The 7th World Water Forum took place from the 12th to the 17th of april 2015 in the cities of Daegu and Gyeongju in South Korea under the theme “Water for our future” and reunited 14000 participants from 168 countries including 9 heads of state, 80 ministers and 100 ministerial delegations.
More than 200 french delegates were present, positionned in the different colleges of the French Water Partnership, from the humanitarian to the bigger groups, and participated in this edition showing their will to weigh in the international debates following the Forum that took place in Marseille in 2012.
In the continuity of the Marseille Forum, which was dedicated to solutions, this south korean edition concentrated itself on the implementation of these solutions, through action and scientific and technical innovation.
This Forum opened the path for water for the two great events of 2015 : The vote of new Sustainable Development Goals in september by the UN General Assembly as well as the Climate Conference which will take place in Paris in december 2015.
The South Korean World Water Forum was composed of 5 processes. What are the results?
Political Process
The Political Process had three main components : government, parliamentarians, and local and regional authorities. Its aim was to serve as a stimulus for political recommendations to ensure that water is at the top of the global agenda. Discussions were held with a view of preparing for the negotiations that are on the post-2015 Development Agenda for the United Nations and the Paris COP21.
The results :
- The ministers present adopted a declaration reaffirming the human right to access to water and sanitation, adopted in 2014 by the UN General assembly and asked for a post 2015 Water Goal, with specific targets on water taking into account universal access to water and sanitation, the integrated management of water ressources by water basins including the cross boundaries one, sinergies between the politics of water, food security and energy.
- The political process also led the 80 parlamentarians present to adopt a declaration inviting the national parliaments to adopt legislations and consequent budgets for water in lign with the post 2015 Agenda and climate change, as well as the operationnal implementation of the Helpdesk (Parlementarian Portal) and an international network of parlamentarians.
- This processus finally led to 100 local and regional officials present adopting the “Daegu-Gyeongbuk Water Action for Sustainable Cities and Regions” aiming to reinforce the resilience of water politics in cities and regions in regard to ever growing catastrophies.
- A continuity between the Forum of Marseille (2012), Daegu-Gyeongbuk (2015) and Brasilia (2018) was fixed with the creation of thematic Implementation Roadmaps carried out by a “champion” organism on different prioritary topics.
Find here the different declarations adopted :
Ministerial Declaration 7th World Water Forum (English)
Parliamentarian Statement (English)
Daegu_Gyeongbuk Recommendations to the Ministers at the 7th World Water …
Daegu-Gyeongbuk Water Action for Sustainable cities
Thematic Process
Over one hundred multi-stakeholder sessions focusing on 16 different themes and approximately twenty special sessions brought together water experts and high-level participants.
Regional Process
Abundance or shortage of water resources, vulnerability to climate risks, etc. This process highlighted the specific geographic problems of each of the world’s major regions.
The results :
The conclusions for these two processes were less successful due to a weak international participation. The themes of gouvernance, integrated management of water resources, training/education, development of scientific knowledge and funding were the most developed topics.
Find here the Final_Report_MEDITERRANEAN 7WWF coordinated by IME in collaboration with the GWP-MED.
Science and Technology Process
For the first time at a World Water Forum, sessions, debates and panel discussions will form the basis for discussions on technological, social and environmental innovations.
The results :
The science and technology process had a big asian touch putting forwing technology as a main response to meet the challenges of water on an international scale. The french stakeholders participating in this process spoke out to make sure this process also take into account, beyond technological innovations, alos the social, environmental and economic innovations which can be linked to water. This been said, results have overall not been satisfactory.
Citizen Forum
Through conferences, sessions and workshops, all participants were to share their thoughts on topics ranging from sea water to governance, education on water issues and more.
The results :
Organized in a different location than the main Forum, the citizen Forum was unfortunately unsufficiently put forward, aside from the Water films festival. This citizen Forum and the Forum in general were marked by a strong participation of young people which now appears as a new voice weighing in the civil society.
In a general manner, the local and international NGOs were not represented enough, as the organization did not sufficiently give the means to hold such a representation.
Result of the french participation :
The 200 French stakeholders present during the Forum were quite active :
- They participated in 51 of the Forum’s 104 thematic sessions
- They co-organized the European Regional Process and will be highly involved
in the Mediterranean Process. - They initiated high-level panel discussions on climate.
The FWP also presented its first assessment of the commitments that were made by French water stakeholders during the 6th Forum in Marseille, France.
Find the complete database below and the associated publication in the tool box.
