São Paulo – Brasília and Copenhagen are the two finalists to host the 8th World Water Forum, in 2018. The event is attended by government officials, business delegates and researchers who convene to discuss the best ways to use and conserve water, trends, needs, and alternatives for making fresh water available to all people. In case Brasília wins, it will be the first time a city in the Southern Hemisphere hosts the forum.
The Federal District governor Agnelo Queiroz has said this Tuesday (11th), at the headquarters of the Brazilian Infrastructure and Base Industries Association (ABDIB), in São Paulo, that the federal capital has the chance to show that it is a city committed to sustainability. Brazil, in turn, could showcase its successful water resource management projects.
The advantages of hosting the forum are manifold, ranging from the actual debate to the positive image that stems from displaying the sustainability [of Brasília], which is an important asset for attracting investment,” he said. Queiroz said Brazil possesses vast quantities of fresh water, but needs to manage different realities within its territory. Water is abundant in the North and South, but scarce in some areas of the Northeast. The theme of Brazil’s candidacy, “Sharing Water,” was designed to discuss ways to use water as pertains to consumption, food production, nature, and in regions with different characteristics and degrees of availability.
Queiroz said Brazil’s strengths in water resource management include advanced laws, master plans specifically targeting water, the National Water Agency (ANA, in the Portuguese acronym), and the fact that water is the main source of electric power. On the other hand, he noted that the country must expand its sewage treatment network.
Importance
According to ABDIB vice president Newton de Lima Azevedo, the forum is important to other Southern Hemisphere countries as well, such as Latin American countries. “The region is still underrepresented when it comes to debating water usage, and is still struggling when it comes to managing its water resources,” said Azevedo, who is one of the World Water Council’s 36 governors, the organization in charge of hosting the forum. The governors will vote to choose the host city.
The next voting session and the announcement of the winning city will take place in South Korea, which will host the forum on February 25th, 2015. Out of the 36 governors, nine are from the Americas, 12 are from Asia, three are from Africa, and 12 are from Europe. The first edition of the event was held in Marrakech, Morocco, in 1997. In 2000, Hague, in the Netherlands, hosted the event, as did Kyoto, Japan, in 2003, Mexico City (2006), Istanbul, Turkey (2009), and Marseille, in France (2012).
For the 2018 edition, Colombia, Syria, Qatar, Russia, Denmark, Brazil, Slovenia, Slovakia, and Myanmar expressed interested in hosting the forum, but only Brazil, Russia, Qatar and Denmark have presented actual bids. Out of these four countries, only Brazil’s Brasília and Denmark’s Copenhagen are finalists. The government of Brasília is expecting to receive 30,000 people during the Forum in case it wins. According to the governor, the city already boasts the necessary infrastructure for hosting the event.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
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