Strasbourg, 20-21 October 2005

Conference co-organised by the Parliamentary Assembly and the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe in co-operation with the Directorate General of Education, Culture and Heritage, Youth and Sport

1. Background

The Parliamentary Assembly and the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, in co-operation with the Directorate General of Education, Culture and Heritage, Youth and Sport, organised a conference on “Water management: a shared responsibility”, held on 20-21 October 2005 in Strasbourg.

This conference, organised in the framework of the European Solidarity Week for Water, was an opportunity to move forward the debate on the sharing of responsibility among decision makers and elected representatives at the local, regional and national levels, with a view to making a European contribution to the 4^th World Water Forum to be held in Mexico in 2006.

A hundred participants attended this conference, including parliamentarians and elected representatives at the regional and local level, government officials, experts, international organisations, and associations from around fifty countries in Europe, Maghreb, the Near East and North America. Conference participants agreed on the following key messages:

2. Issues and responsibilities

Sustainable water resource management, taking into account the environmental role of aquatic ecosystems, and access to water and sanitation services for all, particularly the least privileged population groups, are the main concerns of water policy at the present time.

The relative importance of these concerns naturally varies with the physical, natural, socio-economic and institutional characteristics of the water basins and regions of the world concerned. Europe has a responsibility, not only in Europe but also in other parts of the world, to seek and implement solutions, based on the principle of solidarity, and to contribute in this way to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (United Nations).

Governance is a key element in the quest for the sustainable integrated management of water resources and services. It implies thinking in terms of subsidiarity, complementarity and the sharing of responsibility between institutions and decision-making levels, and envisaging, on the one hand, vertical integration between different levels of government (local, regional and national) and, on the other hand, horizontal co-ordination between regions, between municipalities and between local stakeholders at the level of the water basin or the water and sanitation service. Although politically sensitive, this approach seems particularly apposite for transfrontier water basins, considering that most of the major water basins in Europe and the world are such.

3. The requisite conditions for effective responsibility sharing

Several conditions must be fulfilled in order for effective vertical and horizontal co-ordination to be able to rise to the current challenges of the management of water resources, services and sanitation. They include:

Ø A proper legislative framework;
Ø A clear definition of the role and responsibilities of elected representatives and decision makers at the different levels;
Ø Means of exchange and integration between decision-making levels (Forum, working groups, committees, etc);
Ø Active participation by the public and stakeholders in the field of water at every decision level, with elected representatives providing a useful relay between citizens and stakeholders at each level;
Ø Information and training for elected representatives, adapted to the search for solutions at every level of decision making;
Ø Ready access for elected representatives to the necessary expertise (technical, legal, financial, etc.) for sustainable water resource management, services and sanitation;
Ø A targeted mobilisation of financial resources, co-ordinated between levels of decision making;
Ø Follow-up and evaluation of actions taken and of the integration and co-ordination tools.

4. On the road to Mexico

The contribution of the Council of Europe, from the Strasbourg conference to the 4^th World Water Forum in Mexico in 2006, will be made on the basis of the conference proceedings and key messages and through:

Ø The dissemination of the messages from the conference;
Ø The adoption of a Report by the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities;
Ø The adoption of a Report by the Parliamentary Assembly;
Ø An inventory of European experiences and good practices of vertical integration, co-ordination and partnership between different levels of decision-making (i.e. municipalities, regions, different levels of governance) regarding water resources management, services and sanitation.

5. Suggestions for Mexico

The Conference helped identify opportunities for fostering exchanges and discussions between elected representatives and decision makers regarding their sharing of responsibility, at the 4^th World Water Forum in Mexico. In particular:

Ø A forum for exchanges and discussion between elected representatives, at the local level, at the regional level and at the national level to strengthen political awareness at the different decision-making levels, discuss the practical implementation of the principle of subsidiarity, identify actual partnerships between elected representatives in different countries. Such a mechanism, carried on from one World Forum to the next, could also contribute to the follow-up and evaluation of the World Water Forum process;
Ø At the Forum's various workshops and conferences, the sharing of experiences (successes and failures) of vertical integration between the local, regional and national levels, and of co-ordination between municipalities, regions, etc. and particularly on transfrontier basins, aimed at drawing the lessons learned;
Ø The promotion of exchanges between parliamentary committees responsible for water issues, aimed at identifying the constraints faced by these committees and the success factors that contribute to the forging of ambitious political visions and legislative frameworks for sustainable water resource management and access to water and sanitation services for all;
Ø More generally, initiate new partnerships involving European elected representatives and decision makers to implement specific and targeted responsibility-sharing measures between different levels of decision-making, and which contribute to achieving the Millennium Development Goals.

6. After Mexico: what action can the Council of Europe take?

Although it is premature to discuss the after Mexico, several ideas emerged during the Conference as to the role that the Council of Europe might play, such as:

Ø The setting up a joint working group of the Parliamentary Assembly and the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities was suggested with a view to developing a common strategy on sustainable water resource management and achieving the Millennium Development Goals;
Ø This strategy would include specific information measures for elected representatives, civil society and the public, focusing on water management, access to services, partnerships and co-ordination between different decision levels (i.e. past actions, ongoing initiatives, those developed in Mexico or as a follow-up);
Ø This strategy would also include the development of training measures for elected representatives;
Ø This joint working group should also play a part in the follow-up and evaluation of the actions taken in the framework of the World Water Forum process.