • SDGs: Hitting the targets: 11 December, Osnabrück, Germany

These meetings will focus on potential outputs and end results of the joint work on the respective topic. The results could be manifold and might include joint publications, methodological guidelines, or expert events on topics of broader interest.

We’re looking forward to welcoming you to these meetings and to continuing our productive discussions.