The 6th World Water Forum, heading to Marseille and its region, March 2012.

The preparation process underway for the 6th World Water Forum constitutes for the International Secretariat for Water (ISW), Solidarity Water Europe (SWE) and their partners, an opportunity to summarise the lessons learned from the previous forums and see where we are at.
One thing is clear – it is absolutely necessary to provoke the changes (in attitudes and institutional changes) required to at least double the solutions that exist and have proved their worth in the field. Priority must be given to water management for and by the poorest; in our view this is non-negotiable.

The stakes are high, because it is not only a matter of discussions and proposing changes, but of negotiating a new balance of power in water management. So we must develop new scenarios (preparation of sessions, duration of sessions, number of participants, type of activities etc.) to establish real dialogue among all the stakeholders in integrated and regional water resource management (the specialists, decision-makers, backers, elected officials, academics and artists, consumers, users, technicians, experts in international cooperation at different levels, from local to global).

If we miss this turn at Marseille, the only conclusion that can be drawn is that this type of world forum no longer serves any purpose. Some members of the great water family already think this.


The role of the International Secretariat for Water (ISW) and its partners at the 6th World Water Forum