4th Meeting of the OECD Water Governance Initiative

24-25 November 2014, OECD Headquarters, Paris

On 24-25 November 2014, the OECD Water Governance Initiative held its 4th Meeting in Paris, in the presence of OECD Secretary General, Angel Gurría, and the President of the World Water Council, Benedito Braga. The meeting gathered 115+ participants from 20 countries as well as major stakeholders within and outside the water sector. WYN was present as one of the major stakeholders

The agendalist of participantsslides as well as the speech of the OECD Secretary General are accessible online.

Participants discussed contributions to the Global Water Agenda and peer-reviewed analytical work on water governance. Participants also had the opportunity to comment on the first draft of OECD Principles on Water Governance and brainstorm on water governance indicators during the working groups’ sessions. A tour de table allowed for experience-sharing on recent water governance reforms, initiatives and events.

  • The contribution of OECD-WGI to the 7th World Water Forum (12-17 April 2015, Korea) was saluted by Sihyung Lee, Ambassador of Korea to the OECD and the WWC. Key milestones of the thematic framework were presented, including OECD-WGI Design Group on Effective Governance.
  • An update on the status of the UN Open Working Group on Sustainable Development and the content of the proposed water-related targets was provided by Gabor Baranyai (Hungary) and Gérard Payen (UNSGAB).
  • The peer-review of OECD reports on water governance in Brazil, stakeholder engagement for inclusive water governance, and water policies for future cities allowed to share experiences and good practices in dealing with these topics.
  • Group discussions provided instrumental feedback on the scope and structure of the first draft of OECD Principles on Water Governance, building on the inputs from the Working Groups. A revised draft will be prepared by January 2015 and submitted to public consultation before final endorsement in June 2015.
  • Breakout sessions of the 4 Thematic Working Groups on stakeholder engagement, governance and performance of water supply and sanitation, basin governance and integrity and transparency discussed more in-depth policy indicators to support the implementation of the water governance principles, and the preparation of the 7th WWF corresponding sessions.
  • The meeting also provided delegates with a platform to share ongoing reforms (UK water reform agenda; France’s territorial and water reforms; evolution in managing water supply and demand in Arizona; implementing ecological flow regime in Spain), initiatives (ADB Green Cities initiative, SIWI trainings on integrity and accountability) as well as recent and upcoming events (1st Water Regulators Forum [22-23 Sept 2014, Lisbon], the Lisbon Charter on the regulation of water services; OSCE 2015 Economic & Environmental Forum on Water Governance [14-16 Sept 2015, Prague], NARBO’s Manila Declaration on IWRM [20 Nov 2014, Manila], and INBO-Europe Conference on the EU Water Framework Directive [12-15 Nov 2014, Bucharest]).

Detailed Policy Highlights from the meeting will be available online by 24 December 2014.

The OECD Water Governance Initiative will hold its 5th Meeting on 26 May 2015 in Edinburg, Scotland.

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The OECD Water Governance Initiative is a multi-stakeholder network of 100+ delegates from public, private and non-profit sectors gathering twice a year in a Policy Forum to share on-going reforms, projects, lessons and good practices in support of better governance in the water sector. It was launched on 27-28 March 2013 and is chaired by Peter Glas, President of the Dutch Association of Regional Water Authorities. The Initiative is led by a multi-stakeholder steering committee (see below) providing strategic orientations and coordinating the activities of working groups.

For more information, please contact water.governance@oecd.org

(text provided by the OECD)