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Water is an essential resource for life and must be secured for all populations. Climate change, however, is a threat to water security, as it impacts water resources first and foremost through unpredictable rainfall and floods, water shortages and droughts.Across the world, climate change further increases the intensity and frequency of natural disasters and water-related extreme events. These events further exacerbate existing freshwater quality and quantity challenges. Systematically addressing these challenges is, therefore, key to adapting to climate change and reducing the negative impacts of water-related disasters. In addition to basic needs, water is also fundamental for food security, human health, energy production, industrial productivity, biodiversity and virtually every activity that supports prosperity and resilience. The importance of helping governments and partners improve water security, in particular in least developed countries, is evident, as those populations are the most vulnerable and are already highly exposed to extreme climate phenomena and will be the most affected by them. These are the same populations with the least capacity to respond and adapt. Despite the obvious importance of water within climate change phenomena, these linkages have for a long time been ignored in international climate summits. Water was not even mentioned in the Paris Climate Agreement adopted in 2015 at COP21. Even within the Global Climate Action Agenda, water is only found implicitly under a number of other themes, in particular that of “resilience”, but water does not benefit from its own specific category. However, when we take a closer look at the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions that countries submitted to support the implementation of the Agreement in their countries, we see that 93 per cent of them contain references to water. That focus on water must remain as countries confirm their Nationally Determined Contributions and move towards their implementation plans. Therefore, water deserves greater attention from the UNFCCC, and other avenues must be pursued to make water more visible when it comes to climate.PROFESSOR BENEDITO BRAGA, PRESIDENT, THE WORLD WATER COUNCIL CLIMATE IS WATER“ WATER DESERVES GREATER ATTENTION FROM THE UNFCCC, AND OTHER AVENUES MUST BE PURSUED TO MAKE WATER MORE VISIBLE WHEN IT COMES TO CLIMATE”064 WATER SECURITY