PRESS RELEASE

COMMUNICATIONS AND MEDIA TEAM OF THE 10^TH WORLD WATER FORUM

NO.07/SP/TKM-WORLDWATERFORUM2024/04/2024

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World Water Forum, Platform for Finding Solutions to Global Water Issues

The World Water Forum is the largest international meeting focused on discussing and formulating global water and sanitation governance policies. The forum has been held nine times, and the 10^th meeting will take place in Bali, Indonesia, from 18 – 25 May 2024.

Through the Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR), the government continues to improve preparations for organizing the event. The government also strives to reach critical agreements and tangible solutions for various global water and sanitation issues to ensure the event's success.

Endra S. Atmawidjaja, Deputy Chair of the Secretariat of the National Committee for the 10^th World Water Forum and Expert Staff to the PUPR Minister for Technology, Industry, and Environment, emphasized this on Wednesday (24 April) in Jakarta.

The World Water Forum was first held in 1997 in Marrakesh, with Morocco as the host country and the World Water Council (WWC) as the co-host. Subsequent meetings have been held every three years, inviting participants from various sectors, including government, academia, NGOs, the private sector, and other water communities.

The second World Water Forum was held in The Hague, Netherlands, in 2000. Subsequent forums were held in Japan in 2003, Mexico in 2006, Istanbul in 2009, Marseille, France in 2012, South Korea in 2015, Brazil in 2018, and Senegal in 2022.

The primary goal of the World Water Forum is to strengthen global collaboration and partnerships to find solutions and address water and sanitation challenges. Additionally, the forum aims to achieve several goals for each event. First, it seeks to enhance the strategic value of water by building political commitment to advance water and sanitation management (SDGs 6).

Second, it aims to raise awareness of water as a critical global concern. Third, the forum serves as a multi-stakeholder event to discuss and share experiences, as well as to develop knowledge and best practices in water and sanitation governance.

Since the second meeting in The Hague, the World Water Forum has produced Ministerial Declarations that contain the political commitments of participating countries.

Key developing issues up to the ninth meeting include the fundamental right to access quality water and sanitation and the nexus or connection between water, food, energy, health, and climate change. There is also the strengthening of collaboration and partnerships in integrating water resource management to achieve water resilience, including transboundary water management and innovative financing for sustainable water management.

Then, there is the advancement of technological innovation in supporting water governance and sanitation management as well as addressing water-related disasters. The last one is inclusivity in water and sanitation management, which involves the participation of all stakeholders and local communities.

The World Water Forum's meeting mechanism is divided into three interrelated processes, namely the political process, the thematic process, and the regional process.

The Political Process is divided into five segments: heads of state/government, ministerial, parliamentarian, local authorities, and basin authorities. All segments in this process will produce a Ministerial Declaration that reflects substantive input from the thematic process and regional process.

Indonesia will serve as the host country of the 10^th World Water Forum. The collaboration between Indonesia and the World Water Council is based on the Framework Agreement for the Organization of the 10^th World Water Forum.

The government has designated Bali as the venue, and the event will be themed “Water for Shared Prosperity.”

The forum will also discuss six subthemes, including Water Security and Prosperity, Water for Humans and Nature, Disaster Risk Reduction and Management, Governance, Cooperation and Hydro-Diplomacy, Sustainable Water Finance, as well as Innovation and Knowledge.

To support the political process, particularly the ministerial segment, UNESCO facilitated the discussion/consultation of the Ministerial Declaration (MD) with UNESCO member countries in Paris.

During the second preparatory meeting on 28 – 29 March at the UNESCO office in Paris, the discussion or consultation on drafting the MD, which will be adopted in Bali, was completed.

Indonesia proposes four points to be agreed upon in the MD at the meeting in Bali. One of them is World Lake Day (WLD). WLD must be designated through a United Nations (UN) mechanism in the form of an adopted resolution proposal.

The second point is to encourage the establishment of a Centre of Excellence on Water and Climate Resilience. The Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) has submitted a concept note focusing on aspects of research cooperation and data exchange rather than on the construction of a physical building. The proposal will also include the structure and organizational composition, as well as plans for operational funding sources.

The third point is Water Management for Small Islands. Indonesia is also pushing to strengthen the capacity of the outermost islands to produce clean water. Therefore, water management issues need to be contextualized within a global-scale perspective that is not limited to island nations and small archipelagos.

The last point is documenting a list of water projects as a Compendium of Concrete Deliverables and Actions. This point is inclusive yet voluntary and includes a list of projects, initiatives, and collaborations managed by water stakeholders at the national, regional, and international levels. Indonesia will also prepare an online platform for the submission process. (Tim PUPR/Elvira Inda Sari/TR/WW/PR)

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For further information, please contact:

Director General of Public Information and Communications of the Ministry of Communications and Informatics – Usman Kansong (0816785320).

PCO of the 10^th World Water Forum – Dede Ariwibowo – (08111830020)

For other news and information, please visit https://infopublik.id/.