River Governance Satellite Event

Satellite Event – Rivers Without Borders: Rethinking Governance in a Changing World

Symposium Satellite Event #7

Date: Thursday 17 September 2026
Time: 10 – 11:30 am EDT | 3 – 4:30 pm BST | 4 – 5:30 pm CEST

This interactive, online event was delivered in collaboration with the International Joint Commission.

Rivers connect us across borders, and governance must evolve to keep pace with a changing world. Rivers are the lifeblood of the landscapes, communities and economies they run through, but climate volatility, development pressure and hydrological unpredictability are testing governance systems built for calmer conditions. 

This event brought together the International Joint Commission (IJC), the Murray–Darling Basin Authority (MDBA), the European Commission (EC) and University of Waterloo (UW) to ask how governance can evolve to strengthen cooperation, resilience, trust and shared stewardship across jurisdictions. 

The three case studies and the synthesis and closing reflections showed how key governance institutions are evolving to meet today’s river and water management challenges, and underscored the need for continual adaptation, vigilance and inclusion of all actors.

The key takeaway?

Reconnecting to rivers, and to each other, is how governance keeps up with a changing world. Every speaker, in different ways, arrived at the same place: durable river governance depends less on any single treaty or technical fix than on humility, relationships and a willingness to keep adapting together across borders. 

Our Satellite Event Series will lead into the 27th International River Symposium (IRS).
Delivered in partnership with Conservation Ontario, IRS 2027 will take place from 20 – 23 September 2027 in Toronto, Canada.

Our satellite event series is proudly sponsored by AmaWaterways and Suntory.