At the Eighth World Water Forum (WWF-8) in Brazil, the World Water Council and Korea Water Council launched a synthesis report on progress made since WWF-7.
It shows that agencies have accomplished 61% of their aims since WWF-7 took place in the Republic of Korea.
The report also offers 14 policy recommendations to the High-Level Political Forum on sustainable development (HLPF).
21 March 2018: At the Eighth World Water Forum (WWF-8) in Brazil, the World Water Council and Korea Water Council launched a synthesis report on progress made since WWF-7. The report shows that agencies have accomplished 61% of their aims since WWF-7 took place in the Republic of Korea, and are continuing their efforts. The report also offers 14 policy recommendations to the High-Level Political Forum on sustainable development (HLPF) for when it convenes in July 2018 to review progress on the SDGs, including SDG 6 on clean water and sanitation.
The publication titled, ‘Synthesis Report on Implementation Roadmaps 2015-2018’ covers 16 water-related issues that the global water community previously identified as priorities in the Daegu-Gyeongbuk Implementation Commitment (DGIC), an outcome of WWF-7. ‘Implementation Roadmaps’ (IRs) are intended to provide a framework for WWF partners to act on their commitments. The IRs provide continuity between each Forum, promote collaboration among partners, and contribute to global water-related processes. Between WWF-7 and WWF-8, review meetings took place in the Republic of Korea in 2016 and 2017 to monitor progress on these commitments.
The IR themes for the past three-year period since WWF-7 relate to overarching concerns of water security; water for prosperity and development; water for sustainability; and implementation mechanisms. Many of the themes identified at WWF-7 in 2015 foreshadowed specific water-related targets under the SDGs: for example, on water quality, WWF-7 participants agreed to improve water quality by 2030 by reducing pollution, minimizing the release of hazardous agro-chemicals, halving the proportion of untreated wastewater, and increasing recycling and safe reuse. In comparison, SDG target 6.3 is very similar, but refers to “hazardous chemicals and materials” instead of agro-chemicals, and includes a commitment to eliminate dumping. The report provides an overview of progress on each of the 16 themes identified for action.
The report’s policy recommendations for the HLPF highlight water security as a prerequisite to the achievement of all the SDGs, not only SDG 6. The authors call for increased financing to be directed towards the overall goal of water security and for financial flows to be channeled to sub-national and local governments, where appropriate, to enable a holistic approach to water management at the city level, with co-benefits in land planning, solid waste management, energy, and transport. Other recommendations reflect, inter alia, concerns for promoting complementarity between sewered and non-sewered city sanitation services, and increasing the visibility of climate-related risks in policy dialogues.
In their respective forewords to the report, Korea Water Forum President Jung-Moo Lee and WWC President Benedito Braga affirmed the work of many international, national, regional and local agencies, referred to as DGIC Champions and Core Groups, for their policy leadership and efforts in advancing progress on the various water issues. The report is published by the World Water Council in collaboration with the Korea Water Forum and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport of the Republic of Korea. [World Water Council Press Release] [Report Web Page] [Publication: Synthesis Report on Implementation Roadmaps 2015-2018]