Session Report Cover Sheet
SESSION CODE: WACT - 01
Name of Convener(s): guerquin
DATE:
Session Title: World Water Actions
16 - March, 2003
Accommodation:
Contact information
Contact No.:
in Japan
Contact E-mail:
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Session Report
SESSION CODE: WACT - 01
Reporter/Rapporteur:
Contact E-mail :
1. Key Issues
Thousands of innovative water projects are being undertaken around the world, since the Second World
Water Forum. Some of them are the follow-up of specific commitments made in this Second Forum, but
most are just the expression of the water community willingness to address the issues facing world
water.
Water people may be stimulated to learn how other people faced with similar issues are tackling the
problems; they may also be interested to get in touch and exchange with their colleagues on these
issues.
Participants from some organizations expressed their views that main issues are dam construction and
private sector involvement.
2. Actions
Both to monitor the commitments made during the Second World Water Forum, and more generally to
stimulate for further actions by disseminating information on the current actions, the World Water Council
initiated the bold undertaking of reporting on all water actions throughout the world. The results have
been presented in the session in the form of an actions database available on a CD-ROM and at
www.worldwatercouncil.org/search_actions.php, and in the form of a report “World Water Actions”.
To allow for an efficient search and answer the preoccupations quoted above, the database has been
designed so as to allow for sorting, either by theme or/and by geographical area.
3. Commitments
The World Water Council is committed to publish a post-Forum version that will incorporate as much as
possible comments and results of discussion during the Forum. In the session, main suggestions were to
evaluate individual actions; to give a possibility to find the best practices and to recommend actions; to
give hints on how replicable actions are, probably by doing research on prototype actions; to make
proposal for a Water Index in the same spirit that the UNDP Development Index.
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At least two of the 13 recommendations made by the author team triggered reactions by the World Water
Council Board of Governors, which endorsed corresponding commitments:
RECOMMENDATION 13: “ International Institutions to establish a global monitoring system covering the
state of water resources, activities in the water sector, and progress towards the Millenniul Development
Goals”: World Water Council is to participate to an effort to link global monitoring, with cooperation
envisioned with the UN system and all interested NGOs, as a follow-up of the current Water Action Unit
work. The suggestions made by participants, mainly for indicator setting, will be considered.
RECOMMENDATION 5: “International institutions to deepen understanding and expand public
awareness of the benefits of water and improved water management “: World Water Council is to launch
a study to quantify the benefits of water and sound water management.
Finally Saudi Arabia committed itself to launch the Prince Sultan Bin AbdulAziz International Prize for
Water, with 5 awards individually worth $133,000 to be awarded in October 2004 (more information on
www.psipw.org).
4. Recommendations
Out of this analysis the author team emitted 13 recommendations that the World Water Council is to
push forward to the Ministerial Conference.
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