|
 Monitoring Global Progress and the announcement of the International Year of Freshwater: a WWAP Side event
A WWAP side event will take place on the 3rd of September from 14:00 to 16:30 at the Water Dome in the Ganges Room. The side event will bring together high level representatives of the UN system including Mr. Nitin Desai (Secretary General, WSSD) and Mr. Koichiro Matsuura (Director General, UNESCO) along with Special guest including HRH The Prince of Orange and Ministers from several countries. The objective of the side event, aside from the announcement of the International Year of Freshwater will be to discuss the strengthening of reporting and monitoring of progress in water at a national level and the role of WWAP as a UN system wide programme.
Thursday 29 August: Opening of the World Water Assessment Programme and International Year of Freshwater Stand at the Water Dome
Thursday morning, the WWAP stand opened its doors to the public and continues to have a steady flow of interested people. The stand presents information on the WWAP programme, its UN partner agencies and the case studies which will be featured in the 1st World Water Development Report. Within this space is the travelling exhibit for the International Year of Freshwater which is being shown for the very first time. This multimedia educational exhibit will be featured around the world during 2003.
Wednesday 28 August: Plenary Panel Discussions on Water and Sanitation
To begin the official negotiations, panel discussions were organized around the 5 WEHAB themes, Water and Sanitation, Energy, Health, Agriculture and Biodiversity. The Panel Discussion on Water and Sanitation brought together representatives from UN agencies and major groups. The panel was followed by discussions from national governments. For more information click here.
 WSSD Focus on Water in Africa
The World Summit on Sustainable Development will focus on, among other issues, Africa. Some resources on Water in Africa for the WSSD include an Analysis of WSSD themes by African agencies, information on the African Preparatory Process including the African Ministerial Statement to the WSSD, and a section on freshwater in the African Action Plan agreed on at the recent G8 Summit, June 6-7 in Canada.
 4th Preparatory Committee Meeting for the Summit ends in Bali, Thailand
The meeting which took place from the 27 of May - 8 of June was attended by a large number of Ministers from both developed and developing countries as well representatives of civil society and a large contingent of media. Negotiations on the water and sanitation section of the implementation programme for the World Summit on Sustainable have been substantially completed, with the exception of what many consider the most essential element-a target for reducing by half the number of people who lack access to sanitation by 2015. Negotiations over whether the outcome document will specify a target are ongoing.
 Developing Countries Take Initiative to Broaden Access to Water and Sanitation
At the time South Africa ended apartheid and became a democracy in 1994, 14 million people out of a total population of 42 million lacked access to clean drinking water.
But in seven years, South Africa has halved the number of people who lack access to safe water-ahead of schedule-according to Ronnie Kasrils, South African Minister for Water Affairs and Forestry, and if the present targets are met, he says everyone will have clean water by 2008.
UN Secretary General Names Five Key Areas where Johannesburg Summit Can Make a Real Difference
Water and Sanitation, Energy, Health, Agriculture, Biodiversity (collectively known as WEHAB): these are the five key areas where concrete results can and must be obtained at this August's World Summit on Sustainable Development, according to the United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan. He summarized the progress he hoped to see in the five areas including for water - provide access to at least one billion people who lack clean drinking water and two billion people who lack proper sanitation. | 
UNESCO.ORG
