PSIPW sent a party-level delegate to the Conference of the parties (COP), the 27th iteration of which took place in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, from 6 to 20 November 2022.

The COP27 summit brought parties together to to take action towards achieving the world's collective climate goals as agreed under the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

PSIPW was represented by its current 2022 Water Management Prize laureate, Dr. Matthew McCabe, Professor of Remote Sensing and Water Security, as well as Director of the Climate and Livability Initiative, at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Thuwal, Saudi Arabia. Professor McCabe advised on “harnessing Earth observation for food and water security”, which is imperilled by population growth coupled with climate change.  

PSIPW has sent a party-level delegate to COP since 2016. In previous years, the PSIPW delegate has advised COP on the impact of climate change on groundwater management and on effective rain and floodwater harvesting in storage under the uncertainties of climate change, and on unlocking private capital in efforts to ameliorate the effects of climate change on water resources.

Professor McCabe and his colleagues Dr. Rasmus Houborg and Dr. Bruno Aragon, won PSIPW’s Water Management & Protection Prize in 2022 for employing CubeSat constellations in the sustainable management and security of linked water-food systems, culminating in the highest resolution estimates of agricultural water with global coverage at unprecedented spatial and temporal resolutions.

Professor McCabe’s work involves the sustainable management and security of linked water-food systems: particularly, the accurate mapping and accounting of (irrigated) agricultural water use. Over the last few years, this work has culminated in the production of the highest resolution estimates of agricultural water use produced from space, offering global coverage at unprecedented spatial and temporal resolutions.