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A leak in UNESCO support for water forum

Friday, 13 March 2009

hurriyet - daily news - 12 March 2009

ISTANBUL - The World Water Forum in Istanbul is not all clean fun like a day at the water park as UNESCO, whose involvement is seen as pivotal to the forum’s legitimacy, temporarily pulls out in protest of a ban on discussing cultural diversity

A leak in UNESCO support for water forum
Under ordinary circumstances, water never runs backwards. But support for water forums can run in two directions, as the United Nations international scientific cooperative program demonstrated yesterday.

After four years of planning, the 5th World Water Forum will open its doors to thousands of participators Monday. It was to begin with UNESCO’s support until Wednesday when it was revealed that UNESCO was pulling away. Frustrated that the Istanbul Water and Sewerage Administration, or İSKİ, and the Turkish Women Culture Association, or TÜRKKAD, did not agree on the same issues they wanted to put forward during the forum, UNESCO threw its support behind an "alternative" water forum.

The Alternative Water Forum was organized by opponents of the 5th World Water Forum including nongovernmental organizations, or NGOs, Parliament members and environmentalist volunteers, reported daily Haber-Türk. But UNESCO’s withdrawal from the 5th World Water Forum did not last long Ğ a few hours later, UNESCO International Hydrological Program, or UNESCO-IHP, returned to the fold.

IHP, UNESCO's international scientific cooperative program for water issues, was planning to take part in the session organized in cooperation with İSKİ and TÜRKKAD to discuss the relation between water and cultural diversity. Yet when the two disagreed with UNESCO’s program, IHP decided to withdraw from the 5th World Water Forum.

According to daily Haber-Türk, UNESCO-IHP’s leader said water and culture have a scientific relation and it is important to discuss these issues to have sustainable water management.

Not to tolerate the eventual outcome of the session they decided to pullout their support at the last minute. But according to the spokeswoman of TÜRKKAD, Ümit Ceylan,an official IHP withdrawal from the official forum was never a topic.

TÜRKKAD will be working together with UNESCO-IHP during the 5th World Water Forum, said Ceylan. The UNESCO office in Ankara declined to explain the incident.

It has been mentioned that the 5th World Water Forum does not want to make room for controversial topics on Turkey’s water agenda such as Allianoi and Hasankeyf, the historic places where Generale Directorate of State Hydraulic Works, or DSİ, plans to build dams.

UNESCO’s support is really important for the 5th World Water Forum, said Nuri Özbağdatlı, coordinator for the Doğa Foundation, which will take part in both forums. According to Özbağdatlı, who has been following both of the forums since planning began, the water council took steps with the support of the UN until today and that is why the official forum having problems with UNESCO is a big scandal. "The biggest issue is that UNESCO is opening its arms for an alternative forum right after the disagreement proves that they also don’t support the 5th World Water Forum’s policy," he said.

’Such a fiasco’

According to Ömer Madra, the chairman of independent radio station Açık Radio, and a supporter and participant of the alternative forum, IHP was still taking part in the Alternative Water Forum. "I think the program supporting the alternative forum is great because the 5th World Water Forum is such a fiasco," he said.

The IHP sent a proposal to the Alternative Water Forum with a document covering the context, session outline and list of speakers.

The IHP report said the context was sustainable managing water resources. "In order to manage water in a sustainable manner, it is necessary to address the complexity of issues surrounding water and water use, which includes not only the natural scientific and engineering approaches that have dominated water resources management, but also social, cultural, economic and political dimensions," read the report. According to IHP officers, cultural diversity is fully incorporated into water management practices and policies.

The 5th World Water Forum will be held at Sütlüce Culture and Conference Center from March 16 to 22. The Alternative Water Forum will be held at Santralistanbul on March 20 to 22.

Source: hurriyetdailynews.com
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