The 5^th World Water Forum was held in Istanbul from 16^th to 22^nd March 2009. The forum, organized every three years by World Water Council (WWC) and the host  country, was attended by a record of 25,000 participants from all over the world, including a number of heads of state, more than 90 ministers, 63 mayors, 156  delegations and 148 parliamentarians.

Five persons representing GWP – SEA participated in this  Forum :  Mr.Siswoko Sastrodihardjo, GWP – SEA Chair , Dr.Dao Trong Tu and  Ms. Do Hong Phan from Vietnam, Dr. Mohd Nor bin Mohd Desa from Malaysia, and Mr.Djoko Sasongko, GWP-SEA Program Coordinator. This  report presents essential  features  of the Forum viewed  from  the five participant’s  perspective, having regards to  sessions  related to GWP-SEA interests or  where  GWP-SEA  had  made  efforts for  contributions.

THE FORUM

Background

The World Water Forum, organized every three years by the World Water Council in close collaboration with the authorities of the hosting country, is the largest international event in the field of water. It primarily serves four main purposes:

1. To raise the importance of water on the political agenda;
2. To support the deepening of discussions towards the solution of international water issues in the 21st century;
3. To formulate concrete proposals and bring their importance to the world's attention
4. To generate political commitment.

Forum Content

The 5th World Water Forum’s overarching theme, Bridging Divides for Water underlines not just the geographical crossroads between Europe and Asia, the Middle East and Africa, North and South, represented by Istanbul, but also the barriers between modern-age and traditional water cultures and uses, between rich and poor, and between developed and developing regions of the world. It emphasizes the need for greater interaction, communication and functional harmonization of the various entities involved in or affected by water management. It also sends out a message to the water community that water is not an end in itself, but rather a means for our development and well-being. Interaction with other sectors is therefore needed to understand how water can contribute to the solution of common problems faced by all affected sectors.

The Forum was composed  of the following elements :

· Political Process

• Heads of State Summit
• Local Authorities and Istanbul Water Consensus
• Parliamentarian Meeting
• Ministerial Conference

· Thematic Process

• Theme 1: Global Change and Risk Management
• Theme 2: Advancing the Human Development and the MDGs
• Theme 3: Managing and Protecting Water Resources
• Theme 4: Governance and Management
• Theme 5: Finance
• Theme 6: Education, Knowledge and Capacity Development

About 100 sessions of 23  Topics  covered under the above mentioned six Themes were held throughout the week, each one attempting to provide an answer and clearer understanding on a crucial water-related question through multi-stakeholder dialogue.

· Regional Process

Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe, Americans, In and Around Turkey, Mediterranean, Mena-Arab.

· Panels

• Water and Disaster
• Adaptation to Climate Change
• Financing
• Sanitation
• Water, Food and Energy

· Side Events

More than 100  sessions had been held as  side events during the Forum.

· Civil Society and the Major Groups of Agenda 21

• Water Fair
• Learning Centre
• Youth Forum
• Children’s Forum
• Women’s Major Groups

· Water Prizes Three prestigious water-related prizes were awarded on the occasion of the forum: The Turkish Republic Prime Minister's Water Prize, The King Hassan II Great World Water Prize and the Kyoto World Water Grand Prize.

During the forum, there is a World Water Expo gathering companies and  various  types of organizations related to water presented their services, products, activities and works, in a bid to effectively bridges the supply with the demand for innovation and advanced technologies.

The Venue

The Forum was hosted by Istanbul and it was  located at the Congress and Cultural Centre at Sütlüce, and the Feshane facility on the other side of the Golden Horn which separates the Asian and European sides of the old city. Golden Horn in this sense provides a waterway venue for the forum, while it bridges the two conference centres on each side. In accordance with the main theme of the forum “Bridging Divides for Water”, the venue has them both, the water and the  bridge.

The  Sütlüce  hosted the  opening and closing sessions, the  thematic process and regional and political process sessions during the Forum.

REMARKS  ON  OPENING

The opening speeches were delivered by eleven prominent personalities. It was highlighted that issues pertaining to water such as urgent measures for its effective usage need to be emphasized. We are not speaking about water per se but rather other important elements such as risk management, human management, etc.

