5th World Water Forum
Date: 16-22 March 2009
Venue: Istanbul - Türkiye

The Fifth World Water Forum, with the view of “Bridging Divides for Water,” was held in Istanbul, Turkey, on 16-22 March 2009. It was organized by the World Water Council and Turkish Government. The aim of this forum was to put the water issues firmly on the international agenda and to encourage the global collaboration to address water related problems. It was the largest water-related event ever organized with over 30,000 participants from more than 90 countries.

The Forum offered the water community and policy-and-decision-makers from all over the world the opportunity to come together, create links, debate and find solutions to achieve water security. The issues were discussed both at political and scientific levels. At the political level, Ministerial Meetings and Regional Meetings were held to bring together politicians and elected officials from all over the world, not only responsible for water, environment, agriculture or energy policies, but also for finance or other domains, in order to create the understanding for the urgency of positive and pro-active policies on water issues. At the scientific level, many presentations, workshops, and sessions were carried out in six main themes:

  • Global change and risk assessment
  • Advancing human development
  • Protection of water resources
  • Governance and management
  • Finance
  • Capacity building and education.

Dr. Savaş Alpay, Director General of SESRIC, Dr. Sıdıka Başçı, Director of Statistics and Information Department and Dr. Rimah Melhem, Senior Researcher, participated in the Forum. The SESRIC participants carried out several mutual contacts with other international organizations during the duration of the Forum. These contacts generated the initial steps of future cooperation especially related to training programmes on the subjects of the Forum for the benefit of the OIC Member States.

For more information please visit: http://www.worldwaterforum5.org/