8th World Water Forum- World’s biggest water-related event – Two more days to Go!

The World Water Forum organised by World Water Council is the world’s biggest water-related event. Its mission is “to promote awareness, build political commitment and trigger action on critical water issues at all levels, to facilitate the efficient conservation, protection, development, planning, management and use of water in all its dimensions on an environmentally sustainable basis for the benefit of all life”.

The World Water Forum contributes to the dialogue of the decision making process on water at the global level, seeking to achieve the rational and sustainable use of this resource. Given its political, technical and institutional scope, one of the Forum’s main features is the open, democratic participation of actors drawn from different sectors, making it an event of the greatest importance on the international agenda.

The World Water Council organises the Forum every three years, together with the respective host country and city. To date, there have been seven editions of the World Water Forum, in different countries and on four different continents. In 2018, Brazil will be hosting the 8th edition of the World Water Forum for the first time in the Southern Hemisphere. The 8th World Water Forum Thematic Framework is structured around six main themes (Climate, People, Development, Urban, Ecosystems and Financing) and three cross-cutting issues (Sharing, Capacity and Governance), which relate to each other.

The Sustainable Water Future Programme ( Water Future) based in Brisbane, Australia is the leader of the thematic coordinator group organising the theme ECOSYSTEMS. The thematic coordinating group incorporates several international organisations such as Ramsar Convention on Wetlands and Latin American organisations including Universidade de Brasília (UNB), Ministério da Integração Nacional (MI) and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF-Brasil).

Four different topics have been set to address the debate questions under Ecosystems. The following topics should split into Thematic Sessions and other debate stages during the 8th World Water Forum in 2018:

  • Managing and restoring ecosystems for water services and biodiversity;
  • Natural and engineered hydrological systems;
  • Water and land use; and
  • Ensuring water quality from ridge to reef.

World Water Forum Program