Professor Dogan Altinbilek, Chair of the Thematic Committee for the 6th World Water Forum and Ms Kristin Schumann, International Hydropower Association (IHA) coordinating representative for the Forum, joined Mr Jacques Labre of the International Water Association (IWA) in Paris today, to present to the press the specific plans for the Forum’s key priority to 'Harmonise Water and Energy'.
 
“The upcoming 6th World Water Forum is a great opportunity to progress understanding among scientific and political communities of water and energy issues.  I’m looking forward to working closely with a new Water and Energy Policy Network with a view to improving interrelations at the policy level.” said Professor Altinbilek

The priority of the Forum to harmonise water and energy is being co-coordinated by IHA and IWA, and sets 7 targets. Target 5 is specific to Sustainable Hydropower, stating:

By 2015, in at least 20 countries covering the five major regions, an assessment tool on hydropower sustainability (covering economic, social and environmental dimensions) – developed through a multi-stakeholder process – is applied to advance preparation and implementation/operation of sustainable hydropower schemes.

Meeting with French journalists, concurrent to the second Ministerial Prep-Com for the 6th World Water Forum, taking place 2-3 February 2012 in Paris, Professor Altinbilek and Ms Schumann took the opportunity to raise awareness of the Hydropower Sustainability Assessment Protocol. 
 
The Hydropower Sustainability Assessment Protocol (Protocol), a comprehensive tool to assess the sustainability of hydropower projects globally, provides a rigorous, evidence-based assessment of between 19-23 relevant sustainability topics, depending on the development stage of the project. 
 
The Protocol is the product of a rigorous multi-stakeholder development process involving representatives from social and environmental NGOs (Oxfam, The Nature Conservancy, Transparency International, WWF); governments (China, Germany [as observer], Iceland, Norway, Zambia); commercial and development banks (including banks that are signatory to the Equator Principles, and the World Bank [as observer]); and the hydropower sector, represented by IHA.
 
The development process of the Protocol involved field trials in 16 countries, across 6 continents, and stakeholder engagement with 1,933 individuals in 28 countries. 

Implementation of the Protocol in the European Union is supported through Hydro4LIFE, a European Commission funded project.   The project is 50% co-funded by the European Commission’s Life+ Environment Policy and Governance programme, and 50% by IHA, with a total budget of €1.2 million. It is coordinated by IHA and is runs from 1st September 2010 to 1st September 2013.

The 6th World Water Forum second Ministerial Prep-Com was convened to finalise the 6th World Water Forum Ministerial Declaration, to be published at the Forum in March.   The Ministerial Declaration, which includes sections on both water and energy, is anticipated to feed into the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) in June.

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