World Water Forum: Diverse Background and Perspectives United for Water Management

World Water Forum: Diverse Background and Perspectives United for Water Management

Water is one of our basic sources of life. Our planet is covered by 70% water. From this percentage, only 2.5% of it is freshwater, which industries, agriculture sector, and households can utilize. This is quite a small number. But it does not end there. Three-quarters of this freshwater is trapped in form of ice and snow. The measly one-fourth is what we can really use. But as years passed, our water resources have slowly deteriorated. Instead of fishes and aquatic life residing in lakes or rivers, garbage, industrial and human wastes had been the permanent “residents” ever since the Industrial Revolution came up.
Certain efforts should be undertaken to help solve, or even just minimize the problem we are facing regarding our water resources. Various sectors of the society, the government or NGOs, should take part in finding ways to save what is still left for us. People of different backgrounds and perspectives should work hand-in-hand for the sake of our environment, and for the whole world. This is where the World Water Forum comes in.

What is the World Water Forum?
The World Water Forum (WWF) is a gathering of water experts and environmentalists aimed at solving water issues such as shortage and pollution. It is held tri-annually in different host countries. It already had three sessions held in Marrakesh, Morocco (1997), The Hague, Netherlands (2000), and this year in three Japanese cities: Kyoto, Shiga, and Osaka.
The Forum is a brainchild of the World Water Council. Its aim in forming the WWF is to promote awareness of critical water issues, both through the activities of the member organizations, and its own events. The WWF is the most important event in gathering water professionals and stakeholders to discuss water management.

How was it conceived?
In 1987, the Brundtland Commission (the World Commission on Environment and Development) identified in its report entitled “Our Common Future” that water is a key issue among the other global environmental concern. At the Water and Environmental Conference held in 1992 at Dublin and at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, also held in that year, discussions on water and the importance of securing freshwater resources, respectively, were extensive. These discussions were triggered by a) the realization that international cooperation on water resources are inadequate to the task of responding to disasters such as flood, droughts, and pollution of surface and underground water, b) the world’s water resources are badly managed, and c) the need to gather together all water experts, professionals, and stakeholders for the discussion of issues related to our water resources.
As a response to this, two international organizations were established in 1996: the World Water Council (WWC) and the Global Water Partnership (GWP). The GWP was created to support integrated resource management in developing countries through the joint support of some international funding organizations. The WWC, on the other hand, is the international think-tank for water issues. Being so, it organized the WWF to address the need of gathering all professionals, stakeholders, and water experts to discuss and solve water issues.

What were the objectives and themes of this year’s Forum?
This year, the 3rd WWF, held in March 2003 in three neighboring Japanese cities- Kyoto, Shiga, Osaka- had participants from environmentally-focused NGOs, labor groups, social activists, consumer advocates, and individuals or groups representing the civil society. Government, business, and multilateral development organizations prearranged this forum through consortia.
The forum aimed to: raise the importance of water on the political agenda; support the intensified discussions towards solving international water issues in the 21st Century; formulate concrete proposals and at the same time, make them known to the whole world; and, generate political commitment.

The 3rd WWF was an eight-day affair with 351 sessions on the following different major themes:

1. Agriculture, Food, and Water
2. Financing Water Infrastructure
3. Floods
4. Groundwater
5. Integrated Water Resources Management and Basin Management
6. Water and Cities
7. Water and Climate
8. Water and Cultural Diversity
9. Water and Energy
10. Water and Governance
11. Water and Information
12. Water and Poverty
13. Water for Peace
14. Water Supply, Sanitation, Hygiene and Water Pollution
15. Water and Transport
16. Water, Education, and Capacity Building
17. Water, Food, and Environment
18. Water, Nature, and Environment

Aside from these major themes, the participants also discussed the Regional Days such as the Days of Africa, Day of Asia and Pacific, Day of Europe, Day of the Americas, and Day of the Middle East. They also discussed on the Special Programs like the World Water Actions; World Water Assessment Programme; Water, Life, and Medicine; Agricultural Ministers’ Meeting on Water, Food, and Agriculture; and, Water Parliamentarians. Major groups were also organized. These were the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Panel, Children’s World Water Forum, Gender and Water Panel, Science, Technology, and Management Panel, Water Journalists Panel, and the Youth World Water Forum.

