17th GOVERNING COUNCIL MEETING OF THE ASIA-PACIFIC WATER FORUM
The 17th Governing Council Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Water Forum (APWF) was held on May 10, 2015. The meeting gathered 26 representatives from the leading organizations of the Asia-Pacific region. The agenda was devoted to the results of the 7th World Water Forum and the activity of the APWF towards the 3rd Asia-Pacific Water Summit planned in 2017.
The meeting was chaired by Mr. Ravi Narayanan, the Acting Chair of the APWF Governing Council, and Mrs. Changhua Wu and Mr. Simon Tay, Vice-chairs of the APWF Governing Council.
Sangyoung Park, the Acting Head of the Korea Water Forum (KWF) presented the general report on the 7th World Water Forum’s overall outcome and on new Science & Technology process.
Short reports on sessions under the regional process were presented as follows:
- Water and Cities - Ai Sigiura, UNESCO Office Jakarta.
- Water and Green Growth - Taesun Shin, K-Water.
- Water and Food Security - Thierry Facon, FAO Regional office.
- Integrated Water Resources Management - Coichiro Omoto, NARBO.
- Development of Cooperation in the Aral Sea Basin – Vadim Sokolov, Regional Cordinator GWP CACENA.
- Transboundary Rivers in the Northeast Asia - Heather Lee, KWF.
- Water-related disasters - Masahiko Murase, ICHARM.
- Sanitation in the Asian rural area - Pierre Flamand, Japan Sanitation Consortium.
During presentation of the results of the Aral Sea Basin session, the brochure published by EC IFAS in Russian and English languages describing the outcomes of the special session “Development of Cooperation in the Aral Sea Basin to Mitigate Consequences of the Environmental Catastrophe” and the EC IFAS participation in the Forum’s events was handed out to the participants.
In conclusion of discussions on the outcomes of the 7th World Water Forum, Yoshie Tonohara, Japan Water Forum (JWF), presented to the participants the final report for Asia-Pacific region.
The participants of the Governing Council Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Water Forum (APWF) agreed that the outcomes of the 7th World Water Forum need to be widely disseminated. Consequently, the Secretariat represented by the Japan Water Forum was asked to prepare the so-called policy briefs, involving leading organizations in the region, and disseminate them in the region.
The APWF Governing Council also considered the proposals and the development program of the new publication “Asian Water Development Outlook” (AWDO-2016).
The first outlook of AWDO-2007 was presented at the first Summit of APWF in Beppu, Japan, in December, 2007. The second one was presented at the second Summit of APWF in Chiang Mai, Thailand, in May, 2013. The full outlook in Russian language is available on ADB web-site: http://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/pub/2013/asian-water-development-outlook-2013-ru.pdf
Mr. Ravi Narayanan, the Acting Chair of the APWF Governing Council made a brief presentation. He informed that new publication is already being prepared with financial support of the Asian Development Bank and under coordination by the Asia-Pacific Center for Water Security (Beijing University, China).
It is planned to hold a seminar for discussion of preparation process and the contents of the future outlook in ADB Headquarters in Manila. Final outlook will be presented during the 3rd APWF Summit in 2017. The first presentation of this outlook was made during the 7th World Water Forum in Korea in April, 2015.
Nigel Walmsley, GWP and HR representative, presented the new initiative “Meta-guide on water and climate change in the Asia-Pacific Region”. The initiative includes the establishment of a knowledge network for the climate change adaptation tools.
Finally, Kazuhisa Ito, Deputy General Secretary of the Japan Water Forum, made a presentation on preparation to the 3rd APWF Water Summit. The Summit is to be held during the period from April to June 2017 and should serve as a platform for preparation of the Asia-Pacific region towards the 8th World Water Forum in Brazil. At the moment, the JWF Secretariat is expecting submission of applications from the countries that are ready to be a Host of the Summit. It is expected that by September-October 2015, the hosting country of the 3rd Summit will be identified and the Summit agenda will be announced.
Working moments of the 17th Governing Council Meeting
of the Asia-Pacific Water Forum (APWF) in Singapore
Presentation of Sokolov V.I. on the results of the special session
- “Development of Cooperation in the Aral Sea Basin to Mitigate Consequences
of the Environmental Catastrophe” held during
the 7th World Water Forum
N. Walmsley, representative of GWP and HR Wallingford,
presented new initiative “Meta-guide on water and climate change
in the Asia-Pacific Region”
Sokolov V.I., Deputy Director of SIC ICWC
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