Stakeholder Consultation Meeting
In preparation for the Ministerial Conference that will take place on 13 March 2012 at the 6th World Water Forum in Marseille, where Ministers from all countries around the world will be present, a consultation meeting will be convened in Marseille on Monday, 16 January 2012.
At this Ministerial Conference, Ministers are expected to adopt by consensus a Ministerial Declaration, focusing on a number of issues such as “Keeping the Planet Blue”, “Ensuring Everyone’s Well-Being” and “Contributing to Economic Development”, bearing in mind that the Forum in Marseille will be the “Time for Solutions” and will contribute to the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development “Rio+20”.
The Ministerial Process leading to the Ministerial Conference is facilitated by the Government of France, as the Host Country for the 6th World Water Forum in Marseille, in the framework of a partnership between the French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, the World Water Council and the International Forum Committee.
The consultation on 16 January 2012 will involve Major Groups based upon the Major Groups of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (UNCSD). In this context, it is recognized that governments cannot act alone, but must do so in collaboration with all sectors of society. These include groups such as Women, Indigenous People, Business, NGOs, Trade Unions, Youth and the Scientific Community.
For the 6th World Water Forum, some groups were adapted to reflect the specific stakes on water. In this regard, the NGO community was expanded to not only represent NGOs in general, but NGOs related to the environment, development and humanitarian response. And, while Local/Regional Authorities are represented at UNCSD and there is such a process at the 6th World Water Forum as well, Parliamentarians have their own process within the Forum, but not in the UNCSD, so a group representing Parliamentarians was also invited to attend.
The goal of the meeting on the 16th of January is to offer an opportunity to listen to the voices of Representatives across all sectors of society beyond national governments in the Ministerial process of the 6th World Water Forum in a dialogue with the coordinators of all the Forum processes (Political, Thematic, Regional and Grassroots and Citizenship).
Press Contact:
Aurore Sun
+33 (0)4 95 09 01 45
+33 (0)6 19 80 42 67
a.sun@worldwaterforum6.org
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