Istanbul World Water Forum

The 5th World Water Forum will be held in Istanbul (Turkey) from 16 to 22 March 2009 and close to 20,000 participants and around 100 thematic sessions have been announced. UCLG was deeply involved in the 4th World Water Forum, which took place in Mexico City in March 2006, and a dialogue was initiated at that time with representatives from national governments and legislative bodies.

For this 5th Forum, UCLG hopes to reinitiate the high-level dialogue process. In this regard, the Mayor of Istanbul and Co-President of UCLG, Mr. Kadir Topbas, has invited the concerned local authorities to underwrite the “Istanbul Water Consensus”. This consensus proposes specific commitments to the local authorities so they can face the most urgent challenges linked with water and improve management of this resource.

The World Council which took place in Istanbul on November 30 invites UCLG members to:

Participate in the 5th World Water Forum and, notably, form part of the delegation of local authorities to participate in the high-level dialogue with government representatives and legislators on 20 March 2009;

Consider the “Istanbul Water Consensus” proposal and send amendments to the World Secretariat prior to 15 January 2009. If agreement on the text can be achieved, UCLG will be able to invite its members to sign the Consensus and commit to its implementation according to the modalities described below.

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