GWSP Delegation joined the Budapest Water Summit, Budapest, Hungary, 8-11 October 2013.
To move forward the post-Rio water agenda, the Budapest Water Summit took place under the auspices of the United Nations from 8 – 11 October 2013 in Budapest, Hungary. The international conference formed part of the events of the UN International Year of Water Cooperation led by UNESCO. During the four-day conference participants representing governments, international organization, civil society, academia and the private sector elaborated on the development of water- related Sustainable Development Goals and discussed the most pressing water issues – drinking water, sanitation, waste water treatment, integrated water management, international water cooperation, innovative water technologies – with a view to defining the priorities of global development policy post 2015. The Summit concluded with the adoption of the Summit Statement “A Sustainable World is a Water – Secure World” (PDF, 1MB). The “Bonn Declaration on Global Water Security” which was adopted during the GWSP Conference “Water in the Anthropocene”, 21-24 May 2013, was considered while drafting the Budapest Summit Statement.
GWSP involvement in Budapest was as follows:
Janos Bogardi, GWSP Senior Advisor, moderated a high-level panel on “How to serve a growing population with water in a changing climate?” The panel discussed climate change and migration, water and food security, information networks, water diplomacy, watershed protection and specific strategies such as storage, water efficiency, pricing, and re-use.
- Charles Vörösmarty, GWSP Co-Chair was keynote speaker in the session on “IWRM for the 21st Century.”
The discussion included links between water and climate change, trade-offs associated with technological solutions, and development-related challenges. - Anik Bhaduri, GWSP Executive Officer, and Claudia Pahl-Wostl, GWSP Co-Chair, were part of the Science Forum being organized within the Water Summit.
- Joyeeta Gupta, GWSP SSC member, was rapporteur in the political segment on water governance.
During the Summit the GWSP led (co-implemented) project of International Water Quality Guidelines for Ecosystems was officially launched.