Water was given a high profile at the 2008 World Economic Forum in Davos, displacing climate change as the delegates’ chief worry outside the US economy [1].

Panellists at one of the nine water-related events at the Forum, stated that global crises from escalating demand for fresh water, for example for alternative energy sources like shale oil and biofuels, and inadequate supply are just as urgent as efforts to tackle climate change. Panellist, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, pointed out that drought had sparked off the fighting in Darfur, Sudan. He complained that only a fraction of the 1,000 companies represented in Davos had joined the UN’s CEO Water Mandate [2], launched in 2007.

Collaborative approaches, political will, market mechanisms and innovative technology could help solve the water crisis, panellists said. Several executives highlighted a new ambition to become “water neutral” as well as “carbon neutral”. They agreed that a certain amount of clean water for drinking should be seen as a human right, but water for other uses needed to be priced to prevent waste and inefficiency.

During the Forum, world leaders issued a call to action on the Millennium Development Goals. One of the goals mentioned was to give 70 million more people improved access to water by 2010.

[1] The World Economic Forum’s Water Initiative released two reports for the 2008 Forum:

• WEF Water Initiative (2008). Realizing the potential of public-private partnership projects in water. 12 p. PDF file
• WEF Consumer Industry Team (2008). Managing our future water needs for agriculture, industry, human health and the environment : discussion document for the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2008. 11 p. PDF file

[2] United Nations Compact - Water Sustainability – CEO Water Mandate

Contact: WEF Water Initiative, Switzerland, environment@weforum.org

Source: WEF, 23 Jan 2008 ; Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson, Financial Times, 25 Jan 2008 ; WEF, 25 Jan 2008