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Watertalk 1 2003
Watertalk 1 2003
Watertalk 1 2003
International Year of Freshwater, water as the big issue at 3rd World Water Forum
the beginning of the 21st century "Day of Europe"
Scary figures have been quoted at the World As stated before effective water governance is necessary
Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in to solve the water crisis. The results of the Water Governance
Johannesburg August/September 2002: 1.1 Dialogue (established by GWP, UNDP and ICLEI) will be presented
MARCH 21, 2003 (FRIDAY)
billion people lack access to safe drinking and global and local governance issues will be further explored in
water and 2.4 billion people have no access to order to share knowledge and experience. 8.45 - 15.45
adequate sanitation. 5000-6000 people in GWP-CEE contributed to both dialogues mentioned above
developing countries - most of them are with commendable results and the relevant reports will be Kyoto, Takaragaike Prince Hotel,
children under five - die every day from published for the Forum. Summary of the CEE findings can be seen
diarrhoea closely linked to inadequate access to safe water and on the posters published in this issue of Water Talk. Prince Hall
sanitation. Water table has fallen by 50 metres in parts of North- Although originally the flood session of the WWF3 has not
China plain during recent decades. Many rivers no longer reach been given priority it will probable receive marked interest after
the sea several months in a year. On top of that it is estimated that the disastrous events of the last year.
human water use will increase by 40% in the next two decades During the Forum the GWP will be further involved in the Coordination Group of the Day of
because of population growth and the increasing demand of food Action through Partnership and the IWRM ToolBox sessions, and Europe:
production. At the same time the inappropriate use of fertilisers the World Panel on Financing Water Infrastructure. The latter issue
and pesticides results in pollution of surface and ground water has been also addressed by GWP-CEE last years and the results are EU Commission, DG Environment
many parts of the world. also presented in a poster below. (Friedrich.Barth@cec.eu.int) and Global
Industrialised continues are not except from water related The first edition of the World Water Development Report Water Partnership (CEE and Med)
disasters. Examples include disastrous floods in USA, France, (WWDR) is scheduled for submission to the 3rd World Water
Germany, UK, The Netherlands. The record floods of 2002 in Forum. The Report will be a periodic review, updated every third Preliminary Agenda
Central Europe are still fresh memory of the people living there. year, to give an authoritative picture of the state of the world's
Baia Mare (a Rumanian city) has become a frequently used term freshwater resources and our stewardship of them. The WWDR Arrival of participants
by the international water community since the cyanide spill of will be the major component of the UN World Water Assessment Opening
2000, poisoning Szamos and Tisza rivers. Programme. It will contain indicators and analysis that will Overview of the Water Framework
Since many felt that the looming water crisis is rather due identify, diagnose and assess: Directive (EU Commission)
to bad water governance than the lack of resources the issue has • the effectiveness of societal stewardship of global freshwater
become increasingly prominent in the international debate on resources; Presentation on crosscutting themes:
water in recent years. The recommendations from the Bonn • the supply, demand and uses for water and the challenges of
Conference on Freshwater (December 2001) singled out Actions in extreme events; River Basin Management
the field of Governance as one of three major themes. At the • current critical problems and emerging threats to freshwater Flooding
World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg ecosystems and their management. Ecology
governance was highlighted and the Plan of Implementation Ministers in charge of water (expectedly more than 120) Water Pricing
states explicitly: Good governance within each country and at the will meet the last two days of the Forum to discuss solutions to
international level is essential for sustainable development. global water issues. Senior officials of the interested countries are Enlarging the impact of the EU Water
Regarding all these no wonder that the United Nations already busy with the preparation of the Ministerial Declaration. Framework Directive
General Assembly (in resolution 55/196) proclaimed the year 2003 The Water Fair and Festival (Mizu-En in Japanese) will be
as the International Year of Freshwater (IYFW). The UN resolution organized in Osaka, as a commercial exhibition open to all visitors, GWP-CEE part
was initiated by the Government of Tajikistan and supported by focussing on such topics as water and cities, industry and
148 other countries. It calls upon governments, national and technology, and lifestyle. River Basin Management and public
