IWR Gearing Up for 5th World Water Forum in Istanbul

ALEXANDRIA, VA – February 13, 2009. IWR and USACE have been actively engaged in preparations for the 5th World Water Forum over the past two years. The event will be held in Istanbul, Turkey, March 16-22, 2009. USACE participants, including Chief of Engineers LTG Robert L. Van Antwerp, Director of Civil Works Steven Stockton, and IWR Director Bob Pietrowsky, will have key roles in panels and technical sessions.

USACE/IWR will host an information booth in the “USA Pavilion” at the Forum Expo, jointly sponsored by U.S. Department of State and American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE-EWRI), and will provide technical presentations at Learning Centre and Thematic sessions. USACE representatives will be part of the U.S. Department of State led interagency delegation, which includes U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), United States Agency for International Development (USAID), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and Bureau of Reclamation (USBR).

IWR’s Lindy Wolner has been serving in Istanbul for the past year as the USACE Liaison to the 5th World Water Forum Secretariat.  Lindy’s role includes assisting the Turkish and World Water Council co-organizers in their Thematic, Political and Regional preparatory processes and facilitating participation by U.S. interagency, academic, industry, non-government organization and other partners.

The 5th World Water Forum program is designed to allow its multi-stakeholder debates to be transformed into commitment at the political level throughout its preparatory process and during the Forum week. The 5th Forum will invite ministers from over a hundred countries during a Ministerial Conference and will, for the first time, enable in its design interaction between these ministers, parliamentarians and local authorities. The 3rd United Nations World Water Development Report will be launched at the Forum.

More about 5th World Water Forum

The World Water Forum (WWF) is one of the largest international water-related events, organized every three years by the World Water Council (WWC) in collaboration with the host country.  It is aimed at putting water firmly on the international agenda and dependent on a lengthy, multi-stakeholder preparatory process that culminates in one week of sessions, debates and related cultural activities. Previous Forums include Morocco (1997), the Netherlands (2000), Japan (2003) and Mexico (2006).  The upcoming 5th World Water Forum, "Bridging Divides for Water," to be held in Istanbul, Turkey, March 16-22, 2009 is expected to draw about 20,000 participants.

The forums seek to focus international attention on how water is vital to many pressing world issues such as poverty, health and security.  Past forums have produced a variety of outcomes, from ministerial statements to documents debated within the G-8. The 5th World Water Forum will focus on water actions needed to help adapt to world changes, especially climate changes.

Water is a crosscutting issue and the solution to water-related issues requires more than a sector-only approach.  While most conferences are designed for water experts or specific target groups, the Forum is a place where people from every sector gather to debate and to find common solutions to water-related problems.

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• 5th World Water Forum