What facts and figures came up during the sessions?
Several statistics came up during the Forum, categorized into the headings as follows:

Water and Sanitation
• 1.4 billion people do not have access to safe water.
• 7 million die yearly because of water-borne diseases, 2.2 million of which are under 5 years of age.
• Daily water use per inhabitant is 600 liters in residential areas in North America and Japan, 250-350 liters in Europe, 10-20 liters for sub-Saharan Africa inhabitants.
• The median percentage of wastewater treated by effective treatment plants by region are: a) Africa-0%, b) Asia-25%, c) Latin America and Caribbean- 14%, d) North America- 90%, and e) Europe- 66%.

Water Resources
• Of the 110,000 billion cubic meters of rainwater that fall on earth, only 40,000 billion cubic meters remain since most of it evaporates before it can be used. But still, a great deal of it is inaccessible, leaving us with 12,500 billion cubic meters.
• Water scarcity today badly affects 250 million people in 26 countries, with each person having access to a yearly volume of less than 1000 cubic meter.
• The geographic breakdown of water withdrawals are: a) Asia- 55%, b) North America- 19%, c) Europe- 9.2%, d) Africa- 4.7%, e) South America- 3.3%, and f) rest of the world- 8.8%.

Water Storage
• There are 25,400 large dams around the world. Of this number, 18,000 are single purpose dams used for food production and the rest are multipurpose dams used for domestic and industrial water supply, and to generate electricity.
• The dams per geographical zone are as follows: a) Africa- 5%, b) North America- 30.61%, c) South America- 2.66%, d) Asia- 33.38, and e) Europe- 24.38%.

Water and Climate
• Floods in 1971-1995 affected more than 1.5 billion people worldwide. From this, 318,000 were killed and 81 million homeless.
• The average global sea level rise from 1990-2100 is expected to be 0.48 meters or 19 inches. This is between twice and four times the rate of rise over the 20th century.

What recommendations or actions were gathered in the Forum?
Generally, the Forum focused on how to bring safe water and sanitation to the entire world. Below are some recommendations and actions provided by the 351 sessions:
1. The highest priority must be given to the provision of safe water.
2. Global goals should be developed into realistic local, national targets for improved sanitation and hygiene, adopting people-centered approaches, and keeping in mind human right to have access to water.
3. Clear policies and institutional frameworks should be developed and strengthened for the improvement of sanitation, safe water supply and hygiene, environmental management also included.
4. Promote the integration of sanitation and pollution control in water resource management.
5. Sanitation facilities and water supply should be simultaneously provided.
6. Watershed management approach should be developed to create a sound water environment.
7. Promote public information and education for the preservation of the water environment.
8. Avoid over-use of ground water supply.
9. Educational institutes and the private sector should cooperatively produce educational materials on water pollution.
10. Agricultural production systems should be developed according to its suitability for natural conditions, especially in mountains and plains.
11. Propose integrated management of floods, droughts, and environmental flows.
12. Develop water resources to meet basic human needs and provide livelihood.

The World Water Forum is not a platform for presenting technical papers, theoretical concepts, or research design. It is a venue for participants to share their experiences on actions and practices that facilitate solutions to water problems. It is also the venue to promote dialogue and interaction between stakeholders for the integration of gained knowledge and experience. Problems are not just simply defined, but they are deeply absorbed by the participants to come up with strategies to solve water problems.
Whether one is a researcher, manager, administrator, policy maker, professional, or a simple citizen, keep in mind that “Water is everybody’s business.” Everyone has the responsibility to take care and maintain our water resources.