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Tuesday,
4 December
On the second day of work, delegates met in a morning Plenary for the second multi-stakeholder dialogue (MSD) on developing strategies for sustainable and equitable management of water resources, and an address by HRH Prince of Orange Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands. An informal parallel ministerial session met to consider the equitable and sustainable use of water resources and the mobilization of financial resources for infrastructure investment. In the afternoon,
the Plenary Session reconvened briefly to hear reports on the MSDs, the ministerial session, a presentation of the World Water Development Report, and then broke out into working groups on mobilizing financial resources, capacity development and technology transfer, and governance, integrated management and new partnerships
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HRH Prince Willem of
Orange
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HRH Prince Willem-Alexander of
Orange, Patron of the Global Water Partnership, urged harnessing water management to achieve development goals, called for
universal water access, stressed that water is everyone’s business, and urged partnering, democratic control, and
recognition of water access as a human right. He promised to forward the Conference outputs to
the Johannesburg Summit
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the RealAudio
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Co-Chair
Uschi Eid, Germany, introduced the session and identified
crosscutting concerns for water management, including water as a public
good, trade related aspects and governance and technology
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Uschi
Eid
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Anna
Weir, Business and Industry, stated that the business interest in water
management issues depends on their relevance, impact and the company's core competences, and called for measurable targets to attract finance, technology and knowledge sharing
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the RealAudio
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Anna Weir
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Marcella de
Souza, for NGOs, stressed: prioritization of small-scale, community-led projects; water pricing; and support for the World Commission on Dams guidelines
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the RealAudio
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Kaarin
Taipale, for Local Authorities, illustrated how localities can manage water through optimization of municipal operations,
through engaging in dialogue and through catchment planning at multiple
scales
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the RealAudio
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David
Boys, for Workers and Trade Unions, called water a natural monopoly
that is distorted by privatization. He urged regulation of international financial institutions (IFIs), and called for additional finances from,
inter alia, IFIs and union pension funds
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the RealAudio
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Pictures
from the Multi-Stakeholder Dialogues |
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WORKING GROUPS
The groups met in parallel sessions and began consideration of capacity development and technology transfer, mobilizing financial resources, and governance, integrated management and new partnerships. Introducing the groups, Conference Facilitator Margaret Catley-Carlson encouraged the groups to draw upon the Ministerial Declaration and the ministers� and MSD�s reports
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Governance,
Integrated Management and New Partnership: Opening the Working Group on Protection of Water Resources and Ecosystems, Chair Rogatien Biaou, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Benin, invited amendments to the Recommendations, and introduced Co-chair Wu Jisong, Ministry of Water Resources, China.
Ger Bergkamp, IUCN, highlighted key trends, including: rising insecurity, competing demands, decentralization and integration of resource management. He urged minimum flows for ecosystems, economic valuation, popular motivation and social capital development, and called for partnerships and transparency
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Ger Bergkamp
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Friedrich
Barth, European Commission, outlined the integrated approach of the Water Framework Directive, which sets environmental objectives and actions for water and groundwater resources across Europe. He proposed general principles including: appropriate incentives, transparency, public participation, capacity building for administrations, and objectives that permit early success
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the RealAudio
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Friedrich Barth
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Mobilizing
Financial Resources:
Co-Chair Jacobus Richelle, European Commission, introduced Co-Chair Zaal
Lomtadze, Georgia, before the first keynote speaker David Ssebabi, Uganda Utility Reform Unit, articulated Uganda�s experience with privatization. He stated that in countries with low incomes, water management will have to primarily be financed by governments. Subsidies, restructuring and commercialization, strengthening financial management, and enhancing local regulatory capacities and ensuring resources are not wasted are essential
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Zaal
Lomtadze
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Jon
Lane (left) with Zaal Lomtadze
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Meera
Mehta
Meera
Mehta,
World Bank, presented case studies on rural water supply and on water and
sanitation in Uganda and India, addressing options for financing
mechanisms, decentralization, and emerging priorities. Informed choices
for the rural sector, community-based management, and cost recovery were
key to rural water supply
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Jacobus
Richelle
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Capacity
Development and Technology Transfer:
Lars Engfeldt (Sweden), Co-Chair of this Working Group opened this discussion of education and training, and encouraged participants to further refine the Recommendations for Action.
In the keynote address, Janos Bogardi, UNESCO, shared conclusions from the recent Delft Water Conference and called for a new leadership with, inter alia, �ethics and humility.� Ngoni Mudege, Institute of Water and Sanitation from Zimbabwe, noted the lack of adaptive capacity to solve problems with well-known solutions, characterized the role of resource centers (RCs) in water education, and underscored the need for RCs ability to build their own capacities. Victor Kanu, the African Institute of Sataya Sai Education in Human Values, suggested a value-based approach to water education and elaborated on how education should both provide information and enact behavioral transformation.
In the subsequent discussions, delegates raised issues concerning: adopting the appropriate media for the message; differentiating messages for rural and urban water users; re-educating bureaucrats and technocrats; transferring knowledge through exchange programmes and virtual universities; educating women on water quality and use; and considering youth as potential community entry points for education
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