international organizations, NGOs and the private sector to make World Water Day is celebrated every year on 22 March and participation (keynote speech)
voluntary contributions and to lend other forms of support to the the celebration is one of the main attractions of the Forum. The 3 short statements
initiative. The Year provides an opportunity to accelerate the theme for this year's event is "Water for the Future", calling on one Short Debate: Panel discussion with the
implementation of the principles of integrated water resources and all to observe sustainable approaches to water use for the audience
management. benefit of future generations. The goal for World Water Day 2003
The IYFW received its official launch at a ceremony at the is to inspire worldwide political and community action and GWP-Med part
United Nations in New York on December 12, 2002. In a message encourage greater global understanding of the need for more
issued at the ceremony, UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro responsible water use and conservation. River Basin Management and Water
pricing (keynote speech)
Matsuura said that "water can be an agent of peace, rather than During the International Year of Freshwater the World
conflicts, and UNESCO is looking at ways that will allow this Wetlands Day has received particular attention. It marks the date 3 short statements
century to be one of 'water peace' rather than 'water wars'. By of the signing of the Convention on Wetlands on 2 February 1971, Short Debate: Panel discussion with the
developing principles and methods to manage this resource in the Iranian city of Ramsar. The theme chosen this year is 'No audience
efficiently and ethically, while respecting related ecosystems, we wetlands-no water!', in support to the IYFW initiative. Wetlands
move a step closer to the goal of sustainable development." cover 6% of the Earth's land surface and are found in all countries 13.30 Ministerial Panel on the EU Water
Initiative
One of the main events of the International Year of and in all climates. They include swamps, marshes, mangrove
Freshwater will be the 3rd World Water Forum, to take place in forests and wet prairies. Wetlands are a main component in
Kyoto, Osaka and Shiga (Japan), March 16-23. helping to maintain the water cycle, capturing and holding rainfall
The Forum will not be a platform for presenting technical and snowmelt, retaining sediments, and purifying water. Around
papers, defining theoretical concepts, or discussing research the world 50% of the world's wetlands have been lost since 1900
results. Instead it invites participants to share their experience with and more than 80% of the wetlands along the Danube River have
proven actions and best practices that have facilitated sustainable been destroyed since that date. Initiatives need to be taken in
solutions to water problems. Sessions will comprise major themes, order to reverse the destruction of these essential ecosystems.
controversial topics, special programs and major groups' A global water movement has gradually gathered pace
discussions. Regional days for Africa, the Americas, Asia and since the 1990s especially since the 1992 Rio Earth Summit and
Pacific, Europe (see the programme separately), the Middle East through milestone events like the First and Second World Water
and Mediterranean will highlight critical water issues, drawing Forum in Marrakesh 1997 and The Hague 2000, the Bonn
global attention to local, national and regional perspectives on conference in 2001 and the WSSD in 2002 it raised awareness
problems and best practices. The central theme of the Europe day worldwide and helped put water high on the political agenda. It
is the EU Water Framework Directive which will reshape water became generally accepted that water is a key for sustainable
protection and water management of the continent, based on development. The present year 2003 as the International Year of
comparable principles and objectives. Freshwater and the 3rd World Water Forum in Japan might further
One of the prioritised themes discussed in the Forum is the help find the right direction to solving the looming global water
interrelationship among "Water, Food and Environment" (WFE). crisis. The Year is expected to follow up on
The Dialogue on WFE launched two years ago will reach a agreements reached at the WSSD and should
milestone event in Kyoto in the pursuit of finding satisfactory have an impact far beyond the year 2003.
tradeoffs between two imperatives: to feed present and future
generations and to preserve the natural resources of our planet. József Gayer
CEE
2
CEE
Slovenia
3
CEE
4
CEE
The Forum brought together some 60 partic- A special session was devoted to a case study
ipants from the ten countries of the region competition. After a pre-selection process six
and invitees from GWP regions Central Amer- have been presented to the Forum partici-
ica and South East Asia, WWC-Water Action pants, who voted for the best three with the
Unit, GTZ of Germany, France and the GWP understanding that they would be consid-
SEC and Wallingford Resource Centre includ- ered for the CEE sub-session at WWF3. Win-
ing also two GWP Steering Committee mem- ners are:
bers.
