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

REPORTS AND RESEARCH LAUNCHED AT THE FORUM

United Nations World Water Development Report 2006
This second edition focuses on governance and political corruption which costs the water sector millions of dollars every year and especially affects the poor. 

View the table of contents, read a short description of each chapter and download individual chapters.

African Development Bank Water Report
A new report prepared on behalf of the African Ministers Council on Water (AMCOW), UN-Water/Africa, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the NEPAD Secretariat.  In total, says the report, only 3.8% of water resources in Africa are developed for water supply, irrigation and hydropower use.

Download the full report in English or French

African water ministers want to promote cooperation on the development of effective early warning systemsfor the mitigation of water-related disasters Read more

World Water Council The Right to Water: from concept to implementation
Analyzes the measures needed to implement the right to water at the local level and their effectiveness. Included in the report is a list of case studies.