World Water Forum

The World Water Forum is an event focusing on perceived issues surrounding water. It is hosted by the World Water Council and takes place every three years.

World Water Forum aims to:

(including Fair and Expo)

The forum is made up of four primary components:

Each of these components benefits from extensive preparatory processes that commence two years prior to the World Water Forum.

Past editions have included other features, such as side events, a learning centre, a children’s forum, a youth forum, a children’s education village, water and film encounters and cultural entertainment.

The first World Water Forum, following the creation of the World Water Council, took place in Marrakech, Morocco, on 21–23 March 1997. It laid the basis for the development of a long-term “Vision for Water, Life and the Environment in the 21st Century.” Sessions included:

The 2nd World Water Forum in The Hague in 2000, generated much debate on the World Water Vision and the associated Framework for Action, dealing with the state and ownership of water resources, their development potential, management and financing models, and their impact on poverty, social, cultural and economic development and the environment. The ministerial declaration identified the following key challenges: meeting basic water needs, securing food supply, protecting ecosystems, sharing water resources, managing risks, valuing water and governing water wisely.

The 3rd World Water Forum, held in Kyoto, Shiga and Osaka, Japan in March 2003, assembled a huge number and variety of stakeholders as compared to previous editions of the forum. In addition, the debate was furthered within the context of the new commitments of meeting the goals set forth at the United Nations in New York (2000), the in Bonn (2001) and the in Johannesburg (2002).

The 3rd World Water Forum offered 351 sessions under 38 themes. In addition, the "World Panel on Financing Water Infrastructure", chaired by Michel Camdessus, presented its conclusions on what should be done to find adequate financing for water infrastructure and offered specific proposals on how this can be achieved, and by whom.

New concepts were introduced such as a Virtual Water Forum, which consisted of about 166 interactive sessions available through Internet, and the Water Voices Project, where 27,000 opinions of ordinary citizens were collected from 142 countries. The World Water Actions report inventoried over 3,000 local water actions.

The 3rd World Water Forum also invited the participation of indigenous people, recognizing that indigenous land and water rights is crucial to the discussion of water interests worldwide. Indigenous people have often been excluded from discussions about clean drinking water, water sanitation, and rights to water sources, so this invitation legitimized the rights of indigenous people to help create water related policy. Their participation resulted in the signing of the Indigenous Peoples Kyoto Declaration, which centered on the rights of indigenous people to self determine usage of their own water resources.

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