The closing document of the Budapest Water Summit 2019
The Budapest Water Summit 2019, under the motto ‘Preventing Water Crises’ aimed to promote solutions that tackle the problems of the emerging water crises we have to face, building around the issues of abundant, scarce and polluted waters. Moreover, the Summit provided a platform for political decision-makers, representatives of the business and finance sectors as well as the academic community to discuss the way ahead from understanding challenges, to evaluating results attained so far and ways of getting closer to a water-secure world. To this end, the Budapest Appeal has been presented by the organizers of the event and through its discussion it provides possible solutions for the relevant international fora.
The closing document of the Budapest Water Summit 2016, the “Budapest Water Summit 2016 - Messages and policy recommendations” clearly declared that the objectives of the post-2015 development agenda were the beginning of a new era. The framework stipulates that it is essential to improve resistance to water-related disasters by enhancing preparedness against the impacts of on-going and future global changes, such as increasing lack of water safety, climate change, population growth and increasing frequency of extreme water phenomena, through development of resilient water infrastructure, appropriate policy measures and early exchange of information. Implementing appropriate risk management plans should reduce the impact of anthropogenic and natural disasters on access to drinking water and sanitation.
The Budapest Water Summit 2019 builded upon the results and success of the Budapest Water Summit 2016, the Paris Climate Change Conference and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted by UN Member States. The Budapest Water Summit 2016, and the Budapest Statement has become a consensus-building reference point in international climate politics, a success that the Budapest Water Summit 2019 has also pursued to achieve. The Budapest Water Summit 2019 – organized by the Hungarian Government – will take place halfway between the 2018 Brasilia and the 2021 Dakar World Water Fora and builded on and contributed further to the work conducted by the United Nations, the European Union, the World Water Council, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Bank Group as well as other organizations and cutting-edge platforms.
The Budapest Appeal formulates messages and guidelines for the international community to prevent and manage the looming water crises. In addition, it provides a comprehensive summary of the findings and recommendations of the Summit and the preliminary online consultation process. The Appeal has been prepared by the International Programme and Drafting Committee, which has started its work in June. The Appeal was presented on 17 October 2019, during the closing session of the Budapest Water Summit 2019.
Please find here the final version of the Budapest Appeal.
