International conference on Environment - “Citizens of the Earth”: The Paris Conference for Global Ecological Governance

At the instigation of the President of the French Republic: Mr. Jacques CHIRAC, a conference for global ecological governance is to be held in Paris on 2-3 February 2007. The goal of the “Citizens of the Earth” Conference will be to mobilise international efforts to achieve three objectives :

- To raise awareness of the urgency of the situation, taking stock together of the threats facing the environment and endangering the broad ecological balances of our planet.

- To decide upon priority measures to combat those threats in order to respond to the global ecological issues for our time and for generations to come.

- To take action, at international level, to create a United Nations Environment Organization (UNEO) with a view to strengthening environmental governance.

 In a spirit of good world ecological citizenship, the Paris Conference will bring together government ministers, scientists, company heads, NGOs and public figures from over sixty countries around the world, all personally committed to promoting a vision for the environment and determined to take collective action.

One of the workshops scheduled during this conference will deal with the issue of water & sanitation. The focus of this workshop will be on sanitation issues, especially in the developing world, and the actions to be planned to adapt the management of this resource to cope with climate change, in conjunction with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).