A report on the World Water Week in Stockholm

Prof. Perry L. McCarty, Stanford University, was awarded the 2007 Stockholm Water Price for his contribution to a better understanding of biological and chemical processes for the safe supply and treatment of water. © Copyright SIWI and the World Water Week, 2007.

“There is progress, but by far not enough,” Anders Berntell, executive director of the host Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), summarized the achievement and future challenge in the closing of the World Water Week 2007. Some 2500 participants from more than 140 countries had met from August 12-18 in Stockholm calling out to governments for a better management of their existing water resources.

Not only Berntell thinks that water still is “not high enough on the political agenda”. This is also true for sanitation, which was clearly identified by all participants as a challenge at least as urgent as the lack of access to safe water. With sanitation being one of the most under-resourced and neglected sectors, organizers and participants promised a special effort to raise public awareness on this issue in 2008, the International Year of Sanitation.

Policies need to address particularly the situation of the poor and vulnerable, most participants agreed. Jon Lane, Executive Director of the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC), pointed out that climate change, too, will hit the poorest worst, and raised the concern that rich nations might “lean back or buy their way out”.

Pro-poor approaches figured in several events at the World Water Week. The Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) released a new report on “Making Anti-Corruption Approaches Work for the Poor.” A demand taken up by many presenters was that the citizens, and particularly the poor, needed to be actively involved at all levels of water governance and not just be “informed and consulted”.

The moderators of the closing panel raised the crucial question: How can the participants make sure that politicians and governments implement the approaches and recommendations discussed at the World Water Week? How can the voice of the poor be made heard? Though triggers for political change and better water governance were addressed in a series of workshops, no unheard-of solutions came up at the World Water Week: By using the media, undertaking campaigns, creating knowledge, and generally by mobilizing the public opinion in order to influence the political decision-makers.

One anecdote suggests that there is still a long way to go: Asked whether an “integrated” approach to water also included an involvement and commitment of other ministries such as those concerned with financial and economic affairs, vice minister Zhou Ying from the ministry ofwater resources in China pointed out the excellent co-operation with the ministry of environment.

The next World Water Week will take place 17-23 August 2008, with the general theme being “Progress and Prospects on Water: For a Clean and Healthy World.” It will focus particular on pollution of water, and highlight the International Year of Sanitation as a Special Feature.

Written by Maike Gorsboth (EWN)

(23.08.07)

Further information:

Summary of highlights, reports and initiatives at the World Water Week Website: www.worldwaterweek.org

Information on the International Year of Sanitation

SIWI Report “Making Anti-Corruption Approaches Work for the Poor.”