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【JWF News Vol. 183】New Year’s Address
15 January 2020
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◇ Contents ◇
・Foreword New Year’s Address
・Announcement from the Japan Water Forum
– The 9th World Water Forum Calls for Stakeholders’ Participation in its Preparatory Process
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・Foreword New Year’s Address
By Kotaro Takemura, Chair of the Japan Water Forum
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At the beginning of the year 2020, I wish you a happy and healthy New Year.
The Japan Water Forum (JWF) will be able to continue its activities in the Reiwa Era thanks to your continuing support.
Tokyo is hosting the Olympics and Paralympics this year. In connection with this sports festival, Japan has been seriously tackling the SDGs, which were set in 2015. Also, in 2025, the Word Exposition will be held in Osaka and the Kansai area. Through that event, its contribution to the achievement of SDGs, of which the target year is 2030, is expected.
This is also a very important year for the JWF because the 4th Asia-Pacific Water Summit (4th APWS) will be held in Kumamoto, Japan. The theme is “Water for Sustainable Development: Best Practices and the Next Generation”.
The JWF, as the secretariat, launched itself fully into preparations towards the 4th APWS last year. In November, the co-hosts, APWF president Yoshiro Mori and mayor of Kumamoto Kazufumi Onishi, jointly released a formal invitation to presidents and prime ministers of 49 countries in the region.
Staff of JWF visited embassies in Tokyo with formal invitations in hand. We described the summit’s intent and outline to ambassadors and staff of embassies requesting that they hand the invitations to their president and prime ministers.
Water issues are serious challenges in the development and security of every country. All stakeholders we met promised to hand invitations to their heads of state or government and to seriously consider their participation in the summit.
Across much of the globe, rapid urbanization and modernization have brought about abnormal and extreme weather events. In some areas, populations are affected by flooding, and in other areas, people suffer from serious water shortages. The water environment in rivers, lakes and oceans has been deteriorating.
Many of the seventeen targets of the SDGs, a common theme for humanity, are related to water. It may be said that solving water issues will lead directly to the achievement of the SDGs.
Japan is responsible for contributing to the solution of water issues across the world in order to achieve SDGs by using knowledge and technologies earned through its history and experience of water management, as our lives are totally supported by resources and energy from abroad.
All staff of JWF will make concerted efforts, hoping that the 4th APWS will be of help in solving water issues. We are determined to make it a successful summit.
In closing, we ask you for continued support and cooperation in the New Year.
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・Announcement from the Japan Water Forum
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– The 9th World Water Forum Calls for Stakeholders’ Participation in its Preparatory Process
The 9th edition of the World Water Forum, the largest international water-related event, will take place on 22-27 March 2021 in Dakar, the Republic of Senegal under the overarching theme of “Water Security for Peace and Development”. The call has launched for participation in Action Groups and Consultative Groups of the 9th Forum.
▼For more details, please visit the 9th World Water Forum website▼
https://www.worldwaterforum.org/sites/default/files/call.pdf
(Reported by Asai Shigenori, Director)
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JWF News Vol. 183 / 15 January 2020
Japan Water Forum
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