4th World Water Forum Mexico 2006

OFFICIAL OUTCOMES

During the closing plenary of the Forum, Alejandro Encinas, Mayor of Mexico City, expressed hope that the Forum's outcomes would make water a national priority and noted the important role of public participation and local authorities in Mexico's water governance. He concluded by stressing that water should be seen as a common public good and not as a commodity. 

INITIATIVES ANNOUNCED

  • 2008 International Year of Sanitation, UN Sanitation Prize, and 2015 global sanitation conference (recommendations of the UN Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation)
  • Frances commitment to doubling its efforts in water and sanitation
  • Asia-Pacific Water Forum, established by ministers from the Asia-Pacific region
  • WWCs Water for Schools initiative providing water to 1,000 schools in ten countries, and the creation of schools for training higher-level technicians
  • Memorandum of Understanding between UN-HABITAT and the African Development Bank to release US$ 550 million for meeting the MDG water target in Africa.
  • Water Integrity Network
  • The Water Dialogues

 MINISTERIAL DECLARATION

The Ministerial Declaration was predictably disappointing and failed to recognise water as a human right.  Read it and other official declarations and statements from the forum here

Bolivia, Cuba, Venezuela and Uruguay issued an additional statement  saying recognising water as a human right and the need to protect water from free trade agreements. These declarations are obviously crucial advances for the campaign to get water out of the WTO. More information and detailed documents.  Read more

5TH WORLD WATER FORUM

The World Water Council announced that the 5th World Water Forum will be held in Istanbul, Turkey, in 2009. This is subject to the negotiation and signature of a final agreement with the Turkish government within three months

SESSION REPORTS, SYNTHESIS AND SUMMARIES
the key places to find further information:

SESSION REPORTS

The World Water Council are posting session reports on their website. 

The official complete resume of the 4th World Water Forum includes a summary of financial commitments, agreements and initiatives launched, documents and reports, bilateral meetings, declarations and awards. Read it here

VOICES FROM THE FORUM

The World Water Council prepared a daily synthesis report at the Forum asking participants for their views and messages, lessons learnt, and recommendations for action through questionnaires submitted in every session.

Read a summary of the key messages

DATABASE OF LOCAL ACTIONS

A new database was launched containing information compiled during the 2003-2005 CDS cycle.  Local actions will be added to the Water Action and Networking Database (WAND) maintained by the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD)

OTHER REPORTS

The International Institute for Sustainable Development Reporting Services is recognized for its objectivity and expertise. They sent a had a team of reporters to Mexico City and have reported on the big plenary sessions and other discussions.  Read detailed summaries of daily events, outcomes and messages. However there is no reporting of our own meetings. Read it here

Internationational Office for Water (IOWater) and the International Network of Basin Organizations (INBO) Read in English, Spanish and French