A recognised success for the 6th World Water Forum which gathered more than 35,000 participants in Marseille

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Marseille, March 20^th 2012 –The 6^th World Water Forum was characterised by a strong mobilisation of the international political community and of civil society so as to make the cause of water and sanitation move forward during more than 400 open sessions of which fifty major ones.

Participations (key figures)

• 15 heads of State, of governments and European Commissioners
• 173 represented countries
• 103 Ministers, Vice-Ministers and Secretaries of State
• 170 national delegations and international organisations taking part in the Ministerial Declaration
• More than 750 elected officials among which 250 mayors and 250 parliamentarians
• More than 500 sponsorised persons
• 3,500 NGOs and civil society representatives
• More than 2,600 children and youth

Highlights (key figures)

• Numerous high level sessions (Rio+20, Europe, Chad, Gaza, Niger etc.)
• 1 ministerial conference
• 12 ministerial roundtables
• 6 trialogs (debate between national, regional and local authorities)
• 2 days for the Local and Regional Authorities conference
• 10 high level panels
• 2 water debates
• 1 day and a half for the parliamentary conference
• 6  regional and transcontinental processes
• 1 commitments’ session

After these six days of debates and exchanges, built on 1,400 solutions for water and sanitation posted on the solutions sharing platform, all the stakeholders (UN agencies, governments, parliamentarians, local authorities, donors, water professionals, NGOs and civil society actors, women and youth representatives) have already announced more than a hundred concrete commitments. These solutions and commitments should enable a faster access to water and sanitation, a universal human right which was recognised in 2010, and improve the conservation and management of this major threatened resource.

Just like the Village of Solutions, www.solutionsforwater.org, the Solutions platform created especially for the 6^th World Water Forum - the Time for Solutions - and which is also intended to welcome stakeholders’ commitments, is perpetuated so as to become a place of sharing, exchange and monitoring for the 7^th World Water Forum which will take place in Daegu Gwangyeoksi, South Korea, in 2015.

The World Water Council will bear these solutions and commitments to Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development Rio+20 from June 20^th to 22^nd 2012, for which the water and sanitation issue is already on the agenda.

Press Contacts

Aurore Sun
+ 33 (0) 6 19 80 42 67
a.sun@worldwaterforum6.org

Aurélie Gabrieli
+33 6 07 04 22 48
aurelie.gabrieli@consultants.publicis.fr

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