President of the World Water Council (WWC) was among those who delivered opening speeches. He mentioned that a total of 192 countries attended the WWF5 and it was an honor to dialogue the issues of water. He stressed that while ensuring access to water is a "difficult and long road to be traveled," it must be addressed. He called for rigorous and harmonious water sharing, and noted the importance of political will in this regard. He also emphasized the need for effective water management, protection of the poorest people and the need to consider the principle of virtual water. Actually, there is a need for more water each day to feed and energy for development in mega cities and also for biodiversity. So we need to take on the challenge posed by climate change. Major dilemma and a major challenge to produce and conserve water for those who are in need should be programmed. The future of water also rests on the political actions and in many parts of the world, consideration of virtual water to reduce carbon footprint becomes a necessity. Hence, it is time to bridge divides for water using knowledge and good governance where dignity is one of the objectives. Commitment in order to cast bridges in our knowledge and technology, innovation in financial matter, and micro finances for example to name a few.  Water needs to have legitimate institution, permanent consultations, etc. We must bridge together man and woman to create greater tolerance in tackling pressing issues involving ware.

The Mayor of Istanbul, a city of peace and tolerance highlights that 75 per cent of worlds population live in urban areas thus creating pressure among water uses and users and hence sanitation. Conserving water resources and protecting natural resources are mandatory but need to be undertaken with great care.

The Turkish Minister of Environment and Forestry in his speech, reminded the participants that water is the origin of our life. Therefore the WWF5 is a timely venue to treat this subject involving effort for intellectual dialogue. It is not possible to have development without water. Turkey for example has only 640mm of annual rainfall and that needs to be stored during rainy season for usage in dry season by building storages.

The Deputy Secretary General of UN focused our attention on programme for water in respect to the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) such as access to basic sanitation. MDG serves important roles for policy communication. in the following areas:

1. Food production – engagement with other political communities.
2. Climate change adaptation – IWRM and participatory approach.
3. Apply lessons learned.
4. Unprecedented that 233 basins are shared where 42% of the population lives in these regions.

He stated that cutting budget for water resources development is a serious mistake for water resources entails continuous and sustainable development for future generation to thrive. A strong institution is a paramount importance.

The world is facing a monetary crisis, climate change and global warming amongst others. 2.5 billions people lives in condition of water scarcity. As such, we have to take up more courageous and effective measures to deal with the pertinent MDGs.

REMARKS  ON  SESSIONS

Asia- Pacific Regional Session

The Asia-Pacific Regional Session of the 5th World Water Forum was organized by the Asia-Pacific Water Forum (APWF) in cooperation with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and UNESCAP on March 20^th and well attended by delegations from countries across the Asia-Pacific Region.

Many Ministers participated in the deliberations on water security for sustainable socio-economic development of the region.  Among the Ministers were those who had agreed to report on progress and issues in their respective subregions, such as Mr. Chen Lei, Minister for Water Resources, People’s Republic of China, Mr. Djoko Kirmanto, Minister of Public Works of Indonesia , Mr. Saidi Yokubzod, Minister of Land Reclamation and Water Resources, Tajikistan, Mr. Giorgi Khachidze, Minister of Environment and Natural Resources Protection, Georgia, Mr. Ramesh Sen, Minister for Water Resources of Bangladesh, and Mr. Faumuina Liuga, Minister for Natural Resources and Environment of Samoa, as well as those representing the host countries of important regional meetings of APWF: Dr. Yaacob Ibrahim, Minister of the Environment and Water Resources of Singapore, and Mr. Yasushi Kaneko, Senior Vice-Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism of Japan.

The participants, including Ministers from Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, India, Republic of Korea, Lao PDR, Mongolia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Uzbekistan as well as senior officials and specialists of key international organizations, such as ADB, UNESCAP, FAO, ICHARM, ICIMOD and IUCN, and a representative of the G8 Experts Group on Water and Sanitation, confirmed their support for the Ministers for Water Security Initiative announced by APWF at the start of the 5^th World Water Forum.

