Hold your governments accountable in water management policy promises
The Ministerial Declaration released at the 5th World Water Forum held in Istanbul March 27 to 29th, was one of the final outcomes of a long preparatory process.
This process comprised of four preparatory meetings, which began last September with IFAP as the focal point for the Farmers Major Group. The meetings were aimed at discussing and agreeing upon two outcome
documents: a "Ministerial Declaration" and a technical paper, "The Istanbul Water Guide". IFAP hopes that following World Waters Forums will continue to be as participatory as this year's in terms of civil society representation.
Thanks to its active participation in the four preparatory meetings, IFAP, strongly supported by the FAO and various countries, managed to change the tone of the texts and rebalance the content of the outcome documents (in particular the Istanbul Water Guide) to include stronger links between water and agriculture and rural areas. For instance, the first draft of the Guide had a prominent focus on urban agriculture, overlooking the critical role that water in agriculture and rural areas plays in the proper management of water resources through integrated water management, irrigation, rain-fed agriculture, water harvesting methods, water user associations and so forth.
Overall, IFAP is satisfied with the final version of the Ministerial Declaration as it includes some of the IFAP messages lobbied for during the preparatory meetings and in Istanbul. This represents a positive step forward for farmers.
In particular, the Declaration devotes one paragraph to the issue of water for agriculture focusing on the need to improve water demand management, productivity and water use for agriculture through both irrigation systems and rain-fed agriculture in view to ensure food security and reducing poverty. However, considering the fragile world food security situation and the necessary link between water and food production, agriculture should have even higher priority in the text.
IFAP is very pleased to see clear reference in the text to the critical role of stakeholders in decision making processes, to the improvement of governance within the water sector and to addressing these issues in an integrated manner. It also states that the roles, rights and responsibilities of all actors will be clarified and cross-cutting coordination and policies will be promoted. The Ministers resolved to implement more effective and diversified support, credit and financial management systems that are easily accessible and affordable.
However, the text fails to mention more specifically the role of farmers as critical stakeholders, despite the fact that IFAP was part of the consultation process. Indeed, IFAP notes a discrepancy between the inclusiveness of the preparatory process vis-a -vis farmers and the lack of recognition of these same stakeholders in the actual outcome text. In general, the text does not insist enough on the critical role of the actors themselves in increasing the efficiency of water management in both rural and urban areas.
IFAP is pleased to see the shift in thinking from crisis management to disaster preparedness and prevention as well as risk management through the development of early warning systems.
The commitment made to better understand the impacts of global changes on water resources, natural hydrological processes and ecosystems is also positive for farmers, provided the information is channelled to farmers, as important end users.
Please find attached the Ministerial Statement as well as the Istanbul Water Guide for your review.
We encourage you to follow-up with your governments on the commitments made by the Ministers in this text and in particular, to push forward the critical role of farmers and agriculture linked to water policies in order to give them a higher profile in your policy and budgetary processes.