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3. Bridging and theme

3.1 What are the main issues of the 5th Forum?

The themes that will be addressed during the 5th Forum are the following:

  • Global Changes and Risk Management (Adapting to climate change; Migration and changing land uses, human settlements and water; Mitigating disasters)
  • Advancing Human Development and the MDGs (Ensuring water, sanitation and hygiene for all: Ensuring adequate infrastructure and Protecting public health in the near term; Water for energy, energy for water; Water and food for ending poverty and hunger; Multiple uses of water)
  • Managing and protecting water resources and their supply systems to meet human and environmental needs (Basin management and trans-boundary water cooperation; Ensuring adequate water resources and storage to meet agricultural, energy and urban needs; Preserving natural ecosystems; Managing and protecting surface, groundwater, rainwater)
  • Governance and management (Implementing the Right to Water and Sanitation for improved access; Improving performance through regulatory approaches; Ethics, transparency and empowerment of stakeholders; Institutional arrangements for efficient and effective water management)
  • Finance (Sustainable means of financing local water authorities and systems; Pricing strategies to ensure fairness and sustainability; Pro-poor policies and strategies)
  • Education, Knowledge and Capacity Building (Education and capacity-building strategies; Water science and technology: appropriate and innovative solutions for the 21st Century; Using professional networks and associations to strengthen the water sector)

3.2 What is meant by “Bridging Divides”?

“Bridging Divides for Water” refers to the central location of Istanbul, at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, the Middle-East and Africa. Bringing together politicians, citizens, world leaders and professionals, the 5th World Water Forum hopes to establish bridges between rich and poor, young and old, technical and political, developed and developing worlds, just to name a few.

This theme also calls upon the international water community to make concrete proposals for improved exchange so that better management of water resources may contribute to all of the Millennium Development Goals.

3.3 Will the Forum address climate change?

Climate change is currently of major concern to our planet. The recent IPCC reported the pivotal role of water in observed and predicted climate change. Obviously, this report is of interest not only to climate change specialists. The international water community, in particular, feels concerned. The influences of climate change on the water cycle are becoming more and more evident and must be seriously assessed and quickly taken into account by water managers and decision makers. However, one needs to point out that while there are still uncertainties about the hydrological implications of climate variability and change there is no uncertainty whatsoever that other global change processes will also have a huge impact on how water will be managed in the 21st century. Take for instance the most important driver of all: population increase. The 3 billion people who will be joining the current 6.2 billion human beings will bring about major changes, ranging from land use changes through migration to the swelling of urban areas. These are the reasons why the elaboration of adaptive water resources management schemes is so vital to cope with the expected impacts of global changes, including climate change. This area will be one of the main focuses for the 5th Forum cutting across the 22 topics, ranging from flood studies all the way up to urban water management.