The Budapest Water Summit has opened today in Hungary, bringing together high-level representatives from government, international organizations, civil society and academia to discuss, in particular the development of water-related goals for the post-2015 development agenda.
The meeting is taking place in the context of the United Nations International Year of Water Cooperation 2013, the outcome of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20) “The Future We Want,” and the ongoing post-2015 development agenda process to negotiate sustainable development goals.
The Summit, which runs until 11 October, includes a Summit Plenary, Science Forum, Civil Society Forum, Youth Forum and a Business Leaders Forum. In addition a Water and Sanitation Expo, a Philanthropy Roundtable and side events will also take place.
The Budapest Water Summit will address a variety of issues in sessions and high-level panels, including: striving for universal access to water and sanitation; addressing water, sanitation and hygiene issues; implementing integrated water resources management (IWRM) for the 21st century; serving a growing population with water in a changing climate; addressing the water-energy-food nexus; implementing good water governance; governing water wisely with smart SDGs; enabling a green economy for blue water; investing and financing to address the global water and sanitation crisis and related SDG; and leveraging finance.
The outcome of the Budapest Water Summit will be the Budapest Statement.