Pan-Regional Process of the Americas towards the 7th World Water Forum
Source: International Affairs Division ANEAS
The most important global water event due to its high capacity to convene a diverse range
of stakeholders engaged in water study, research, technology development, design of
public policies and legal instruments, regulation, management, etc., is to be held again
after its last edition in 2012: the World Water Forum.
The Forum’s seventh edition will be held in Korea in 2015 and for the first time in April.
The preparatory work has commenced; the next step is the 2nd Consultation Meeting in
Gyeongju, Korea on 27 and 28 February. The International Steering Committee has
confirmed the Forum will continue to have 4 pillar processes: Thematic, Political, Regional
and Scientific-Technological the latter recently established.
Mexico, through the National Association of Water and Sanitation Utilities (ANEAS) has
been permanently active in the Regional Process, the World Water Council (WWC)
assigned to ANEAS the task of implementing the Regional Processes in the Americas,
responsibility which ANEAS has undertaken in the 5th and 6th World Water Forum in Turkey
and France respectively. For the 7th Forum, the synergy between the National Water
Commission (CONAGUA) and ANEAS, will lead the Regional Process across the
Americas.
Although the Regional Process officially commenced work from the 2nd Consultation
Meeting, some actions to advance the regional positioning towards the Korean Forum have
already been carried out in the Americas. The first one under the framework of the 10th
National Committees and Focal Points Meeting of the UNESCO International Hydrological
Programme for Latin American and the Caribbean (IHP-LAC), on 2-3 December 2013, in
Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico, where ANEAS and CONAGUA informed the representatives
of the 26 convening countries on the progress of the Preparatory Process of the 7th Forum
and urged them to join the Pan-regional process of Americas.
th
Presentation of the World Water Forum and the Regional Process in the 10 Meeting of National Committees
and Focal Points of UNESCO-IHP-LAC in Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico
A second regional mobilisation took place under the Closing Event of the International
Year of Water Cooperation, during which ANEAS and CONAGUA convened to the 1st
Briefing and Working Meeting of the Pan-regional Process of the Americas on 4
December 2013, with the aim of highlighting the thematic priorities that some stakeholders
deemed appropriate to develop on the road to the 7th WWF and beyond, towards the
construction of the Regional Platform as a basis for future World Water Fora. As part of
the results of the meeting, key conditional factors for the development of process and
some thematic priorities in the region were identified.
1st Briefing and Working Meeting of the Pan-regional process of the Americas, Mexico City, 4 December 2013
The third mobilising action, the 2nd Briefing and Working Meeting was organised under the
framework of the 7th International Congress 2014 "An International Perspective on Water
and Environmental Resources" organised by the Environmental Water Resources Institute
(EWRI-ASCE) on 7 January 2014 in Quito, Ecuador. During this meeting, the Pan-regional
process of the Americas coordination presented a preliminary working proposal for the
region, highlighting the characteristics, objectives, phases and initial work schedule of the
Process Pan-regional towards the 7th WWF.
Input from these meetings will be taken to the meeting in Gyeoungju, Korea in order to feed
the discussions arising specifically on the regional process, which, together with the
guidelines established by the International Steering Committee and the Regional Process
Committee, will contribute to the definition of the terms in which the regional processes will
be developed throughout the world.
nd
2 Briefing and Working Meeting n the 7th World Water Forum and the Pan-regional Process
of the Americas, Quito, Ecuador.