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No.32 – January, 2008
News UpdateEditorial
Focus on
100 questions for a Forum
The World Water Forum is not only a simple conference or a week-long gathering. It is a long preparatory pro-cess which takes place over several years, that actively involves the whole water community in an attempt to solve the numerous water-related issues in the world, together,.
The 5th World Water Forum’s ambition is to bring concrete solutions to real problems. The question is, which are the most important questions to debate in Is-tanbul? Once again, we are soliciting your input on what the crucial issues are that should be developed for the Forum in Mars 2009.
On the 5th Forum website, you will find an on-line questionnaire that enables you to vote for the questions you feel are most pertinent as related to each topic, or you may also propose other questions that may be more relevant. These should be as concrete as possible to allow for the provision of political or technical responses. The Forum sessions should provide answers to these questions, your questions.
So, make your voice heard! This Forum is your Forum and it cannot be successful without your contribution. We invite you to visit the 5th World Water Forum website to bring your stone to the stack, or rather your drop to the sea...
http://www.worldwaterforum5.org/index.php?id=2090
AN INTERNATIONAL CHART FOR WATER RELATED DISASTERS
Several tens of thousands of people die every year due to water-related disasters (flooding, tropical storms, land slides, etc). Millions of others find themselves without shelter.
How can we offer protection from these natural disasters? How can we efficiently evaluate and co-ordinate emergency relief? These are the questions that the High Level Expert Panel on Water and Disaster attempted to answer during its gathering in Seoul this week.
The Panel, created under the auspices of the United Nations, will present its conclusions and concrete recommendations at a side event taking place at the 5th World Water Forum in Istanbul.
It is in this context, that the World Water Council has initiated a working programme focusing on the issue of water relief during and following disas-ters. In front of the participants, including the new Prime Minister of Korea, the Council proposed to “establish a method for water relief in emergency situations, to be used by States and large humani-tarian NGOs. This chart would be followed by the edition of a “vade mecum” to promote solutions in terms of devices and material”.
These solutions will be further developed and specified at the Panel’s next meeting, 9-10 June in Marseille.
LOÏC FAUCHON
The WWC Team wishes you all the best for the New Year!
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In the land of the morning calm...
Water and Disasters – Experts gather in South Korea
Just as the Presidential elections in South Korea were coming to an end, the second meeting of the High Level Expert Panel on Water and Disaster met on the 28th and 29th of January in Seoul. Thanks to the commitment of the Korea Water Forum, the hosts of the event were strongly mobilized for this occasion, both at the ministerial and the organiza-tional level. The recommendations from the Panel will be presented in a report aimed at Politicians and Local Managers. The WWC will host the next Panel meeting in June at its Headquarters in Marseilles.
Mr. Loïc Fauchon, took the opportunity to present the Council and the World Water Forum to 30 re-searchers from the Korea Institute of Construction Technology (KICT) who are in charge of water in the country.
Let’s all have a dream...
The World Water Council proposed the esta-blishment of five concrete measures to take action:
- Manage an emergency water chart for crisis and disasters
- Produce a vademecum (handbook) for water and sanitation rescue
- Implementation training programs for natio-nal and local “civil security” officers in charge of water and sanitation rescue
- Promote the water and sanitation rescue concept through media campaigns
- Create an emergency water and sanitation task force for evaluation and coordination. It would be under the umbrella of OCHA and WWC .
30th Board of Governors Meeting
On 25 and 26 January, the WWC Board of Governors convened its 30th meeting in Seoul, Korea, where a warm am-biance reigned despite the chilly temperatures outside. The Governors were cordially welcomed by Dr. Han Seung Soo*, Chair of UNSGAB’s High-Level Panel on Water and Disaster, in which the Council is actively involved. Representing the Korean Ministry of Construction and Transportation, Mr. Won was also given the opportunity to extend a warm welcome to the Council and its Governors.
A majority of the meeting was dedicated to discussing preparations for the 5th World Water Forum and the Governors’ involvement in those activities or in the Council’s other programmatic areas. In addition, a selection procedure for the host country of the 6th Forum was established. On the administrative side, the Board reviewed the Council’s financial situation for 2007, which was very healthy, and approved a provisional budget for 2008. The next Board of Governors meeting will be held in June at the WWC HQ in Marseille.
