Preparing for “The Future We Want”: the 2013 Budapest Water Summit
Preparing for “The Future We Want”:
the 2013 Budapest Water Summit
An upcoming summit in the Danube Basin will bring together water-related developments from around the world as part of the UN International Year of Water Cooperation and a follow up to the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (the Rio+20 conference).
To promote the post-Rio water agenda, the President of Hungary announced Hungary’s intention to host the 2013 Budapest Water Summit as part of the UN International Year of Water Cooperation led by UNESCO. © Péter Kovács/Hungary
In July 2010 the United Nations General Assembly recognised the right to safe and clean drinking water and to sanitation as a human right that is essential for the full enjoyment of life in dignity. Then the Rio+20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development in June 2012 confirmed the cross-cutting importance of water in sustainable development. In the overarching development policy framework – laid down by the Rio+20 outcome document “The Future We Want” – water as a horizontal issue is inextricably linked to the majority of priority areas identified for global action.
At the Rio+20 converence, János Áder, President of Hungary, announced that an international conference to promote the post-Rio water agenda will be held in Budapest, Hungary . This conference – the 2013 Budapest Water Summit – will be organised in cooperation with UN institutions and the World Water Council, and will form part of the events of the UN International Year of Water Cooperation led by UNESCO.
Bringing together solutions. The main objective of the 2013 Budapest Water Summit, which will be held on October 8–11, 2013, is to take stock of the various developments, in and outside the UN system, in the preparation of water-related sustainable development goals under the Rio+20 agenda. The Budapest Water Summit will serve as a policy forum to facilitate consensus-building among stakeholders concerning the water and sanitation sustainable development goals and will address the following subjects: striving for universal access to water and sanitation, iIntegrated water resources management for the 21st century, good water governance, green economy for blue water, and financing of water-related development goals.
The Budapest Water Summit will address these issues in a complex and interconnected manner combining policy, scientific, financial-economic as well as governmental and non-governmental approaches and inputs. The results will be summarised in a ‘Budapest Recommendations’ document. The main policy discussions of the Summit will be accompanied by parallel and interconnected events – including a Science Forum, Youth Forum, Civil Forum, Business Leaders Forum and Expo, and a Philanthropy Roundtable – to enhance cooperation between stakeholders.
PRE-EVENT FOCUSING ON THE TISZA RIVER BASIN
In light of the Budapest Water Summit’s goal of highlighting water-related issues of international scope and scale, the US National Science Foundation’s Integrative Education Research and Traineeship (IGERT) Fellowship Programme of Southern Illinois University Carbondale has submitted a proposal for a formal pre-event to focus on the current status, challenges and opportunities in the Tisza River Basin.
The IGERT programme aims to train a diverse team of PhD students using team-based collaboration to integrate science, management and policy at the river basin level; this year’s team is analysing the Tisza River Basin. The ICPDR is currently hosting one of the doctoral students, to provide data and on-theground experience during her research.
To complement and illustrate the issues and principles of the Budapest Water Summit, the IGERT team is planning to develop a half day event consisting of a plenary session; a panel discussion with 2-3 breakout workshops and a poster session for graduate students to present hydrological, ecological and river connectivity-related research.
For more information, please visit:
http://budapestwatersummit.hu
