2005 - 2015

The World Water Forum is the most important event worldwide in which public policies are adopted for the appropriate management of water.

It is a forum that includes diverse participants, among them the United Nations; governments on all fields and levels, that is, the executive, legislative, and judicial branches, as well as the federal, state, municipal and community level; non-governmental organizations; industry and the agricultural, commercial, and services sectors; the communities; the communications media; and many others. The Forum has an effective influence on decisions and measures, with which each one of these participants are committed.

UNWATER will launch the World Water Development Report II (WWDRII) on March 22nd at the 4th World Water Forum

World Water Forum background
Because water is an extensive question and is interrelated to other issues, due to their content as well as their worldwide scope, clear guidelines of discussion have been defined.

Local actions for a global challenge: To begin with, the slogan of the 4th World Water Forum is “Local actions for a global challenge”, that is, a priority will be placed on those local actions that represent examples of adequate management. The Forum will explore the obstacles and opportunities that are presented to local agents when dealing with specific water-related issues.

Having established local actions as a main issue has the clear purpose of encouraging debate and promoting new initiatives and commitments in relation to the multiple challenges and opportunities faced by the institutional networks involving the different key players. At the same time, the Forum seeks to improve the participation of the local actors in constructing a perspective on water, as well as a more appropriate channeling of international support –from different institutions and organizational networks- toward specific local actions. Thus, both policy questions as well as individual measures and actions will be taken into consideration.

Five framework themes: At the same time, five key issues or framework themes have been defined:

- Water for Growth and Development.
- Implementation of Integrated Water Resources Management.
- Water and Sanitation for all.
- Water for Food and the Environment.
- Risk Management.

These are five key issues that are present in world developments, such as droughts, floods, contamination, access to drinking water, irrigation, and water distribution; that is, a multitude of situations that affect entire countries and whose effects are felt throughout the globe.

Five crosscutting perspectives: to deal with each topic, discussions will be based on the five following focuses or perspectives:

- New models to finance local initiatives
- Institutional development and political processes
- Development of capacities and social learning
- Application of science, technology, and knowledge
- Establishment of goals, monitoring and evaluation of implementation.

These cross-cutting perspectives will allow the Forum participants to contemplate the topics and the local actions in accordance with the different fields and levels in which they are applied.

At the end of the presentations, on March 22, World Water Day, the Forum will be devoted to a discussion on the highest level, after which a Ministerial Declaration will be approved in which concrete commitments will be assumed. In addition, there will be different high-level presentations from the United Nations.