Signature of the Local and Regional Authorities partnership
Local Authorities are faced with many competing challenges, exacerbated by population growth, changing consumption patterns and the impacts of climate variability. Ensuring water security and sanitation in cities is key to overcoming those challenges and safeguarding the well-being of city dwellers. However, change can occur only if political will is cultivated and cities have access to sufficient resources and mechanisms guiding them in the development and implementation of sustainable water management strategies at a local level.
This month, four organizations joined forces to support these issues. Through the signature of a Partnership Agreement, ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability, United Cities and Local Governments, the Brazilian Confederation of Municipalities and the World Water Council committed to work together to address the important role that local and regional authorities play in managing and providing water and sanitation for their populations while safeguarding water resources and to support cities in rising to this challenge.
This Partnership Agreement will serve as an important stepping stone for the preparation and organization of the Local and Regional Authorities Conference of the 8th World Water Forum, which will take place 18-23 March 2018 in Brasilia, Brazil.
In order to support the LRA Conference and its preparatory process, the partners, mentioned above, are planning three preparatory events to raise interest among Mayors around water. The first will be held on 22 November in Brasilia, Brazil; the second during the UCLG World Congress, in December, in Hangzhou, China; and finally the third and last one will tentatively be held during the 9th World Urban Forum, in February, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The first pre-conference will aim at informing Brasilian and Latin American Mayors on the objectives of the 8th World Water Forum, presenting the structure and program of the Political Process and its Local and Regional Authorities (LRA) sub-process, and finally providing discussions on the themes of the Forum pertaining to water management in municipalities. As a result, the pre-conference will provide a foundation for the design of the collaborative outputs of the Conference of Local and Regional Authorities for Water, drawing on the essential role that local authorities will play in contributing to the achievement of existing international agreements and frameworks and demonstrating how water can help sustain a new urban future.