WATER Matters

The International Conference on Freshwater took place from 3 - 7 December 2001, in Bonn, Germany. The mainstream media, if at all sporadically reported on this UN event. Although most everyone would agree to the importance of the issues at stake, apart from specialists, water activists, selected Government officials and representatives of interest groups, the general public rarely takes much notice of the high stakes involved in regard to global water issues.

In The Hague, The Netherlands last year, Ministers from around the world recognized the importance to provide water security in the 21st Century. It was defined to mean “ ensuring that freshwater, coastal and related ecosystems are protected and improved; that sustainable development and political stability are promoted, that every person has access to enough safe water at an affordable cost to lead a healthy and productive life and that the vulnerable are protected from the risks of water-related hazards.” ( http://www.worldwaterforum.net/Ministeri...

This years’ conference was an important follow up as well as a preparation event for the 10 years review conference on the implementation of UNCED (Rio 1992), to be held next year in Johannesburg (http://www.johannesburgsummit.org/). Sustainable water management will be one important topic on the agenda. Issues to further review will relate to the protection of ecosystems, development of the water sector, freshwater supply and wastewater disposal, demand management, public health, water for the poor, different water users, agriculture, industry, drainage, irrigation, implementation policies for Agenda 21 and strategies for better water management in the future.

In Bonn (http://www.water-2001.de/) three priority action areas were identified: · Governance · Mobilising financial resources · Capacity building and sharing knowledge.

Clearly these areas are of equal importance to all core issues revolving around global water management, namely:

- access to affordable water and sanitation - protection of water resources - balancing agricultural water needs with conservation requirements - transboundary water issues - flood and drought management.

To successfully address these issues will require much more intensive and effective coordination of sectoral policies and a closer policy attention to the complex interlinkages that are frequently of a mutually reinforcing nature. Key recommendations have been made already well before the Bonn conference and various research and advocacy organizations are involved in sustainable water management activities. Perhaps most important will be how well international action can be coordinated and result in direct improvements in water management practices. Certainly, “consolidation of the confusing and fragmented plethora of international institutions and programs within the environment/development (system)” is called for. If this is accomplished through a distinct (UN) agency or (perhaps best) under the auspices of the UN environment program (UNEP) could be a question to determine at the 2002 Johannesburg conference.

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