16th Governing Council Meeting of Asia-Pacific Water Forum

On 19 November 2014 in Seoul (Korea), GWP CACENA Regional Coordinator Vadim Sokolov took part in the 16th Governing Council meeting of Asia-Pacific Water Forum (APWF)  and the 2nd  meeting for preparing the 7th World Water Forum.

Both meetings were attended by 44 representatives of leading organizations from the Asia-Pacific region.  

The main program of the meeting was devoted to the regional preparatory process for the 7th World Water Forum.

In the first part of the meeting three presentations from the organizers of the 7th World Water Forum were presented: logistics, approved 54 sessions of the regional process and recent developments within the regional process, and the idea to unite the regional sessions presented by different regions of the same name into the sub-regional blocs.

In the second part of the meeting  eight regional sessions proposed by APWF, and two synthesis sessions under the auspices of APWF (total 10 sessions) approved by the International Committee of the regional process were reviewed and approved:

Session 1 "Water and Cities" was presented by UNESCO (Indonesia) and the organizational group members.

Session 2 "Water and Green Growth" was presented by K-Water and ESCAP.

Session 3 "Water and Food" was presented by FAO. Coordinator of the group, Mr. Thierry Facon asked representatives of Central Asia to remake some conclusions and formulate their messages to decision-makers within the previously presented example of CACENA region. And also to make a presentation (5 minutes) about aspects of Central Asia and in the second part to recommend  ICWC's representative for the high-level debate.

Session 4 "Climate change, catastrophic events and development of mountain areas" was presented by ICIMOD and ICHARM (international centers). Coordinator of the group, Mr. Masahiko Murase (ICHARM, Japan) asked Central Asia  to remove his example from the position paper, because Central Asia has the opportunity to present the problem in its sub-regional session and in its position paper. Instead, an example of other sub-regions could be presented. It was agreed.

Session 5 "IWRM" was presented by NARBO (Network of Asian River Basin Organizations). Coordinator of the group, Mr. Tadashige Kawasaki, NARBO Secretary, has invited Central Asia to submit its  example of IWRM.

Session 6 "Rural water supply and sanitation" was presented by ADB.

Session 7 "Cooperation development in the Aral Sea Basin to mitigate environmental disaster"  was presented be Vadim Sokolov, GWP CACENA Regional Coordinator.

Session 8 "Transboundary problems in the Northeastern Asia" was presented by the Korean Water Forum.

Sessions 9-10 "Joint session of  water problems synthesis of Asia-Pacific region" was represented by the APWF Secretariat  - Japan Water Forum (Ms. Yoshie Tonohara). Two blocks was proposed (two hours each): Regional Synthesis session, where the results of all the above mentioned eight regional sessions will be presented  and  recommendations on the follow-up steps  will be given for policy makers.

In the third part of the meeting two additional proposals of two more sessions within APWF regional process were presented:

 Session 11 "Trilateral cooperation on  water infrastructure development between China, South Korea and Japan: Case Study". The proposal was presented by the Secretariat of the tripartite commission.

Session 12 "Hydrological Services under impact of changing conditions (climate, water management, policies, etc.)"  was presented by KICT (Korean Institute of Construction Technology).

Participants agreed to include these proposals to the 7th World Water Forum Agenda after consultation with organizers of 7WWF and the International Committee of Regional Process.

In the fourth part of the meeting the following presentations were considered:

  • APWF activity plan;
  • Progress of ADB initiative on preparing  the Third Asian Water Development Outlook (AWDO-2017), as well as the publication "Asia in 2050".
  • Preparations for the 3d Asia Pacific Water Summit . The 3d APWF Summit is planned to be held  in May-June 2017. Up to December 2015 the host country will be determined.
  • The Progress Report of Science and Technology process submitted by Mr. Sangyoung Park, Executive Director, Korean Water Forum.

Appeal to partnership between the Asia-Pacific Forum and Civil Society was submitted by the Executive Director of Korean Water Forum Mr. Yongdeok Cho.