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*Han Seung-soo appointed Prime Minister of South Korea
The “international gentleman”, Chair of the High-Level Panel on Water and Disaster and Special Envoy of Climate Change of the United Nations Secretary General, was appointed Prime Minister by the elected President Lee Myung-bak on 28 January. Han Seung-soo is internationally known for his long diplomatic and political career as well as for his open-mindedness. As a Former Mi-nister, he multiplied his experiences as Minster of Finances, of Commerce, as the Ambassador in the United States, Chief of Presidential Staff and President of the UN General Assembly in 2001.©
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WWC News
News from members and partners
Delft Symposium: Drafting the Basis for Adaptation to Climate Change
The symposium gathered about 40 participants from all over the world to examine how the issue of adapting to climate change could be handled at the Forum: what kind of preparatory process, the priority themes, what the link to the political process is?
The meeting enabled organisers to discover the expec-ted impacts of climate change on different horizons and how the societies must adapt to respond to change. Topics such as energy, health and agriculture were explored, and the terms of reference for documents in preparation of the Forum were discussed.
The participants further examined how the conclusions to be prepared for the Forum could be used for the 15th preparatory meeting (COP15) of the United Nations Fra-mework Convention on Climate Change that will be held in December 2009.
New Staff at the WWC HQ!
The WWC has the pleasure of welcoming two new recruits for the new year: Daniella Bos-tröm in the communications department and Stephane Simonet, who will be working on mo-nitoring and making the link with the WWAP.
5th Forum Progress Receives Support at UNWater Meeting
Represented by Executive Director, Daniel Zim-mer, the Council met with the main UN agencies involved in UNWater, the Global Water Par-tnership and the World Bank on the 16th of Ja-nuary in Rome. The aim of the UNWater meeting was to discuss the progress of the World Water Assessment Program Report, the Zaragoza exhibition and the advancement of the 5th World Water Forum. Several positive appreciations followed the presentation of the Forum: The focussed process, the links between thematic and political processes and the idea of defining 100 key questions for the future received clear support.
The report on the second European Solidarity Week on Wa-ter, organized in Moldova, from October 1-5, 2007, was recently published on the EWP website: http://www.ewp.eu/index.cfm/site/European%20Water%20Partnership/pageid/F3780664-9023-680A-3E3F3960E059E04B/index.cfm
IWA Awards Sustainable Management of Urban Water
The IWA, a group of Specialists on sustainability in the water sector recently launched a call for candidacy for the 2008 Prize for “Excellence in sustainable urban water ma-nagement”. The deadline for entries is 1June 2008. For more information: http://www.iwahq.org/templates/ld_templates/layout_633184.aspx?ObjectId=669872
First Water Week in Africa
In May 2007 the African Ministers’ Council on Water (AM-COW) decided to institutionalize the African Water Week. The first event is now planned in Tunis from 26-28 March 2008, and is being hosted by The African Development Bank (AfDB). The main objective is to create a forum for African water sector professionals, stakeholders and par-tners under the overall theme “Accelerating Water Security for the Socio-Economic Development of Africa”. For more information please visit:http://www.afdb.org/portal/page?_pageid=473,969995&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL
ONEP Morocco Commercializes Water in Cameroon
In late 2007, the government appointed the Natio-nal Drinking Water Authority (Onep Delta Holding) to operate production, transport, storing, distribution and commercialization of drinking water in Cameroon.
