The UN-Water Annual Zaragoza Conference aids UN-Water in preparing for World Water Day. This conference is part of the road map for World Water Day 2015, which will focus on “water and sustainable development”.

The post-2015 international agenda for water will be decided in 2015. The UN-Water International Zaragoza Conference will start the year focusing on how to bring the agenda into action; a practical event on tools for implementation (financing, technology, capacity development) and governance frameworks, for initiating the post-2015 agenda in water and sanitation.

More than 300 participants from United Nations Agencies and programmes, experts, representatives of the business community, governmental and non-governmental organizations will meet from 15 to 17 January in Zaragoza, Spain, to draw conclusions based on existing practice and the exchange of views between governments and stakeholders.

Freshwater is central to all development efforts. It faces rising challenges across the world – from urbanization and over-consumption, underinvestment and lack of capacity, poor management and waste and the demands of agriculture, energy and food production. Freshwater is not being used sustainably according to needs and demands. Fortunately, many of the water problems are economic, social and political in nature and could be addressed within our power through intelligent and effective governance to optimize water use between different sectors and ecosystems and balance our current and future needs. We need governments, the private sector and civil society to work more closely together and to integrate water as an intrinsic part of their decision-making.

The Zaragoza Conference will provide a space for dialogue around some selected topics relevant to the implementation of the international agenda on water. The Conference will focus on a practical examination of what the necessary transformations are and how institutional change, technology, capacity development and financing can help develop appropriate joint responses. It will look at the essential similarities -learning from each other- and critical differences e.g. regional and country differences. It will draw from practical experience of Member States and stakeholder groups.

The Conference is by invitation only. For the registration form and other information, please visit the Conference website here.