This Wednesday, Mr. Shaddad Al Attili, Minister for Water from the Palestinian Authority, was received by Loïc Fauchon, President of the World Water Council, to discuss the participation of Palestinian organisations in the 6th World Water Forum, Marseille 2012. It was a highly symbolic visit for the World Water Council, one priority of whose is to facilitate dialogue in regions of the world where water is a permanent source of tension.

The WWC, with the support of the French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs,  has written a report on how to use water as a development tool in Africa through a mosaic of investments. This report will be used as a basis for further dialogue between key stakeholders in Africa and abroad, especially during the 6th World Water Forum. Download the report (.pdf 4Mb)

On the road to the 6th World Water Forum, the Water Supply Company of Marseille is organizing an International Workshop on “Overflowing Rivers and Flash Floods: Solutions to cope with the Risks”. Being the most frequent water-related disaster, floods could potentially affect 525 million people in the Mediterranean area by 2050. The aim of the International Workshop is to present concrete and sustainable solutions which contribute to preventing and reducing human as well as material damage caused by floods in the Mediterranean region.

Several ministers, some governors, about ten senators and the same number of parliamentarians, countless meetings with NGOs, several mayors, professional organizations, enterprises, journalists, large audiences composed of thousands of people, 22 speeches and a lot of interviews, more than 5,000 kilometers travelled within the country: this was the schedule of the official visit of the President of the World Water Council and his accompanying team when visiting Brazil from 25 September to 2 October 2011.

Organised by the CONAGUA in cooperation with several partners such as WWF, IUCN, AWRA, UN-Habitat, TNC or GWP among others, the Workshops will be held on September 7-8 in Mexico City. The themes are water and climate change; water and sanitation; governance for IWRM; water for ecosystem services; harmonizing water and energy; and water for food security.

Milagros Couchoud Gregori, governor alternate of the WWC for several years on behalf of the Mediterranean Water Institute (IME), was elected President of this organisation on 1 July 2001.

Over 110 delegations participated in the second Ministerial Prep Com for the 6th World Water Forum on 2 and 3 February at UNESCO in Paris, France. The first day was opened by Mr. Henri de Raincourt, Minister of Foreign and European Affairs responsible for Cooperation, who recalled France's resolve to bring forth the outcomes of the 6th Forum's Ministerial Conference towards Rio+20 Conference on Sustainable Development. He was followed by Mrs.