• 120 ministerial delegations.

• 85 countries will make official declarations.

• More than 150 nationalities.

• More than 1 000 speakers.

• 1 000 hours of exchange and debate.

• More than 1 300 solutions already published.

Editorial

Six days to focus our energies and find solutions

Political decision makers, economic actors and members of civil society, researchers, NGO representatives, I would like to thank you for your participation today at the sixth World Water Forum at Parc Chanot in Marseille.

This city, with its exemplary know-how in water treatment and management, is home to the World Water Council. The Council, the City of Marseille and the French Government are involved in this vast international event where 20 000 visitors are expected during the next six days.

News of the day

A responsible water Forum

Limiting paper consumption, reducing carbon footprints and favoring local supplies... the Forum develops its biofriendly ethic.

The World Water Forum calls on participants' imagination to further the water cause. It sparks innovative ideas in order to reduce the Forum's "water imprint", be it directly or indirectly. Thus, the USB keys distributed allow participants to download the information that interests them off the http://www.worldwaterforum6.org site. All the summary documents are uploaded by the Forum teams as the events take place. Saving paper is consistent with significantly reducing water consumption.

The Forum's interactive programme, a 2.0 tool

Thanks to the Forum's interactive programme, each participant may customize his/her agenda. Shortly after the events of the week take place, this database will include new documents and will be useful to everyone who will need to refer.

"Everyday 30 to 35 events will take place simultaneously, arousing the participants' interest," explains François Lacroix, Program Director of the International Forum Committee. In order to guide the participants through this vast offer, the organisation of the Forum has been working for three years in an interactive, customizable program available on the forum's website.

Solutions: The 6th World Water Forum events Official Gazette

Solutions, the official newsletter of the 6th World Water Forum, will display complete summaries of each days primary events. These articles will be written by volunteers of the Projection Network who come from 19 different countries.

The World Water Forum will engage 27 young professionals of Projection Network to write and translate Solutions, an eight-page daily internet and print newspaper specifically covering the Forum. The writers include a team of eight journalists, graphic designers and webmasters of the online economic journal, Econostrum.info.

The young professionals include students and newly minted employees currently working or vying to work in the water domain normally dominated by engineers.

Frantic civil society initiatives

Water is not an issue reserved for governments, local authorities, companies or scientists. Citizens also want to contribute to debates. At the 6th World Water Forum, they express themselves through the successful "Grassroots & citizenship" project.

This innovative project has been created for consumers and different stakeholders as a Forum to share ideas and initiatives not exclusively reserved for political and water experts. The "Grassroots & citizenship" commission aims to root the Forum in local, national, regional and international realities. The commision collects, analyzes and qualifies projects according to principles stated in the December 2011 charter, which guarantee the projects will conform to the objectives and spirit of the event. At the Forum's opening, almost 150 projects have been thus qualified. These projects increase delegate and public awareness of issues regarding water supply and sanitation, look beyond their immediate environment.

The UN 2012 annual report: Water management in a world of risks and uncertainties

Intensified climate change and a tremendous increase in world water demand exacerbate the pressure on freshwater, slightly aggravating the economic disparities between countries. This is the discovery made by the United Nations in its last annual report presented today in Marseille.

"Managing Water under Uncertainty and Risk", the 4th edition of the world report on the valorisation of water resources published by the United Nations, will be presented today at 3:00 PM at the Parc Chanot by Irina Bokova, General Director of UNESCO and Michel Jarraud, UN-Water President and General Secretary of the World Meteorological Organisation. The conclusions of this important UN report will be presented by Olcay Ünver, Coordinator of the WWAP.

Publisher : Secretariat of the International Forum Committee, 11 la Canebière 13001 Marseille France - Editorial director : Jean-Marc Lacave, Executive Director of the 6th World Water Forum Secretariat - Chief editor : Claudine Chilinski, Marketing Director and Communication - Associate editor : C. Schaal-Cornillet - Journalists : C. Garcia, J.-C. Barla, G. Tur, A. Place, M.-P. Vega, N. Bureau du Colombier - Writers "Réseau Projection" : A. Labaeye, C. Vigie Helie, J. Grueau, L. Ghiglia, Hyacinthe, B. Tallagbé , B. Kakou Arsene, M. Djigo, A. Saleem, Ebadati, T. Takeda, O. Issoufou, C. Perez Bolde, R. Tejeda, M. Lobo, A. Bonneville, S. Detchou, S. Davin, Chenut, F. Roignant, U. Fifi, Kileshye, S. Ngilambi, Z. Koffi Vilevo, R. Guirbaye, L. Johnson, Ludington, Uche, N. Shlesinger, Tignino, Li, P. Anamaria-Cristina, A. Kafkalidis - Graphic designer : A. Triaureau - Webmaster : M.-C. Audibert