The meeting called for water security to be mainstreamed in national development agendas, and recognized that more investments and regional cooperation are needed to address water security challenges. The participants expressed their support for APWF's Ministers for Water Security Initiative targeted at policy makers in charge of finance, planning, health, disaster management, infrastructure, agriculture, energy, environment, water, and other water-related portfolios to help increase water security.  Many of the ministers participating in the meeting announced their support as a Friend of the Ministers for Water Security Initiative, and called on the APWF to invite leaders from the private sector and civil society to join the dialogues with ministers on water security, starting in 2009.

The  Regional Perspective Document  prepared by all Asia –Pacific sub-regions was  distributed to  Forum participants before the meeting. Preparation of  contribution  from Southeast Asia sub –region  was  coordinated  by GWP-SEA  Secretariat with support from  CWPs. The draft  of the document and  sub regions  contributions  were  discussed  in  APWF Synthesis Meeting in Tokyo  on 15 – 16^th December 2008.

Disaster Management Sessions

There are some interesting points raised during the session on managing water related risks in changing climate. The notion of global warming which gives rise to global temperature  was much discussed. Potential impacts calls for introducing resistance strategies to be put in place. Typical examples are demand management needs to be strengthened and climate alert system (CAS) introduced. Risk based flood management for adapting to climate change and flood safety level has decreased underpin the challenge to new flood management programme based on risk management. Therefore, we have to shift to the risk based flood management.

Integrated urban flood risk management is an area to bring our focus at the moment. Flood resilience networks is supposed to be installed particularly in urban areas where more that 75% of flood damage is found in these areas. A need for change is needed especially where increasing vulnerability and uncertainty and increasing complexity are too crucial. The Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) outlines five priorities for actions involving governance, risks identifications etc.

Safety of rivers is another trying subject matter to focus our attention on. Effects of dam breaks, estimation of traffic flows in dam break situation, communication with other parties etc requires serious attention on the part of all stake holders. The governments where international rivers flow, require to establish cross borders cooperation in information for instance. Is as far as civic society is concerned, translation of information regarding natural risk maps is of paramount importance. That brings us to the importance of having trialogue: building bridges between government, science and civic society.

On issue pertaining to data need and data acquisition. There is a challenge to ensure data is relevant, reduction in data loss, duplicating systems etc. In general some observations were made regarding lack of integrated water related data, lack of overarching framework, the SEEA – water promises a way forward, enabling legal arrangement needed, issues on data collection, integration and dissemination. In fact, a whole range of issues involving social, political and economic systems underpin the subject on data need and acquisition. Scale issue point to a necessity to have data at local level and the need to understand  how a society is made up or composed in order to analyse demands. Setting priority in terms of funding is restricted to data collection in less developed countries. Therefore, benefits should be examined in such a way that better water management leads to better social well being but we need data to support.

Reducing impacts of water related disaster must be continuously  monitored. Water means life but it is also a threat to livelihood. Flood and droughts as a result of climate change must be included in international water agenda. Important to provide robust policy – IWRM where a good compromise between structural and non structural measures coexist. Information sharing, existing technology to face floods and droughts should however be enhanced. General report on data collection and develop common mechanism to protect water resources are some of the recommendations put forward during the ministerial conference.

It is regrettable that the regional report on risk management and climate change prepared by GWP-SEA  was not given the chance to be presented  at any theme sessions.

Institution

The regional report on “River basin Organization and Management in SEA” had been presented under “Session 4.2.1, The big picture: how to make institutions and plans deliver progress”. This  report was very well presented and discussed. The reporter, Dr.Dao Trong Tu, answered all questions raised. One should remark that SEA report was requested to have regional nature on specific institutional and managerial topics, while session topics were very large, covering from “incorporation of water management plans into national development planning” to “improving institutions, laws and policies for better water management”, and participants tended to discuss and learn more about country cases/examples.

