Events of the past year — torrential floods, exhausting droughts, deadly heat waves — sharpened focus that society must adapt to these climate changes. This recognition is pushing adaptation up the agenda in the weeks preceding the United Nation’s 26th Climate Conference in Glasgow, which runs from October 31 to November 12. Some have taken to calling the conference the “adaptation convention.”

Water advocates view the attention to adaptation as an opportunity. Water has been relatively neglected in past UN climate conventions, even though the consequences of climate change will largely be felt through deficits and surpluses of water.

Despite intimate connections through droughts and floods, water experts and officials making decisions about responding to climate change are often not in the same room. This time around, water experts are working to shatter the wall.