International conference 'Sustainable Water Management in Cities, Zaragoza, Spain

''Sustainable Water Management in Cities: engaging stakeholders for effective change'' is the key theme of an international conference which took place in Zaragoza, Spain – 13-17 December 2010. 

Sustainable, efficient and equitable management of water resources in cities has never been as important as in today's world. Achieving sustainable development requires that we institutionalize and act upon lessons learned in the arena of urban water management and city development. Capacities to make that change happen in water are typically diffused between many different stakeholders including the different publics in our cities. Therefore, increasingly coming to the forefront are the holistic approaches, methods and skills needed to enable successful cooperation and collaboration, including those communication techniques which enable stakeholders to exchange knowledge, views and preferences so as to build a collective, feasible vision of the future and an effective programme of implementation.

This four-day conference brought together more than 150 experts, local government officials, media specialists, key water operators and political representatives of cities and stakeholder groups to discuss these issues and propose practical ways to move forward to meet the challenges of disseminating results to a wider audience, also considering different development contexts and regional characteristics. This draws on the approaches of the SWITCH project and the Learning Alliances. Some specific outcomes of the meeting – especially case studies – will be presented as part of the World Water Day on 22 March 2011.

The conference was organized by the United Nations Office to Support the International Decade for Action 'Water for Life' 2005-2015 implementing the UN Water Communication and Advocacy Programme (with UN Habitat and the Water Operators Partnership), the city of Zaragoza, and the SWITCH consortium including both UNESCO-IHE and the IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre

A selection of SWITCH publications supporting conference sessions, including stories of change from SWITCH cities are available: www.irc.nl/page/61309 

See the official conference website at: www.un.org/waterforlifedecade/swm_cities_zaragoza_2010/index.shtml

Read the conference blog at http://sustainableurbanwatermanagement.wordpress.com/

Video newsletter issues covering interviews of various participants and organisers are available on the official website: http://www.un.org/waterforlifedecade/swm_cities_zaragoza_2010/video_daily.shtml

Individual newsletter issues of the print newsletter are available below and on the official website: 

http://www.un.org/waterforlifedecade/swm_cities_zaragoza_2010/daily_newsletter.shtml