The 6^th World Water Forum will be held in Marseille from March 12 to 17, 2012. To date, over 600 organisations are mobilised in the preparation of this meeting and its outcomes. More than 2,000 persons are now involved in 160 working groups committing to the cause of water in order to implement the recent Right to safe water and sanitation for all worldwide and to face global water challenges in terms of health, food security, climate change, resource preservation, risk management ... About 140 ministerial delegations, 800 speakers, a hundred of NGOs from all horizons - users, humanitarian or environmental - and 25 000 participants from more than 180 countries are expected to attend over 400 conferences and events dedicated to water.
You too can take part in the Forum of Solutions. Your contributions, your solutions, your commitments are welcome.
Join us!
Get involved.
Jean-Marc Lacave
Executive Director
International Forum Committee secretariat

Programme at a glance

On the path to political solutions

Government representatives to meet in Paris to kick off Ministerial Process
At UNESCO Headquarters in Paris on December 5 and 6, 2011, government representatives will attend the First Preparatory Committee meeting (PrepCom I) of the Ministerial Process within the framework of the 6^th World Water Forum. Also participating in the meeting will be international organisations, the Thematic and Regional Coordinators of the Forum and Major Groups.
The goal of this meeting, and PrepCom II (2 and 3 February 2012), is to review and discuss the Chairperson’s Paper, a document that is based on submissions from the Thematic and Regional Coordinators of the Forum and the idea of reinforcing progress on water issues made, especially at the intergovernmental level, since the 5^th World Water Forum in Istanbul. The final draft of this document will be the Ministerial Declaration and will be presented during the Ministerial Conference of the Forum, which will take place on March 13. One of the principle aims of this document is to be a contribution to forthcoming international meetings, in particular the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development of June 2012 “Rio+20”.
The framework of the Chairperson’s Paper is based on the Thematic Process of the Forum, which includes three Strategic Directions: “Ensure Everyone’s Well-being”, “Contribute to Economic Development” and “Keep the Planet Blue”, and the Conditions of Success: Governance, Finance and Enabling Environment.
In addition to substantial participation by national governments, it is expected that up to 20 international organisations and the 15 Core Group Coordinators, 6 Regional and Cross-Continental Coordinators and 13 Major Groups will attend PrepCom I. The outcome of PrepCom I will be synthesised into a second draft of the Chairperson’s Paper that will then be fed into PrepCom II, which will also be held at UNESCO Headquarters.
> More on the political process commission
Commission President :
Sujiro Seam, Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs
Coordinator :
Joshua Newton, International Forum Committee

Grassroots & Citizenship :
Youth mobilisation for the Forum

The World Youth Parliament for Water and other youth initiatives are preparing for the 6th World Water Forum
The World Youth Parliament for Water preparation meeting gathered nearly 50 young people from all continents, including 25 young WYPW parliamentarians this month in Douai, France, committing to water solutions in regards to 4 topics: access to safe water and sanitation worldwide, impacts of climate change and natural disasters, governance in water resources management at river basin level and, last but not least, a World Youth Parliament for Water Charter for the long term which will be unveiled in March 2012.
As a side event to the meeting, the 6^th Forum Secretariat organized a coordination meeting (see picture) to ensure coherence between the different youth initiatives of the Forum including all age groups (pupils, students, young professionals) from all over the world. The project leaders shared the will of having the voice of the youth be heard in the mainstream process and agreed upon a strategy to connect the existing networks and make the most of each initiative. It was decided to make a strong link with all levels of the political process in order to make sure that the youth have a say in the “mainstream” process of the Forum.
On the road to the 6^th World Water Forum in Marseille, another coordination meeting will be organized early February 2012 to finalize the outputs of the process as well as the programme of the youth activities during the Forum week.
Join in the WYPW or any other Grassroots & Citizenship youth initiatives for the Forum.
Contact : youth@worldwaterforum6.org

An eye on the blue planet

An eye on the 9 African priorities
Following the African Water Vision and the African Framework for Action, two major achievements from previous forums, the Africa regional process is today mobilising key regional stakeholders, including managers and policy-makers, to adress main water-related issues in the region, and to identify existing or innovative solutions.
In the framework of the 2012 Marseille Forum, 9 priorities have been prioritised in coherence with the Africa Water Vision and the AMCOW priorities.
> More on the African water priorites
Coordinator: Mr Bai-Mass Taal, African Ministers Council on Water

Time for Solutions

Equitable Access to Sustainable School Sanitation thanks to dry toilets In case there are no reliable working flush toilets, modern dry toilet technology, Urine Diverting Dry Toilet often called ecosan toilet, can be implemented. > Log in and read more

Knowledge-transfer WATERDISS 2.0 In accordance with the principles of science policy interface, the general objective of WaterDiss2.0 is to speed-up the transfer of research outputs to water management institutions (a basin authority or a city) with a targeted time lag of only 3 – 5 years. > Log in and read more

Discover water solutions and share your contributions on solutionsforwater.org

Water priorities & targets

Here are the Forum priorities. Our newsletters will cover, up to March 2012, all global water priorities for action as well as thematic and regional targets.

1.4 Prevent and respond to water-related risks and crises
Coordinator: Action Contre la Faim
The impacts of disasters and water related crises are increasing. The last decades have been marked by an increase of the numbers of people affected as well as the amount of economic damage, making Disaster Risk Reduction an economic necessity and a strategic priority for many countries. Significant steps have been achieved since the adoption of the Hyogo Framework for Action by the United Nations and its member states in 2005, but there is still a need to reinforce and improve the 3 components of water related risk protection: preparedness, mitigation and response to disaster.
> Read more

1.5 Contribute to Cooperation and Peace through water
Coordinator: UNESCO PCCP
There are approximately 276 transboundary river basins on the planet with a geographical area corresponding to almost half of the earth’s surface. Almost three billion people in 145 countries live in this area. Furthermore, globally, groundwater is estimated to provide about 50% of current drinking water supplies, of which 274 are transboundary aquifer systems. The number of identified transboundary aquifers is growing based on further investigations. Given these realities, there is a need to develop the conditions necessary for sound and sustainable cooperation between people, groups, and states.
> Read more