Created for the first time in the history of the World Water Fora, this initiative aims at opening the debate on water to an ethical, cultural and spiritual approach.
The Grassroots and Citizenship Commission wanted to encourage an individual and collective appropriation of issues and the cause of water, a mutual understanding and finally contributing to seeking relevant and sustainable solutions.

Several objectives are pursued, the main ones are:

• Raising awareness of the religious and spiritual communities to the environmental issue and especially the water field, and to the interest of an event such as the World Water Forum :

- Introducing cultural approaches of water;
- Identifying common ethical principles related to environment and water;

• Engaging water managers and policy makers in a dialogue about the ethical assumptions embedded in existing water policies;

• Raising awareness in the public at large about the ethical and cultural elements existing in our daily relationship with the environment and water in particular.

Therefore, a working group gathering representatives from the religious and spiritual communities, international organisations, social and ethic entrepreneurship business movement, academics, associations and international networks has been created, and worked until the Forum around several themes such as water and cultural diversity, ethical governance of water, water and spiritualities or entrepreneurship business ethics.

Read the contribution of Dr Murad Bino

The key moment was held during the Forum week at the Parc Chanot, on Thursday 15 March during a specific session titled “Towards an ethical and spiritual approach to water”.