• Tomasz Okruszko: The Narew River basin
The event was opened by Pavel Puncochar, (Poland) - national level case
head of department of Ministry of Agricul- study from Poland
ture of the host country, Czech Republic. The
Forum was attended by Árpád Göncz former • János Fehér: Tisza River Basin
president of Hungary, the patron of GWP-CEE (Hungary) Environmental Pro-
who addressed the audience. In his speech gramme Initiative
he emphasised the importance of regional
cooperation in the field of water manage- • Margit Sare: Transfer of experience
ment to ensure sustainability. (Estonia) on East-East coopera-
tion of transboundary
The progress of the region was reported by lakes /Strategies for
Public Participation in
Janusz Kindler, chair of GWP-CEE, who high-
Management of Trans-
lighted the major programmes and milestone
boundary Waters in
events of the last one and half years with ref-
Countries in Transition:
erence to the long term water vision and
Lake Peipsi (Estonia-Rus-
framework for action of the region. As he
sia) and Lake Ohrid
stated most of the foreseen actions had been
(Macedonia-Albania)
started or completed and the region is on the
Case Study
right track to achieve the vision statement for
2025. The major success of the competition was
the high interest and the involvement of new
The programme of the RWF focussed on the stakeholders into the water movement of
presently running dialogues in the light of GWP-CEE. All cases have been offered to
the preparations for the third World Water IWRM ToolBox as well as to the Water Action
Forum. Presentations on financing water Unit of WWC.
infrastructure, water governance and dia-
logue on water food and environment out- The Forum was ended by a slide show indi-
lined the present situation, trends, priorities, cating different aspects of EU Water Frame-
comments from grass-root stakeholders in work Directive the requirements of which are
the different CEE countries, likely scenarios, to be met by the countries. The slide show
implications etc. in the context of the immi- serves as a template for the CEE countries
nent accession to the European Union, the preparing a regional film to be presented at
major driving force in the region. the WWF3.
The regional reports will be completed in the The Forum proved to be a successful stock-
near future, considering the Forum feedback taking event with clear indications on the
and experiences and delivered to contribute role GWP-CEE is playing in the promotion of
to the Kyoto process. IWRM.
5
CEEAt the international conference on "Prevention of flood hazards by integrating socio-economic and environmental
considerations" held in Budapest, 30 November - 1 December 2002 the heads of delegates including prime ministers, GWP Slovak Water Club
ministers and other high level decision makers from the Danube, Odra and Elbe basins adopted the statement below.
As a follow up GWP-CEE has initiated a Task Force on flood management led by Katarina Hajtasova (Slovak Hydrome-
Workshop on PP Partnership
teorological Institute) with the mandate to start programs on general public flood awarness raising, historical floods in Water Sector
with emphasis to antecedent synoptic situation and establishing a network of flood experts in the region.
In November 21, 2002, a workshop on Public Private
Partnership in Municipal Water Sector was held in
BUDAPEST INITIATIVE ON STRENGTHENING INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION Bratislava, Slovakia. The workshop was a contribution
to series of the activities supported by GWP CEE (in
ON SUSTAINABLE FLOOD MANAGEMENT February 2002, the Estonian Water Club conducted
the same activity).
Joint Statement by the Heads of Delegations The Slovak Water Club followed this initiative due
to the fact that the process of privatization of water
services in Slovakia is in its final stage. The first phase,
(b) Enhancing the development of a holistic flood called transformation and decentralization of water
management strategy as a part of integrated river works started in 1996. From that time, variety of pro-
basin management planning with due regard to the posals how to transfer responsibilities from central to
improvement of the security of human life and to the local level were developed. However, only a limited
mitigation of damages caused by floods on the one attention is devoted to discuss, to maintain a dialogue
hand, but also to gain advantageous impacts of or at least to prepare municipal representatives for a
floods on biodiversity on the other hand; "new business" arrangements with private sector. The
(c) Increasing mutual efforts in the development and workshop was organized by GWP Water Club Slova-
distribution of advanced technologies and method- kia with the aim to bring both private and public
ologies applied in meteorological and hydrological stakeholders to develop the discussion on several sen-
monitoring, forecasting and warning, including sitive issues:
international data exchange and information tech- • will privatization improve the performance of
nology developments to disseminate early warnings water works companies
by and for the organisations concerned, as well as, • are legal and administrative rules sufficient to
for the public, provide for protection of water consumers and
the environment
(d) Development and dissemination of flood risk
• will private involvement mean more investments
assessment and mapping combined with decision
for water infrastructure.
support tools, such as Strategic Environmental
Assessment, for cost-benefit and scenario analysis as
The workshop was facilitated by Ms. Danka
an essential tool in the formulation of appropriate
The recent floods, in particular the floods of August 3. The better understanding of the climatological, Thalmeinerova from Academia Istropolitana Nova, a
policies and measures in relevant fields (such as land post-graduate institution in environmental policy.
