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2. World Water Fora - 5th World Water Forum

2.1 Why hold a 5th Forum? What is new and different about it? What is its added value as compared to previous Fora?

Each Forum can be viewed as a key stepping stone in the road to a water-secure future, but also represents new and different challenges. With each Forum building on the conclusions of the previous one, the three intermediate years serve to further advance the debate and understanding of crucial subjects. From the 500 participants in Marrakech to Mexico City’s 20 000 attendees, it is obvious that interest in the Forum is growing and that it has become the most recognised worldwide event (see above) for water. Despite concrete progress being made, we are far from achieving a water-safe world for all, and as such the task of the World Water Council and the Forum must continue. The Forum focuses on critical water issues in all their dimensions, and if in 2006 the main issue was about “local authorities”, today it is about bridging divides for water — bringing people together from different perspectives to find solutions together to improve access to water and sanitation for all.

2.2 What are the commitments / decisions / main findings of past Fora?

The 1st World Water Forum, organised in Marrakech, Morocco in 1997, served to outline the huge dimension of the world water crisis. The Marrakech Declaration gave the WWC a mandate to develop a “World Water Vision” (Long Term Vision for Water, Life and Environment in the 21st Century), as a first step towards solving this crisis. After extensive work the “Vision” was published in 2000 and presented at the 2nd World Water Forum.

In 2000, the 2nd World Water Forum in The Hague, Netherlands, generated a significant debate on the Water Vision for the Future and its associated Framework for Action. It proposed the establishment of a monitoring team to survey the efforts of the global water community in converting the Vision into actions and to report to the 3rd Forum on ongoing progress. As a result, the “World Water Actions” report, an inventory and analysis of 3000 actions on the ground, was published in 2003. It demonstrated the considerable efforts of people all around the world to address many critical water issues. For the first time a Ministerial meeting was held that yielded the identification of the most important problems to be dealt with.

In March 2003, the 3rd World Water Forum in Kyoto, Shiga and Osaka, Japan, clearly stated its resolution to involve all stakeholders through, for example, the creation of a “Virtual Water Forum” and the gathering of thousands of testimonies through the “Water Voices” As a follow-up to the 2nd Forum, the Council presented its “World Water Actions” Report. By gathering more than 24,000 participants, the 3rd World Water Forum was the largest water-related event ever organised. One hundred and thirty ministers attended the Ministerial Conference. An ad-hoc Portfolio of Water Actions including several hundred local or regional commitments were made and published later on a dedicated web site. Each Forum session organiser developed a list of concrete actions to be implemented in the near future.

2.3 What was accomplished in Mexico? What are the messages from this 4th Forum?

The 4th World Water Forum in Mexico gathered 20,000 people from throughout the world in 206 working sessions, where a total of 530 local actions were presented.

The 4th Forum expanded a political process that moved beyond only Ministerial meetings to engaging parliamentarians and local officials from around the World; the political elements that are necessary or taking real water actions. This will be expanded in the 5th Forum in Istanbul.

In addition to the Forum’s framework themes, the important topics of the Right to Water and, for the first time, the involvement of Local Authorities and Parliamentarians also emerged. A Synthesis Report of the Forum provides the main messages, lessons learnt, and key recommendations presented in all the events that comprised the Forum:

  • The provision of water and sanitation services is primarily a local affair.
  • Appropriate governance is a prerequisite for quality water services.
  • Solidarity mechanisms should be further developed.
  • The institutional, financial, technical and professional capacities of local governments must be strengthened.
  • It is essential to set up rules, coordinate policies, and promote equitable approaches between different regions at national or supra-national levels.
  • Parliamentarians have a strong role to play in proposing and voting water policies and relevant legislation.

Several important recommendations were made, but it is mainly through the reflections triggered by the debate and through the many partnerships that were initiated that future action has been influenced.

2.4 What are the objectives and ultimate goals for the 5th Forum? What would be considered a success for this Forum? What type of finalization will be held at the end of the Forum week?

The 5th World Water Forum aims at “bridging divides” between all regions, all stakeholders, all sectors of the world. A most important goal is to bridge the gap between the technical and political communities at all levels. As such, it is pivotal to the success of the Forum that there be balanced participation, especially including young people, NGOs, women, etc. A successful Forum would assemble the greatest possible variety of people to discuss common solutions to critical issues.

However, the success of the Forum is not necessarily measured in terms of the number or quality of participants or debates, but their impact on water policies and actions around the world. As such, a successful Forum would be one in which, as a direct consequence of the Forum Week, a large number of communities around the world are provided with improved drinking water and sanitation services.

To do so, the recommendations from previous Fora must be transformed into concrete actions, which could also be scaled-up and implemented throughout the world. Furthermore, this can only be achieved if the leaders of the world treat water as an urgent issue and take effective action as a consequence.