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Barcelona Interested by the Water in Marseille
A team from the Water Management Company, Aguas de Barcelona, recently met with The Marseille Water Supply Company to investigate the possibility of trans-ferring water by ship from the French harbour. Water was already transported from Marseille to Sardinia en 1989 and 1990 and another project, in 2000, in which the possibility of sending water to Alger was conside-red, was cancelled . For more information: http://cat.novopress.info/?p=1847
The WSSCC and SIWI Launches a Call for Candidacy to the Second
“WASH Media Award”. This contest, which is an activity falling under the International Year of Sanitation, is an open invitation to journalists from developing countries who are invited to send their publications and rarticles on water supply, sanita-tion or hygiene (WASH) in their respective coun-tries. For more information on the contest:www.wsscc.org/en/media/wash-media-awards
Message from Beppu
During the 1st Asia-Pacific Water Summit in Beppu, the leaders of 36 countries in the Asia-Pacific showed their commitment to making a difference in water management. They agreed to several points, including recognizing peo-ple’s right to safe drinking-water and basic sanitation as well as taking urgent and effective action to prevent and reduce the risk of flood, drought and other water-related disasters. To read the message from the leaders of Beppu, please visit the APWF’s website: http://www.apwf.org/
In brief
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Turkey and Syria Discuss Euphrate
During a visit to the Turkish capital in the beginning of January in the presence of the Turkish Minister of Forestry and Environment, Dr Veysel Eroglu:, the Syrian Prime Minister, Abdullah Dardari, raised the issue of the drought that seized his country in 2007 and the sharing of the water from the Euphrates:http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=130715
Bali Roadmap Adopted
The United Nations conference on Climate Change in Bali brought together representatives of over 180 countries during two weeks in December. Positive ratifications, difficult negotiations and establishment of new processes to create a sustainable future were on the agenda. The meeting ended on a high note with agreement on a Bali roadmap which charts the course for a new negotiating process to be concluded by 2009 that will ultimately lead to a post-2012 international agreement on climate change. Read more: http://unfccc.int/meetings/cop_13/items/4049.php
Collaborative Competition
Ashoka’s Changemakers and Global Water Challenge have partnered to open a worldwide search for ideas and projects aiming to transform the provision of sanitation and water. « Tapping Local Innovation: Unclogging the Water and Sanitation Crisis» is a collaborative competi-tion, which means that entries are posted online and are available for anyone to view and to contribute. Deadline for entries is by March 26, 2008.http://www.changemakers.net/en-us/competition/wate-randsanitation
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In brief
Agenda
Africa Regional Working Conference on Gender, Water, Sanitation and sustainable livelihoods10-14 February 2008 - BostwanaOrganisation : Women’s Land and Water Rights in Southern Africa (WLWRSA) & Women for Water Partnership http://www.wlwrsa.org/ARWCProgramme_outline.pdf
AfricaSan 200818-20 February 2008 - Durban, South AfricaOrganisation: BAD, WSP, CMACE, UNICEF, OMS, CREAChttp://www.africasan2008.net/
3rd General Meeting of the Network of Asian River Basin Organizations20-22 February 2008 - Solo, IndonesiaOrganisation : NARBOInformations : http://adb.org/Documents/events/2008/3rd-NARBO-Meeting/default.asp
A Few Acronyms
WWAP- World Water Assessment Programme
OCHA - Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
GWP - Global Water Partnership
EWP - European Water Partnership
WHO - World Health Organisation
NARBO - Network of Asian River Basin Organizations
IAHR - International Association of Hydraulic Engineering
WSSCC - Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council
Publications
Where to meet?
2nd Regional & Thematic Coordinators Meeting for the 5th World Water Forum7-8 February 2008 - Istanbul, Turkey
14th African Water Association Congress 25-29 February 2008 - Cotonou, BeninLoïc Fauchon
A Seminar on Urban Waters
The 7th World Wide Workshop for Young Environmental Scientists will be organized around the theme: “Resource or risk- a developing country’s perspective” in Paris 12-16 March 2008 in the framework of the 9th «Water Universi-ty» of the Val-de-Marne county. More information on their website: http://www.enpc.fr/cereve/www-yes/
Request for proposals - Integrating household water treatment and indoor air pollution interventions
The WHO is planning to fund two pilot projects in the ranging from US$ 30,000 to US$ 60,000 to encourage the thinking about, and implementation of innovative approa-ches for integrating household water treatment and indoor air quality interventions in sub-Saharan Africa. Deadline for receipt of proposals is 15 February 2008.
«Water Engineering in Ancient Civilizations 5000 years of History» - by Pierre-Louis Viollet. For its new publication, the IAHR offers 10% discount for WWC members. Contact Katarina: [email protected].
“Policy Brief on Intelligent Water Strategies for Adapting to Climate Change” - published in 2007, this brief from Mike Muller suggests that the best approach to manage the impact of climate change on water is one guided by the philosophy and metho-dology of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM). http://www.gwpforum.org/servlet/PSP?iNodeID=232&iFromNodeID=102
China’s Water Crisis (Zhongguo shui weiji) – The author describes in great detail the floods, water scarcity, and pollution problems existing in all seven of China’s major drainage basins—large and small—and propo-ses workable solutions for sustaina-ble management.
Please feel free to send your press releases, publication & event
announcements, etc. to be published in the WWC News Update to:
Mélanie Giard, CommunicationTel.: +33 (0)4 91 99 41 00 Fax: +33 (0)4 91 99 41 01
E-mail: [email protected]
World Water Council : Espace Gaymard, 2-4 Place d’Arvieux, 13002 Marseille, France
World Water Council - News Update
