The conference organised by the World Water Council in mid-March was intended as an international forum for debating on water- related challenges. National governments were given the opportunity to attune their future water policies to each other and formulate them in a Ministerial Statement. Not only experts and industry representatives, but also NGOs wanted their social and ecological demands to be taken into account in the opinion-making process. More than 250 local and regional government representatives had gathered to highlight their contributions to a properly functioning water management and health care system and exchange ideas and experiences.
The Local and Regional Authorities’ Day coordinated by the two umbrella organisations UCLG and ICLEI was reserved for the debates. The main issues to be tackled were how to adequately organise water supply, how to cope with the consequences of climate change and how to respond to the sanitation challenges in the large, fast-growing cities.
A special session was dedicated to the human right to adequate water supply and wastewater disposal requested by various NGOs. The outcome of the debates was formulated in the Istanbul Water Consensus, in which the towns and regions express their commitment to take the lead in implementing a sustainable water management system.
The document also contains a list of criteria which shall support towns and cities in achieving this goal. The approval of the document will be followed by an implementation process in which the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) is essentially involved. A leading role is taken by the so-called “Champion Cities”; these are major cities that have already advanced on their road towards sustainability and assume the role as “ambassadors” of the Consensus in their region.
At European level, the first cities passing on their know-how and promoting cooperation between the local authorities will be Paris, Lyon, Lausanne, Rotterdam and Vienna. A download of all important documents is available on the website http://content.world waterforum5.org/files/PoliticalProcess/.
When the 5th World Water Forum ended, local and regional government representatives were disappointed to see that the Ministerial Statement had found little acknowledgement for the work programmes accomplished or projected by their departments. The CEMR mainly criticises that the Ministerial Statement contains little about the outcome of the two-day Local and Regional Authorities’ Day and nothing at all about the Istanbul Water Consensus.
Compared to the 2006 World Water Forum in Mexico City, it is a step back, the CEMR concluded. Harsh criticism also comes from NGOs. Martin Geiger of WWF Germany was taken by surprise by the overwhelming presence of hydropower lobbyists. He regrets that the World Water Forum was “abused” by Turkey to rally allies for the partly rather controversial dam projects in the country.
Geiger also criticises that the Ministerial Statement contains mainly platitudes while lacking the action plan so urgently needed to get a grip on the looming global water crisis. Not included in the declaration is the human right to water nor the guarantee of nature's access to water. The host country is also criticised for police intervention and for the expulsion of protesters from the country before the start of the conference.
To the WWF, the World Water Forum had one single positive aspect: the announcement by mainly West African and Middle East states to ratify the UN Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes.
(Source: aqua press Int. 2/2009, Marie Bullet und Mag. Christof Hahn)
