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INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION ON WATER SCIENCES AND RESEARCHIWRA projects include developing an international reference on water qualityguidelines for different water usesImage: StephanA platform for exchange: the World Water CongressImportant water events take place regularly at the global level, developinginternational exchanges and cooperation among water experts fromvarious regions. Major water events provide a forum and importantopportunity for water experts from around the world to meet, exchangeand establish links with each other. Such events play a role in developingcooperation on sciences and research. Usually these events areorganized around a specific theme related to water resources.Since 1973, long before the first World Water Forum (WWF), IWRAhas held a World Water Congress (WWC) every three years in variouslocations. The objective of the WWC is to provide a meeting place toshare experiences, promote discussion and present new knowledge,research results and developments in the field of water sciences aroundthe world. For over four decades, the WWC has been a major playerin the identification of global themes and emerging trends concerningthe water agenda. It does so by bringing together a large cross-sectionof stakeholders for the development and implementation of decisionsin the field of water.For instance the theme of the 14th WWC held at Porto de Galinhasin Brazil was ‘Adaptive water management, looking to the future’. Thenext WWC, which will be held in Edinburgh, Scotland in 2015, willfocus on ‘Global Water, a Resource for Development’, and will seek toexplore global water as a resource for economic, social and environmentaldevelopment. Water management has often been consideredas an end in itself, and not as a means to an end and an opportunityto achieve overall development, economic prosperity, improvement ofquality of life and environmental conservation. The idea is to effectivelybring attention to the importance of water as an essential ingredient fordevelopment. The scientific programme in such forums allows presentations,discussions and exchanges among water experts on specificissues. These events contribute to the identification of major globalthemes concerning the water agenda. They foster proactive partnershipsand alliances between individuals and organizationsfrom different fields of expertise and they are the placefor communicating the latest research, best practices andinnovative policy work by stakeholders and experts frommultiple water-related disciplines. The events contributetowards IWRA’s objective to lead and influence waterpolicy and governance.It is also important to mention the WWF which, since1997, has grown to become the largest internationalevent in the field of water with about 30,000 participantsfrom more than 190 countries. The resolutionto create the convener of the WWF, the World WaterCouncil, was itself taken during IWRA’s 8th WWCin Cairo, Egypt in 1994. This is another example ofIWRA’s potential influence at the policy level. IWRA iscurrently a member of the World Water Council’s Boardof Governors and contributes regularly to the WWF.Cooperation with international organizationsIWRA is a partner of UN Water, which is the UnitedNations mechanism for strengthening coordination andcoherence amongst UN entities regarding all freshwaterand sanitation related issues. IWRA is developingcooperation with such organizations and brings in itsexpertise and knowledge on water-related issues. In thisframe, IWRA is undertaking two projects in partnershipwith other major international water organizations.The first project seeks to strengthen the internationalinterface between science and policy in thefield of water, in partnership with UNESCO’s IHPand the French National Office for Water and AquaticEnvironments. The science-policy interface is alreadya priority of IWRA, and over the 2013-2015 period,IWRA will be making it a core strategic priority. Toachieve this, it will strengthen several key tools.IWRA will continue to maintain and strengthenWI and extend the impact of this publication.Multiple special editions of WI and books will alsobe published on various different policy-relatedthemes in partnership with major internationalorganizations. In addition, IWRA will increase itsengagement with different media (traditional, socialand professional) and through its newsletters. It willalso commence a project to create an academy forwater journalists in partnership with OOSKAnews,in order to increase scientific quality and to raise thequality and profile of water journalism.The second project is aimed at developing aninternational reference on water quality guidelinesfor different water uses within the framework of theUnited Nations Water Thematic Priority Areas. Forexample, within the framework of the priority area onwater quality and the WWF process, IWRA has madea commitment to establish a comprehensive globalcompendium on water quality, destined to become aworldwide reference.Since its establishment, IWRA has consistently used allthe avenues that are available to it to promote generation,synthesis, application and dissemination of knowledge.[ 310 ]