This roundtable meeting was organized by the Asia-Pacific Water Forum and the Japan Water Forum, and was supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan and the World Bank.
The meeting was chaired by Yoshiro Mori, president of the Asia Pacific Water Forum and the Japan Water Forum, and a former prime minister of Japan.
All the Pacific leaders had a chance to highlight their own challenges and efforts to improve their management of water and sanitation.
Based on the serious, current situation of small island states in the Pacific, the participants resolved to accelerate their efforts initiated after the first water forum in order to achieve the targets of the Millennium Development Goals and the commitments made at the first forum.
These commitments were:
• To recognize the people’s right to safe drinking water and basic sanitation as a basic human right and a fundamental aspect of human security;
• To reduce by half the number of people who do not have access to safe drinking water by 2015 and aim to reduce that number to zero by 2025;
• To reduce by half the number of people who do not have access to basic sanitation in our region by 2015 and aim to reduce that number to zero by 2025, through the adoption of new and innovative sanitation systems that are not as water reliant as current methods;
• Accord the highest priority to water and sanitation in our economic and development plans and agendas and to increase substantially our allocation of resources to the water and sanitation sectors;
• Improve governance, efficiency, transparency and equity in all aspects related to the management of water, particularly as it impacts on poor communities. We recognize that while women are particularly vulnerable, they are also resilient and entrepreneurial, hence, should be empowered in all water-related activities;
• Take urgent and effective action to prevent and reduce the risks of flood, drought and other water-related disasters and to bring timely relief and assistance to their victims;
• Support the region’s vulnerable small island states in their efforts to protect lives and livelihoods from the impacts of climate change;
• Exhort the Bali Conference to take into account the relationship between water and climate change, such as the melting of snowcaps and glaciers in the Himalayas and rising sea levels, which are already having an impact on some countries in the region.
