The 6th World Water Forum was opened today in the French town of Marseilles under the motto "time for solutions". Access to water and sanitation is one of the greatest and most urgent challenges affecting the entire human race. Almost 900 million people worldwide cannot access clean drinking water and 2.6 billion people have no access adequate sanitation. According to UN estimations, in the year 2025 two thirds of the world's population will be affected by water shortages.
The German government will be represented by several contributions at the World Water Forum, which will be opened by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and at which an attendance of over 25,000 participants is expected. The Forum, established in 1997, aims to raise awareness of water supply problems and promote water management at a political level and within society. The position as head of the German delegation from the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) and the Federal Foreign Office (AA) will be taken over by the Parliamentary State Secretary of the BMZ, Gudrun Kopp.
Both Parliamentary State Secretaries Gudrun Kopp (BMZ) and Katherina Reiche (BMU) are expecting clear signs regarding the implementation of human rights to water and sanitation, better management of water resources and an end to water pollution. Parliamentary State Secretary Kopp underlined: “We must overcome this current access crisis and avert looming water shortages. Therefore water and sanitation are also key areas on the agenda for the Rio +20 Conference on Sustainable Development in June. The World Water Forum can now put important foundations in place.”
Parliamentary State Secretary Reiche stressed: “Water is the basis of all life and an indispensable resource. Overuse and pollution put our waters and subsequently their vital functions for human kind and nature in jeopardy. Such a development must be counteracted.”
The three core messages from Germany for the 6th World Water Forum and in relation to the issue of water for the Rio +20 Conference are as follows:
The human right to clean drinking water and sanitation must be implemented resolutely worldwide as there are almost 900 million people without adequate access to drinking water and 2.6 billion people with no access to sanitation. It is for these reasons listed above that Germany, together with many other states (the 'Blue Group') supports the declaration, published for the 6th World Water Forum, to accelerate implementation of this human right.
Water, energy and food security are key challenges for the future. These can only be overcome if the nexus and interactions between these three areas can be better understood and taken into consideration. Water shortages and mismanagement are a threat to drinking water supply, energy and food security. Waste of energy and food also means a waste of water resources. We therefore need better management of water resources, an increase in water efficiency and an end to wasteful practices.
An end to water pollution: The global objectives regarding access to clean drinking water and sanitation must be achieved through reaching the goals set out for reducing water pollution and expanding waste water treatment. Waste water must be increasingly recognised as a resource and utilised.
The Ministerial Declaration to be adopted on the second day of the forum, during a Ministerial Conference, explicitly addresses these three priorities and specifies concrete steps for their implementation.
As part of the Ministerial Conference Germany, together with the Oman Government, is organising a round table on “Water, Energy and Food Security Nexus”, a topic on which the German government held an international conference in Bonn in November 2011 (see