2002, caused casualties, made thousands of people hydrological, ecological and landscape context of use and spatial planning; development of building
homeless and caused a damage amounting to sever- floods is also of utmost importance in flood man- code; determination of the level of services; design,
al thousand million Euros in many countries across agement and especially in the flood prevention appraisal and prioritisation of flood alleviation proj-
Europe. These severe events called for immediate strategies. Consequently, a new comprehensive ects; preparation of effective insurance mechanisms);
responses from the political leaders. High-level repre- approach is needed to flood management at inter-
(e) Fostering local, regional and international cooper-
sentatives of the most affected European countries national level, implying better harmonization of the
ation in the following fields: organisational and tech-
and key representatives of the European Commission water policies and land-use practices, as well as, envi-
nological development of flood emergency meas-
met in Berlin this August and agreed to strengthen ronmental protection and nature conservation.
ures; disaster management and civil emergency man-
the future efforts to cope with such hazards. 4. Considering all these tendencies and require- agement planning, with special regard to decision
Apparently, this concern is shared by many European ments, it is necessary to promote changes in the con- support systems; methods of assessment and com-
cepts and practices in order to improve flood man- pensation of flood damages and the role of interna-
countries where such emergencies, especially, in rela-
agement in the frame of Integrated River Basin Man- tional assistance;
tion to the major international watercourses are well-
agement, which promotes the coordinated develop- (f) Enhancing decentralised solutions and good prac- Water experts from Czech Republic were invited to
known and studied, and significant efforts have
ment, management and conservation actions regard- tices in the field of local damage mitigation and man- the workshop. This was very important element, as a
taken place to cope with these hazards. Relevant
ing water, land and related resources. agement in improvement of preparedness; previous Czechoslovakia had the same history in the
national mechanisms are in place in these countries, development of state owned water companies, cen-
moreover, important multilateral and bilateral instru- 5. We recognize that there are already effective (g) Raising public awareness and public participation
regional and bilateral institutional mechanisms trally managed, controlled and financed. While the
ments have been developed for the past decades. But in flood prevention and management decision-mak- privatization in Czech Republic was launched ten
the recent extreme events clearly demonstrated that including multilateral co-operation platforms such as ing, and supporting cooperation with all stakeholder
international river basin commissions. Our present ini- years ago, in Slovakia the process was postponed due
we should further improve our management sys- groups; to political reasons. So, speakers from the Czech
tiative is built on these existing frameworks and it
tems, harmonize our actions, enhance our coopera- (h) Assessing the economic tools and financial Republic brought the experience and several lessons
supports the preparations of action plans for sustain-
tion. requirements to prevent and minimise impact of learnt. In order to provide an independent platform,
able flood protection, which are available or under
We are also aware that the causes and the implica- floods concerning construction and maintenance of the organizer invited speakers who represented all
preparation in particular river basins. We strongly
tions of such natural disasters should be considered defence structures, rehabilitation of natural ecosys- variety of interests and views:
believe that the enhanced overarching regional coop-
tems and recompensation of damages caused by • J. Králik, Vivendi Water Slovakia
in a broader sustainable development framework by eration will be of substantial added value and will
flood by establishing an effective system of insurance • J. Šverma, SÈVK Teplice (public-private water
taking into account the interrelated environmental, reinforce the present activities in this area for the ben-
mechanisms to reduce the burden to individual citi- company in Czech Republic)
social and economic dimensions, and the relevant efit of all participating countries and organizations.
zens and enterprises, as well as to national • I. Fekete, KVS Komárno (Slovak municipal water
scientific results. In this regard, we acknowledge the 6. The cooperation in this field has substantially company)
economies.
importance of the principles of sustainable develop- developed for the recent decades, inter alia, in the • A. Pokorný, Ondeo, Slovakia (majority shares in
ment, precaution and prevention, partnership and 8. For the sake of further identification of the most
framework of the Convention on the Protection and Slovak water company)
solidarity. promising areas of cooperation and specific coordi-
Use of Transboundary Watercourses and Internation- • R. Havlíèek, CEPA Ponická Huta (Slovak NGO with
nated actions, we welcome the joint initiative of the
Guided by these objectives and principles, and al Lakes (Helsinki, 1992), the legal instruments or the main mission to promote and support public
European Commission and water directors on man-
cooperative programmes on such watercourses and participation)
Bearing in mind that these disasters do not respect agement of flood protection and prevention (Copen-
their river basins as the Danube, Elbe, Odra and Tisza, • D. Pech, Citizens for their rights, Plzeò (Czech
national borders, and for their averting in an hagen, 21-22 November 2002) to elaborate a best
the UNECE Guidelines on Sustainable Flood Protec- NGO representing a high opposition to private
integrating Europe it is inevitable to take into practice document on particular issues. Based on
tion, Global Water Partnership, 2nd World Water companies entering the Czech water sector).
