World Water Forum Promises New Wave of Action

MEXICO CITY, Mexico, March 17, 2006 (ENS) - Urgent actions are needed to guarantee the present and future supply of water for all humanity, Mexican President Vicente Fox said Thursday, welcoming some 11,000 participants from 120 nations to the 4th World Water Forum. Water usage increased six-fold during the 20th century, twice the rate of population growth.

"Humanity depends on a deep change of attitude that encourages a new culture based on shared responsibility for the care and distribution of this vital liquid with fairness," the President said.

Delegates gathered at the Banamex Convention Center to discuss and adopt public policies for the management of fresh water. Held once every three years, the Forum is an initiative of the World Water Council, which aims to raise awareness of water issues worldwide through seven days of forums, panels, and networking.

President of Mexico Vincente Fox welcomes some 11,000 delegates to the opening of the 4th World Water Forum. (Photo courtesy Office of the President)

Within that overarching theme, Forum participants will address the issues through five framework themes - water for growth and development, implementing integrated water resources management, water supply and sanitation for all, water management for food and the environment, and risk management.

A ministerial conference to be held later in the week has attracted the participation of 121 ministers, conference organizers said. The Water Fair, and the World Water Expo will also take place during the week-long event.

"For Mexico, this experience will facilitate progress in the formulation of appropriate public policy and in the adoption of concrete solutions that have proven to be successful in other latitudes," said Cristóbal Jaime Jáquez, Director General for the National Water Commission of Mexico.

At a supper for dignitaries at the Palace of the Castle of Chapultepec Thursday night, President Fox told his guests, "Mexico recognizes, along with all you, the urgency to engage in a dialog and to make right agreements on the present and the future supply of water."

"We have decided to center the attention of the world on battles of local significance, convinced that thanks to them we have approached the objectives and commitments of the Millenium," President Fox said.

"Humanity cannot permit one of every five inhabitants on Earth to lack fresh water, clean and sufficient," President Fox told his guests, who included Moroccan Prime Minister Driss Jettou, Crown Prince Naruhito of Japan; Prince Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands, heir apparent to the Dutch throne; and President of the World Water Council Loïc Fauchon.

In his opening address to the Forum earlier in the day, Fauchon said, "Water, which has brought us together here, is a topic of major subject of concern, a subject of worry, and sometimes even a subject of discord."

"Water is endangered, and with it, so are we," said Fauchon. "For the situation made for water in the world is unacceptable."

"Unacceptable is the lack of water or its poor quality which, last year, caused 10 times more deaths than all the wars waged on the planet together."

Since March 2005, Loïc Fauchon of France has presided over the World Water Council based in Marseille. (Photo courtesy courtesy of Leila Mead/IISD)

The World Health Organization/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme estimates indicate that 1.1 billion people still do not have access to an adequate supply of drinking water and some 2.6 billion do not have access to basic sanitation. These people are among the world’s poorest, and over half of them live in China or India.

In addition, seven million people die of waterborne diseases every year.

Still, on a global scale the world has plenty of freshwater, although it is unevenly distributed, according to a United Nations World Water Development Report released last week in advance of the Forum.

A joint effort of 24 UN agencies and entities involved in water resources management, the report says it is governance systems that "determine who gets what water, when and how, and decide who has the right to water and related services."

Governance, as used in the report, means not only formal government bodies, but local authorities, the private sector and civil society. They make decisions on the full range of issues connected to water - health and food security, economic development, land use and the preservation of the natural ecosystems on which water resources depend.

Although there is plenty of water on Earth, "mismanagement, limited resources and environmental changes mean that almost one-fifth of the planet’s population still lacks access to safe drinking water and 40 percent lack access to basic sanitation," the report states.

Ryutaro Hashimoto, chair of the newly established UN Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation, said the world is experiencing a water crisis that demands immediate action, and that most of the Millennium Development Goals cannot be achieved without solving water problems. (Photo courtesy Leila Mead/IISD)

At the current rate of progress, regions such as sub-Saharan Africa will not meet the UN Millenium Development Goal (MDG) of halving, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water. The MDG target of halving, by 2015, the proportion of people without basic sanitation will not be met globally if present trends persist.

According to the report "mismanagement, corruption, lack of appropriate institutions, bureaucratic inertia and a shortage of new investments in building human capacity as well as physical infrastructure" are responsible for this situation.

In many places of the world, "a colossal 30 to 40 percent or more of water goes unaccounted for, through water leakages in pipes and canals and illegal connections," the report states.

Although there are no accurate figures, it is estimated that political corruption costs the water sector millions of dollars every year and undermines water services, especially to the poor. The report cites a survey in India for example, in which 41 percent of the customer respondents had made more than one small bribe in the past six months to falsify meter readings, 30 percent had made payments to expedite repair work, and 12 percent had made payments to expedite new water and sanitation connections.

"Good governance is essential for managing our increasingly stretched supplies of freshwater and indispensable for tackling poverty," says UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura. "There is no one blueprint for good governance, which is both complex and dynamic. But we know that it must include adequate institutions – nationally, regionally and locally, strong, effective legal frameworks and sufficient human and financial resources."

It also requires "essential freedoms, like the freedom of speech and the right to organize," says the report, which stresses that, "If citizens cannot access basic information on water quality and quantity, it seriously curtails their chances of halting environmentally unsound water projects or to hold relevant government agencies accountable."

"Water, a shared responsibility," will be formally presented by the UNESCO Director-General, on behalf of the United Nations, to the Fourth World Water Forum in Mexico City on March 22, World Water Day.

Torkil Jønch-Clausen (left) accepts the King Hassan II Great World Water Prize from Moroccan Environment Ministery Mohamed Eyazghi. (Photo courtesy Leila Mead/IISD)

In his acceptance speech, Jønch-Clausen said his award is a result of cooperation between the Danish government, DHI-Water and Environment, and the Global Water Partnership. He announced that the US$100,000 in prize money would be used to fund women from developing countries to study water issues.

Created in 2000, the King Hassan II Great World Water Prize is an international award jointly established by the Government of Morocco and the World Water Council, in memory of his Majesty King Hassan II of Morocco's leadership and encouragement of cooperation and sound management of water resources.

At the closing ceremony of the Forum on March 22, the Kyoto World Water Grand Prize of US$45,000 will be awarded for the first time to an individual or organization that has carried out activities on the community level to address critical needs related to water.

Find out more at the World Water Council: http://www.worldwatercouncil.org/