The World Water Forum organised by World Water Council aims “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”. 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.
In March 2018, Brazil will be hosting the 8th World Water Forum – the first time in the Southern Hemisphere. The Thematic Framework will be structured around six main themes—Climate, People, Development, Urban, Ecosystems and Finance—with three crosscutting issues—Sharing, Capacity and Governance.
The Sustainable Water Future Programme based in Brisbane, is leading the coordinating group for the Ecosystems theme, in partnership with Ramsar, World Wildlife Fund (WWF-Brasil), the Universidade de Brasília (UNB), and the Ministério da Integração Nacional (MI). Four topics have been identified by the Thematic Commission: (a) Managing and restoring ecosystems for water services and biodiversity; (b) Natural and engineered hydrological systems; (c) Water and land use; and (d) Ensuring water quality from ridge to reef. Each topic is likely to have 3-4 Sessions at the Forum.
The Theme Coordinators are responsible for recruiting organisations for the Topic Coordination Groups and, with their support, identify session coordinators and develop the programme content. They also must facilitate integration between the different thematic and cross-cutting groups. Potential session topics and coordinators will be discussed during the Second Stakeholder Consultation meeting to be held in April 2017, in Brasilia.
If you are interested in contributing to one of the sessions in the Ecosystems Theme, please contact Stuart Bunn at Griffith University, via ecosystems@worldwaterforum8.org. If you have any queries about the process or would like to find out who to contact for the other themes, please get in touch with Stuart Bunn or Anik Bhaduri (E: admin@water-future.org; T: 07 3735 7288). You can also join the 8th World Water Forum Consultation through the online platform “Your Voice”.
