A recognised success for the 6th World Water Forum which gathered more than 35,000 participants in Marseille

The 6^th World Water Forum was characterised by a strong mobilisation of the international political community and of civil society so as to make the cause of water and sanitation move forward during more than 400 open sessions of which fifty major ones.

The Forum, which took place from 12-17 March 2012, in Marseille, France, brought together stakeholders from around the globe to address technical, legal, financial and policy aspects of water management, focusing in particular on sustainable development. The Forum also included: a Ministerial level session to conclude negotiations on the Marseille Declaration; Regional Trialogues involving Ministers, Parliamentarians and local and regional authorities to focus on challenges requiring multi-level governance solutions; and high-level roundtables to provide forums for dialogue between Ministers and stakeholders.

The Ministerial Declaration reiterates the commitment of governments to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) related to clean drinking water and sanitation, and highlights the contribution of water to a green economy. Ministers underscore that improved energy efficiency in water and sanitation services can contribute to greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction, they support the Sustainable Energy for All initiative, and they acknowledge hydropower, consistent with sustainable development principles, as a viable renewable source of energy.

On climate change, the Declaration recognizes the need to build resilience to climate change and variability through integrated land and water resources management and highlights the need to develop and strengthen national and transboundary disaster prevention and response strategies.

The Declaration calls for the following priorities to be addressed, in particular at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20): accelerating the implementation of "human right obligations" relating to access to safe drinking water and sanitation; interlinking water, energy, and food security to ensure policy coherence to avoid adverse consequences; and incorporating water in all its economic, social and environmental dimensions in a framework of governance, financing and cooperation. Other Forum outputs include stakeholder commitments, forum statements, a solutions toolkit and the Marseille Framework for Action. 

Participations (key figures)

• 15 heads of State, of governments and European Commissioners
• 173 represented countries
• 103 Ministers, Vice-Ministers and Secretaries of State
• 170 national delegations and international organisations taking part in the Ministerial Declaration
• More than 750 elected officials among which 250 mayors and 250 parliamentarians
• More than 500 sponsorised persons
• 3,500 NGOs and civil society representatives
• More than 2,600 children and youth

Highlights (key figures)

• Numerous high level sessions (Rio+20, Europe, Chad, Gaza, Niger etc.)
• 1 ministerial conference
• 12 ministerial roundtables
• 6 trialogs (debate between national, regional and local authorities)
• 2 days for the Local and Regional Authorities conference
• 10 high level panels
• 2 water debates
• 1 day and a half for the parliamentary conference
• 6  regional and transcontinental processes
• 1 commitments’ session

After these six days of debates and exchanges, built on 1,400 solutions for water and sanitation posted on the solutions sharing platform, all the stakeholders (UN agencies, governments, parliamentarians, local authorities, donors, water professionals, NGOs and civil society actors, women and youth representatives) have already announced more than a hundred concrete commitments. These solutions and commitments should enable a faster access to water and sanitation, a universal human right which was recognised in 2010, and improve the conservation and management of this major threatened resource.

Just like the Village of Solutions, www.solutionsforwater.org, the Solutions platform created especially for the 6^th World Water Forum - the Time for Solutions - and which is also intended to welcome stakeholders’ commitments, is perpetuated so as to become a place of sharing, exchange and monitoring for the 7^th World Water Forum which will take place in Daegu Gwangyeoksi, South Korea, in 2015.

The World Water Council will bear these solutions and commitments to Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development Rio+20 from June 20^th to 22^nd 2012, for which the water and sanitation issue is already on the agenda.

• [6th World Water Forum Marseille Ministerial Declaration]
• [6th World Water Forum Website]

Contact information	Aurore Sun, 6th World Water Forum / Aurélie Gabrieli (email: a.sun@worldwaterforum6.org ; aurelie.gabrieli@consultants.publicis.fr) Phone: + 33 (0) 6 19 80 42 67 / +33 6 07 04 22 48
News type	Inbrief
File link	http://www.worldwaterforum6.org/fileadmin/user_upload/pdf/communiquesresse_elems/WorldWaterForum6_PR-20032012.pdf
File link local	Ministerial_Declaration_Final_EN.pdf (PDF, 664 Kb)
Source of information	6th World Water Forum & IISD
Subject(s)	AGRICULTURE , ANALYSIS AND TESTS , CHARACTERISTICAL PARAMETERS OF WATERS AND SLUDGES , DRINKING WATER , DRINKING WATER AND SANITATION : COMMON PROCESSES OF PURIFICATION AND TREATMENT , ENERGY , FINANCE-ECONOMY , HEALTH - HYGIENE - PATHOGENIC MICROORGANISM , HYDRAULICS - HYDROLOGY , INDUSTRY , INFORMATION - COMPUTER SCIENCES , INFRASTRUCTURES , MEASUREMENTS AND INSTRUMENTATION , METHTODOLOGY - STATISTICS - DECISION AID , NATURAL MEDIUM , POLICY-WATER POLICY AND WATER MANAGEMENT , PREVENTION AND NUISANCES POLLUTION , RIGHT , RISKS AND CLIMATOLOGY , SANITATION -STRICT PURIFICATION PROCESSES , SLUDGES , TOOL TERMS , TOURISM - SPORT - HOBBIES , WATER DEMAND , WATER QUALITY
Relation	http://www.solutionsforwater.org/
Geographical coverage	France,
News date	20/03/2012
Working language(s)	ENGLISH