Marseille – 6th World Water Forum: Turning Words Into Action

As the French coastal city of Marseille prepares to host the 6^th World Water Forum in March 2012, REVOLVE speaks to Guy Fradin, the Vice Chairman of the International Forum Committee of the 6^th World Water Forum, about the organization and objectives of the world’s largest international water event.

The World Water Forum is in the first place a meeting space where individuals, institutions and government agencies can meet, build new relationships and outline new projects. We may be in the digital age, the age of video conferences and the internet, but we have realized that there still is a real need to meet in person and exchange views.

 Secondly, the forum aims to raise awareness of the importance of water issues on the political, institutional, financial and technical level so that the water sector receives greater recognition. Because, in the end, each citizen is concerned, as we all consume water. The domain of water politics overlaps with many other important political domains such as health, spatial planning, culture and so forth.

This is also what makes it challenging to achieve consensus among the many different actors. Compromises need to be made, which can make the process very slow.

At the 2009 World Water Forum in Istanbul, the Istanbul Water Consensus was issued, in which local and regional authorities committed to developing water management strategies.

Our aim is to take up where we left off after the last forum and to make this sixth forum the forum of solutions. We have now reached the time for solutions, and I might add, the time for commitments.

On a conceptual level, we have plenty of political, financial and technical solutions; the problem lies with their implementation. Project implementation depends on the particular context in each country and requires a climate in which individuals can successfully bring projects to fruition – people who have the competence and the will to push through technical, institutional and financial solutions. That is the main element that is missing in many cases. We need to find a way to bridge this gap between theoretical solutions and practical implementation.

In the coming year we are therefore going to develop a global strategic plan in which we will define 10 to 15 major strategic lines. For each area we will outline targets, which will result in solutions or concrete actions.

This is what we are working towards: concretizing the implementation of solutions.