consideration the regional coherence of preven- these outputs, decisions will be taken to organise
Forum, Joint Ukraine-NATO Project on Flood Pre-
tive and mitigation actions, thematic workshops on (i) long-term socio-economic More than 50 participants attended at the work-
paredness and Response in the Carpathian Region,
and environmental tendencies and outlooks, (ii) shop. They came from municipal sector, representa-
Recognizing that only concerted actions can International Hydrological Programme of UNESCO,
strategic planning, technical and other innovative tives of water companies, NGOs, and environmental
strengthen our abilities and opportunities to UNDP/REC Sustainable Development Programme for
solutions to prevent and mitigate these hazards, and departments of local authorities. All of them highly
cope with these hazards, the Tisza River Basin, Tisza River Basin Forum on Flood
(iii) the relevant governance mechanisms, including appreciated the opportunity to address this issue and
Control etc. Based on these broad mechanisms and
Acknowledging the importance of international institutional coherence, education, awareness raising shared the same concerns:
instruments, multi- and bilateral agreements have
cooperation based on common responsibilities and public participation. Further decisions will be • too little information is available on this topic,
been elaborated and particularly deal with water
and mutual interests, taken at a policy-makers' meeting to be held at the • unclear decisions taken on character and forms
related risk management. The process of European
Taking into consideration the existing networks, pro- end of 2003 or early 2004. of private involvement,
integration will offer improved conditions for more
grammes, initiatives and achievements in rele- effective concerted actions (e.g., the Water Frame- 9. We agree to inform the various international • the situation with the privatization (or munici-
vant bilateral and multilateral cooperative work Directive), likewise the broader pan-European organizations and bodies on this cooperation, in par- palisation) of water services is complicated by the
frameworks on these issues, cooperation in the area of sustainable development ticular, the EU, NATO, OECD, UNDP, UNECE, UNEP, approximation process of Slovakia to the EU,
generally, and specific problems of environmental UNESCO, WMO, ISDR, CEUDIP, OCHA, standing bod- • subsidies to water sector fallen to minimum, and
We have agreed as follows ies of the relevant conventions, regional and sub- • the Slovak government (after painful discussion)
protection, nature conservation and sustainable use
1. Taking into account the recent severe floods dev- of natural resources. The Plan of Implementation regional organisations. We also underline the open agreed on liberalization of water prices.
astating large areas of Europe and the environmental adopted by the World Summit on Sustainable Devel- character of our cooperation, thus inviting new part-
conditions influencing the frequency and severity of ners to join our common endeavours. Not all aspects could be discussed in details at
opment (Johannesburg, 2002) made also evident
such extreme events, the international cooperation the workshop, however, the feedback from partici-
that an "integrated, multi-hazard, inclusive approach Adopted in Budapest, on December 1, 2002
should be strengthened, in particular on flood man- pants showed that the workshop met its objectives.
to address vulnerability, risk assessment and disaster
agement and combating adverse socio-economic Unfortunately, neither speakers nor participants came
management, including prevention, mitigation, pre-
and ecological impacts, especially in the most vulner- from the Ministry of Soil Management or Ministry of
paredness, response and recovery, is an essential ele-
Environment. Absence of Ministry of Soil Manage-
able regions. ment of a safer world in the twenty-first century" and
ment is even more surprising as it is a responsible
2. We believe that understanding the necessity of called for actions at all levels, among others, in order
ministry for managing the transformation process of
reflecting the recent scientific and technological to reduce the risks of flooding in vulnerable zones.
water works companies in Slovakia. All participants
results and the changing requirements of the society 7. Further cooperative efforts to improve prepared- agreed that setting of legal rules for future PP part-
in relation to the environment is the very first step. ness, preventive policies, operational and long-term nerships and post-privatization regulatory regime will
Also the potential, human-induced climate change risk management and restoration measures should be the critical elements in order to protect public
and the socio-economic conditions affecting the be planned in various topics, including the following: interests, to avoid the exploitation of water resources,
management of freshwater resources raise new (a) Assessing factors influencing flood generation, and to secure sustainable development of water serv-
aspects, which will have to be considered when mak- propagation and spreading including climate ices.
ing and implementing new water management and change, land use, ecology, morphology and flood Danka Thalmeinerova
land use policies. plain alterations; Email: dankajt@ainova.sk