BUDAPEST WATER SUMMIT: THE ROLE OF WATER AND SANITATION IN THE GLOBAL SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AGENDA
The Budapest Water Summit convened from 9-11 October 2013, in Budapest, Hungary. The Summit brought together participants representing governments, international organizations, civil society, academia and the private sector. The Summit discussed, in particular, the developments within and without the UN system on the development of waterrelated goals for the post-2015 development agenda. The meeting took place in the context of the United Nations (UN) International Year of Water Cooperation 2013, the outcome of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20) “The Future We Want,” and the ongoing post-2015 development agenda process to negotiate sustainable development goals (SDGs).
The meeting included the high-level Summit and, in parallel, the Science Forum, Civil Society Forum, Youth Forum and Business Leaders Forum. Side events and a Water and Sanitation Expo took place throughout the meeting. The Summit and Fora addressed themes including: integrated water resources management (IWRM); access to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH); good water governance; the water, energy and food nexus; water in the context of the green economy; and investment and finance.
The Budapest Water Summit addressed these issues in sessions and high-level panels, including: striving for universal access to water and sanitation; addressing WASH issues; implementing IWRM for the 21st century; serving a growing population with water in a changing climate; implementing good water governance; governing water wisely with specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound (SMART) SDGs; enabling a green economy for blue water; investing and financing to address the global water and sanitation crisis and related SDG; and leveraging finance.
On Wednesday evening, a special high-level panel took place on the water-energy-food nexus and a philanthropy roundtable convened on Thursday evening. On Friday afternoon, the Summit adopted the Budapest Statement, calling for a water-related SDG and the establishment of an intergovernmental mechanism on water, and this was followed by a closing ceremony.
This summary presents a brief history of intergovernmental processes on freshwater and summarizes the events of the high-level Summit.
VISIT OF MR. JACQUES-HENRY HEULS, THE AMBASSADOR OF FRANCE IN THE REPUBLIC OF UZBEKISTAN
Mr. Jacques-Henry Heuls, Ambassador of France in the Republic of Uzbekistan, visited the Scientific Information Center of ICWC on 30 October 2013.
The structure and history of the Interstate Commission for Water Coordination (ICWC) of Central Asia, principles of its activity and issues on transboundary cooperation were presented to Mr. Jacques-Henry Heuls. Collaboration tools been successfully developed by SIC ICWC and being applied by ICWC, in particular the water-environmental portal CAWater-Info and information system CAREWIB), the implementation of integrated water resources management, development of regional training system were especially noted.
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