| Issue 20. 22 November 2013 | www.un.org/waterforlifedecade |
| This week in focus | Editor’s note
Welcome to the Decade’s Weekly! Every week it brings you the latest news from the International Decade for Action ’Water for Life’ 2005-2015. Please feel free to forward this newsletter. You can also access this newsletter online. Tip of the week
Do you know what does IWRM stand for? >> Visit the section dedicated to IWRM on the ’Water for Life’ Decade’s website |
| #Post2015 5th session of the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals
Date: 25-27 November 2013 One of the main outcomes of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), held in Rio de Janeiro in June 2012, was the agreement by Member States to launch a process to develop a set of sustainable development goals (SDGs). A 30-member Open Working Group (OWG) of the General Assembly is tasked with preparing a proposal on the SDGs. The 5th session of the OWG will address issues related to sustained and inclusive economic growth, macroeconomic policy questions (including international trade, international financial system and external debt sustainability), infrastructure development and industrialization. Various side-events will address water issues. |
| In the news | Forthcoming events |
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#WorldToiletDay
World Toilet Day: UN urges breaking taboos, making sanitation for all a global reality
With its first official observance of World Toilet Day, the United Nations on 19 November called on the international community to help break taboos around toilets, which are still out of reach to more than one-third of the global population, and make sanitation a global development priority. "Despite the compelling moral and economic case for action on sanitation, progress has been too little and too slow," Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in his message for the Day, noting that sanitation is central to human and environmental health, and essential for sustainable development, dignity and opportunity. Interview
#WorldToiletDay
Deputy UN chief says World Toilet Day helps break taboos, promote human dignity
United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson has, on behalf of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, taken up the call to mobilize global action to effectively tackle the sanitation crisis. On World Toilet Day 2013, 19 November, Mr. Eliasson spoke to the UN News Centre about why it is vitally necessary to make progress to improve hygiene, change social norms, better manage human waste and waste-water systems, and, ultimately, eliminate open-air defecation, which perpetuates a vicious cycle of disease and entrenched poverty. From the Decade’s programmes
#WaterCooperation
The Water for Life Decade’s Office launches a monograph on "Water cooperation"
On the occasion of World Toilet Day 19 November, the Permanent Mission of Spain to the United Nations and the Water for Life Decade’s Office launched today in New York a monograph on "Water cooperation". The monograph "Water cooperation", produced in collaboration with the World Council of Civil Engineers and Aquae Foundation, summarizes United Nations contributions and key experiences on water cooperation. The UN-Water Annual Zaragoza Conferences serve UN-Water to prepare for World Water Day. This conference, which will take place in Zaragoza, Spain, from 13 to 16 January 2014, is part of the road map for World Water Day 2014 focused on the nexus of water and energy. The conference will analyze the commonalities and differences on the water and energy sectors and the advantages and disadvantages of partnerships. The Conference aims to draw lessons on what are the factors that make successful partnerships in water and energy, the role of different actors and how to scale up partnerships. |
#Post2015
Workshop on "Beyond the WASH Agenda: Strengthening Capacity for Water Resources Management in the post-2015 Development Agenda
Date: 25-27 November 2013 This technical workshop will bring together senior-level water managers, economic planners and statistical experts to: (1) Share experiences and lessons on, and identify the challenges to, linking IWRM to national planning, budgeting and priority setting; (2) Improve understanding of why managing and developing water resources wisely is key to the MDGs, and why a more holistic water agenda beyond WASH (WASH-Plus) is crucial for the post-2015 development framework; (3) Explore how existing initiatives progressing measures beyond GDP support linking IWRM and national development planning process; and (4) Identify actions and capacity development needs for implementing a WASH-Plus agenda in the post-2015 development framework.
Date: 25-27 November 2013
This meeting will be dedicated to the review of activities over the past three years and discussion of future activities in different areas of work under the Protocol, such as activities on target setting and reporting, surveillance and early-warning systems, contingency plans and response capacities, small-scale water supplies and sanitation and equitable access to water and sanitation. A special session on equitable access to drinking water and sanitation will be organized during the high-level segment on the first day of the meeting.
Date: 27-29 November 2013
This Congress will bring together utilities, water operators practitioners, donors, knowledge institutions and interested stakeholders to exchange experience, advance knowledge and initiate action on Water Operators’ Partnerships. On the third day of the Congress, the Global Water Operators’ Partnerships Alliance General Assembly will be held. |
- Spanish Association of Ecological Portable Toilets Rental Companies (AESPE)
The Spanish Association of Ecological Portable Toilets Rental Companies is an association created in August 2007 whose main purpose is to promote and protect the interests of its members, who are engaged in the manufacturing, leasing and rental of portable toilets. AESPE works to promote the commitment and political awareness of national and local authorities to achieve greater involvement of public authorities and civil society in the proper management of wastewater. To this end, it implements various educational and awareness campaigns aimed at improving citizens’ social behavior and habits. AESPE has joined the Water for Life Decade’s campaign and the Decade’s logo is exhibited in its webpage.
>>Contact
- Documentation Centre on Water and the Environment (CDAMA)
In September 2010, the Department of Culture, Environment, Citizenship and large-scale Projects of the Municipality of Zaragoza, Spain, signed a collaboration agreement with the Decade’s Office aimed at combining efforts to enhance the promotion and dissemination of the Decade, helping spread the importance of access to safe water and sanitation in developing countries and promoting a respectful behavior towards water in developed countries. As part of this agreement, the Documentation Centre on Water and the Environment (CDAMA) of the Municipality of Zaragoza develops different activities. Among the most important, and together with the web unit of the Municipality of Zaragoza, it assists in the creation and maintenance of the UN Documentation Centre on Water and Sanitation (UNDCWS), a repository of UN publications on water and sanitation. CDAMA also makes available to its users the most relevant UN publications on these issues, incorporates publications to its online catalogue and regularly organizes thematic exhibitions in order to highlight them. The Documentation Centre on Water and the Environment, as a collaborating center of the Water for Life Office, displays the Decade’s logo on its entrance and on its website.
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- Citizens Debate Forum
The Citizens Debate Forum is a nonprofit association whose main objective is to promote information and knowledge on topics of general interest for citizens in the context of gender equality, the information society, European citizenship, youth in action, culture, human rights, labor, education, sports, the rights of adults and children, development cooperation, etc. The Citizens Debate Forum has joined the Water for Life Decade’s campaign and includes the Decade’s logo in the various activities planned for 2013 thus promoting this initiative.
>>Contact