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UNECE to contribute actively to 6th World Water Forum

UNECE will present its work and actively contribute to discussions at the 6th World Water Forum, to be held on 12- 17 March in Marseille, France. The largest water event in the world, the Forum brings together, every three years, more than 25,000 stakeholders from the worldwide water community, including ministers, local authorities, parliamentarians, NGOs and many more. The goal of the 6th World Water Forum is to bring water high on all political agendas. Participants will address the major water-related challenges our world is facing, at the local, regional and global levels, from access to water for all to climate change and food security.
This year’s Forum aims to be the “Forum of solutions”, translated into common and measurable goals. In this framework, UNECE will showcase the unique solutions it offers under its Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes (Water Convention) and the Protocol on Water and Health.
Climate change impacts on water resources are already visible and transboundary basins are particularly affected. Therefore, UNECE will present its unique solution in this regard, the “programme of pilot projects and platform for exchanging experience on climate change adaptation in transboundary basins”. UNECE is co-organizing part of the high level special event “2012, European Year of Water”, which will be jointly opened by Andrey Vasilyev, UNECE’s Deputy Executive Secretary and Connie Hedegaard, EU Commissioner for Climate Action, on 12 March.. The solutions will be presented under the focus of “Adapting to climate change in Europe”.
The right to water and sanitation, recognized as a human right by the UN General assembly and the Human Rights Council in 2010, will be another important topic of discussion at the Forum. To support the realization of this right UNECE and WHO-Europe will launch the publication “No one left behind: Good practices for equitable access to water and sanitation in the pan-European region”, developed under the Protocol on Water and Health, on 13 March.
The Forum will also be an important step in the transformation of the Water Convention into a global legal framework for transboundary water cooperation, with the expected entry into force of the amendments opening ratification to non-UNECE members States in 2012. The implications of the Water Convention’s globalization will be discussed in several events gathering representatives of the Parties to the Convention but also non Parties, such as in the high level round table on transboundary waters, in a session on water law and in a side event organized by Finland.
More details about UNECE’s involvement during the World Water Forum can be found at: http://www.unece.org/index.php?id=29143 
Note to editors
The UNECE Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes (Water Convention) of 1992 aims to strengthen national measures and transboundary cooperation for the protection and ecologically sound management of transboundary surface waters and groundwaters. Thirty-seven States and the European Union are Parties to the Water Convention. In 2003, upon a proposal by Switzerland, the Parties adopted an amendment to open the Convention beyond the UNECE region. Once it enters into force, which is expected to happen in 2012, this amendment will allow accession by non-UNECE countries.
The Protocol on Water and Health to the Water Convention is the world’s first international legally binding agreement to protect human health and well-being through better water management, including the protection of water ecosystems and the prevention, control and reduction of water-related diseases. The Protocol entered into force in 2005 and has 24 Parties and 14 Signatories. The Protocol has a secretariat provided jointly by UNECE and the WHO Regional Office for Europe. The Protocol on Water and Health stipulates that “equitable access to water and sanitation, adequate in both quantity and quality, should be provided for all members of the population, especially those who suffer a disadvantage or social exclusion”. At the same time, “special consideration should be given to the protection of people who are particularly vulnerable to water-related diseases”.

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