World Water Day: The 2013 edition devotes to Water Cooperation

The 17th Abidjan Congress Programme Committee presided by Dr. Silver Mugisha, first President of the Scientific and Technical Council (STC) will carry out on March 4th the launch of a Call for Papers. The decision makers, researchers, managers of water utilities as well as experts of the water and sanitation related sector have been invited to produce relevant papers relating to the Theme and Sub-Themes of the said Congress.

The main Theme selected for this Congress is: “Mobilizing Resources and Governance of Water and Sanitation in Africa”. The Sub-Themes relate to “Integrated Management of Water Resources and Climate Change”, “Capacity Building for improved Water and Sanitation Services ”, “Advances in Water and Waste Water Treatment Technologies”, “Pro Poor Water and Sanitation Services” and “Financing Options for Water and Sanitation Services”.

The celebration of the World Water Day on March 22nd will be centered on the topic related to water cooperation. The official celebrations of this Day will take place in The Hague, the Netherlands.

The 2013 edition will highlight on water as a source of life and will underline the need for cooperation in the field of water between all the actors of the society. Moreover, this celebration will offer an opportunity of developing a rationale on placing water within the post-2015 agenda regarding development.

As a fringe event to this official celebration, a High Level Forum co-chaired by the Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), Irina Bokova and the UN-Water Chair, Michel Jarraud has been planned.

It is worth reminding that the United Nations General Assembly declared the year 2013 as the International Year of Water Cooperation on proposal of Tajikistan.

The World Water Day was instituted in 1993 by the General Assembly of the United Nations in order to draw the attention on the importance of water and to make a plea for a sustainable management of water resources.

The 2013 official slogan declared as the International Year of Water Cooperation was revealed on February 11th in Paris, the headquarters of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

During the launch ceremony of the year 2013 declared as the International Year of Water Cooperation, the prize winner of the slogan contest, the Indian woman Megha KUMAR made the selected slogan public “Water, water everywhere, only if we share”.

5,654 candidates from 180 countries proposed 12,151 slogans.

The International Institute for Water and Environmental Engineering (2IE) opened a representation in the business capital city of Cote d’Ivoire, Abidjan.

According to the officials of 2IE, this new representation falls under a proximity policy with their partners and students.