Nearly 10,000 participants including international heads of state, United Nations representatives, parliamentarians, local authorities and other government officials, as well as water professionals, activists and other interested parties, are expected to attend the 5th World Water Forum, scheduled during March 16-22 in Istanbul, Turkey.
Held every three years, the world's largest water-related event will convene in to push the worldwide water crisis onto the international agenda with an aim to find sustainable solutions to the daily water challenges, informed Katie Kirby of Alpaytac Marketing Communications in an e-mail from Chicago, USA.
The Forum is a unique platform where individuals from both inside and outside the water sector interact and debate to create broader awareness for water-related issues and find solutions. During this year's forum, the United Nations' World Water Development Report will be unveiled giving insight to freshwater resources. The United Nations Environment Programme reveals that two-thirds of the planet will live in water-stressed conditions by 2025 if present consumption patterns continue.
Turkey, the host country of this year's Forum, offers a unique position due to its location as a crossroads between continents, regions, cultures and civilizations. It provides an ideal atmosphere for the Forum's theme, Bridging Divides for Water. Bringing together contrasting viewpoints such as supply and demand, rich and poor, developed and developing worlds, the Forum is put together as a result of the collaboration between Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the General Directorate of State Hydraulic Works and the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, as well as the World Water Council.
"The ultimate goal of the 5th World Water Forum Istanbul 2009 is to motivate action to improve the world's management of water resources," says Prof. Oktay Tabasaran, the Forum's secretary-general. He also added that it could be done by raising awareness of the importance of water-related issues. However, global awareness must be followed by action—such as legislation, funding, governance and empowerment—all of which are promoted through the Forum, Oktay Tabasaran argued.
The World Water Forum is the international meeting place where the world comes together to share concrete solutions for water issues. It is organized every three years by the World Water Council and the host country's government, and is the result of more than two years of preparation involving people from all regions, sectors and backgrounds. Previous Forums have been held in Morocco (1997), the Netherlands (2000), Japan (2003) and Mexico (2006), stated in the official website of the Forum.
The Forum has four distinct objectives like emphasizing water's importance to gain a spot on the political agenda, fostering discussions to solve international water issues, formulating concrete proposals and bringing their importance to the world's attention, and generating political commitments.
"Water conservation and management are massive global concerns," says Loïc Fauchon, World Water Council president. He also added that the Forum promises to garner unprecedented international interest, support and exposure surrounding global water issues. Sustainability is a fast-growing problem directly affected by most global environmental issues such as pollution, population growth, land-use changes and climate change. Without worldwide efforts aimed at sustainability, more extreme and devastating events are expected to occur.
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