The debate on trans-boundary waters had been very exciting, as usual, on some of traditional hot areas of Brahmaputra-Ganges, Euphrates-Tiger, Danube -Black Sea. Participants strongly suggested that the United Nations 1997 Convention (UN Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses) which was no yet enacted, should be reviewed soon for a next consideration and legal process.

Other sessions

Access to safe water and sanitation is unanimously seen as a basic human need. During session debates, many ideas expressed that it must be regarded as a human right.

Regarding climate change, apart from Theme 1 specially dealing with global change and risk management, it was also referred and discussed under many other sessions with a common view that actions in water must be at priority. Facing to challenges of fresh and coastal waters deteriorating, investment of infrastructures for increasing storage was explicitly supported.

Could also be noted that hydropower was no more or only marginally criticized, but promoted with multi-purpose and sustainable operation instead.

The ministerial conference touched upon coastal area/strip pertaining to impacts of water resources on coastal developments. Coastal areas need to be bridged - coastal area and inland areas, availability of water, climate change, sea level rise hampering development, salt water intrusion and what have you. So we need to advance from CZM/IWRM to ICHARM to better understand coastal ecosystem.

GWP  Role

The role of GWP in setting up the propaganda for IWRM in river basins is well reflected in the sessions organized by GWP and especially in a session held for the launching of GWP - INBO “A handbook for Integrated Water Resources Management in Basins” with a big group of  participants and their interest in the Publication.

REMARKS  ON  MINISTERIAL DECLARATION

The official 5th WWF ministerial declaration is attached to this report. This text is non- binding but could have had a significant political weight on the diplomatic scene. The declaration only mentions water as a "human need" and not as a "human right", as several delegations have asked for. There were feeling of disappointment at the end of the forum : the conclusions are far from meeting the stakes mentioned in the UNESCO's World Water Assessment Program, published at the beginning of the Forum. .............................................................................................

GENERAL  REMARKS

Over 25,000 participants took part in the 5th World Water Forum, from March 16th to 22nd in Istanbul, making it the world’s biggest ever water-related event. It was also attended by largest number of delegations (156 delegations). Participants were from the governments, public agencies, international/ regional organizations, private sectors, NGOs, expert individuals from all continents in the World. This reflects that the international community has recognized  and  more concerned  about the water issues than ever as more serious scarcity of water under the pressure of  population growth, economic development, pollution and other reasons all over the world. It is no doubt that the Forum is a very good opportunity for all participants to exchange ideas, experiences and updating on the water and related issues that  will  help in developing policies  on  water issues.

Much more than the size of the event, the number of recommendations, proposals, commitments and initiatives made throughout the preparatory process and during the week make this Forum a long-lasting highpoint in the international development calendar.

With some notes, WWF5 was well organized in terms of the themes addressed and sessions arrangements. The sessions had included almost important topics relating to the recent global-wide hot water issues such as the right to access the water and sanitation (the reasons caused the deaths of more than 20 million people every year!), crisis water and governance and management (more focus on IWRM in basins, trans-boundary water resources management,  private sector involvement as a solution to water problems..), water and climate change, water finance, water and preserving natural ecosystems. The WWF5 has delivered what it needs to deliver by bringing the entire worlds community together to discuss the whole spectrum about water. The event was diverse and designed to cater for every aspects that need attention.

Water major issues are not many, so as Forum themes may not differ very much from the past forums’ ones. However we can not consider that as a repetition, instead, we should recognize water issues will not be solved in some years, especially when in fact water deterioration even increased and in that context continuing debates are quite necessary and useful.

Despite of some theme similarity, specific topics and discussion reports had gone to new finding and clearer trend. Topics that have emerged as key issues at this Forum – and also reflected in the Ministerial Statement - were climate change and, to some extent, the package of access to safe water and sanitation.

The water issues in different regions are different so the sessions for specific region sessions for exchange of experiences/lessons learned  should be  more focused and better organized.

The Organization of the Forum was good. Turkey is a beautiful country and has an interesting and complicated history. Istanbul is worthy to be visited, including its mosques, museums, old monuments and busy quarters. Turkey and Istanbul authorities and people have presented their hospitality, professional capability in holding successfully a big and important international event as WWF.