Third World Water Forum

An interagency United States delegation, led by Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs Paula Dobriansky, will join government and civil society representatives from more than 100 countries to participate in the Third World Water Forum in Kyoto, Japan, March 16-23, 2003. The Ministerial Conference of the Forum is scheduled March 22-23.

Access to clean water by all people, and the responsible management and use of water is a major global challenge. In Kyoto, policymakers and practitioners will share approaches and explore new technologies for addressing critical water issues. The Forum is an opportunity to strengthen and expand partnerships among governments and between governments and civil society, including four water-related partnerships launched by the United States and its partners at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg last year:

The Water for the Poor Initiative, a $970 million, three-year program focused on drinking water and sanitation, watershed management and increasing water productivity;

The Safe Water System Initiative, dedicated to increasing water quality through point-of-use treatment, safe storage and hygiene education;

The White Water to Blue Water Initiative, an integrated coastal management program initially targeted to the wider Caribbean;

And, the joint U.S.-Japanese initiative, Clean Water for People, which seeks to provide safe water and sanitation to the world’s poor, improve watershed management, and increase the productivity of water.

The Third World Water Forum is organized by the World Water Council, an international non-profit, non-governmental umbrella organization focused on the world’s water resources, in close collaboration with the Government of Japan. The previous forums were held in Marrakech, Morocco, in 1997, and The Hague, Netherlands, in 2000.

The United States Delegation includes representatives from the Departments of State, Agriculture, Interior and Health and Human Services; the U.S. Agency for International Development; the Environmental Protection Agency; the Army Corps of Engineers and the White House.

Released on March 20, 2003

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