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4th World Water Forum
Mexico City | March 16-22, 2006
World Water Forum Opens in Mexico
The 4th World Water Forum opened on Thursday, 16 March 2006 in Mexico
City, Mexico, and will continue until Wednesday, 22 March 2006. As the
main international event on freshwater, the Forum seeks to enable
multi-stakeholder participation and dialogue to influence water
policy making at a global level, in pursuit of sustainable development.
The Forum's main theme, "Local actions for a global
challenge," will be addressed through five framework themes: water
for growth and development; implementing integrated water resources
management (IWRM); water supply and sanitation for all; water management
for food and the environment; and risk management. Over 200 thematic
sessions are scheduled, and more than 11,000 participants are expected
to attend, representing governments, UN agencies, intergovernmental and
non-governmental organizations (NGOs), academia, industry, indigenous
groups, youth and the media.
Above: President Vicente Fox Quesada of Mexico addressed participants
during the opening plenary.
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Thursday, 16 March
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Opening Plenary
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Cristóbal Jaime Jáquez, Co-Chair of the 4th World Water
Forum, emphasized the importance of water to national security, the
need for long-term vision on water management, and the need to enable
people to face water and development challenges based on cooperation
and tolerance.
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Loïc Fauchon, President of the World Water Council (WWC) and
Co-Chair of the 4th World Water Forum, stressed that lack of access to
safe drinking water and poor water quality are unacceptable, and that
the right to water is indispensable to human dignity.
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Prince of Orange Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands stressed that
global water challenges must be met with local actions. He highlighted
water-related findings of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, urged
implementation of IWRM, and stressed consideration of water issues in
energy, agriculture and other policies.
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King Hassan II Prize
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Mohamed Eyazghi, Morocco's Minister of Environment, introduced the
King Hassan II Great World Water Prize. He announced that the international
jury had selected Torkil Jønch-Clausen (Denmark) for his scientific
excellence and support for international cooperation and solidarity in
the field of water. In his acceptance remarks, Jønch-Clausen
stressed that his award is a result of cooperation between the Danish
Government, the DHI-Water & Environment and the Global Water
Partnership, and announced that the Prize money would be used to fund
women from developing countries to study water issues.
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Roundtable: Introduction to the 4th World Water Forum
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Margaret Catley-Carlson, Chair of the Global Water Partnership,
introduced the panel and the Compendium's six vital areas: water
operators partnership; financing; sanitation; monitoring and
reporting; IWRM; and disaster measures.
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José Angel Gurría Treviño, incoming Secretary
General of the
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), emphasized
that although practices and commitments have been adopted, flows of
financing have not occurred.
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Sojo Garza-Aldape speculated on the implications of showing the
real price of water transport as a subsidy that is mainly given to
high-income areas, and underscored the need for transparency in
information for improved decision making.
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Pedro Arrojo Agudo, President of the New Culture of Water Foundation,
stressed that access to drinking water is not so much a financial but a
political and democratic problem. Drawing attention to the various
values assigned to water, he said that part of the problem has been
prioritizing profit above access to water as a human right.
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Julia Carabias Lillo, Coordinator of the Programme on Water, Environment
and Society, National Autonomous University of Mexico/El Colegio de
Mexico, said that although there have been various attempts at
decentralization, experience is scarce. She stressed the need for real
participation to enable legitimate organization.
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On actions that can be taken at the UN level, Manuel Dengo said the
problem is the absence of a mechanism that can accelerate the
translation of global policies into actions that reflect local needs. He
said local demands must meet top-level policies at a common point of
agreement.
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Special Presentation "From the 3rd to the 4th Forum"
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Ryutaro Hashimoto, Chair of the 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. He underlined recent
global water-related developments since the 3rd Forum, including: the
launch of the UN 2005-2015 International "Water for Life"
Decade; the establishment of the UN Advisory Board on Water and
Sanitation; discussions at the twelfth and thirteenth sessions of the UN
Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) focusing on water and
sanitation; and the African Ministerial Conference on Water. Hashimoto
highlighted shortcomings in meeting the 3rd Forum's commitments, and
concluded by calling for concrete action to resolve global water
problems.
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Around the Forum
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IISD's Xenya Cherny Scanlon and Kimo Goree congratulated Achim Steiner, IUCN
Director General, on his election minutes before by the United Nations
General Assembly as the new Executive Director of the UN Environment
Programme (UNEP).
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The opening ceremonies featured music and traditional dances of Mexico.
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More Information
4th World Water Forum Site
Conference Program
World Water Council
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Related Links
3rd World Water
Forum,
Kyoto, Shiga and Osaka, Japan, March 2003
Ramsar Convention on Wetlands
Ramsar COP-9,
Kampala, Uganda, November 2005
3rd Global
Conference on Oceans, Coasts and Islands,
Paris, France, January 2006
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