The World Water Week will again bring a broad range of issues to the discussion table. The deadline for submitting proposals for seminars and side events has passed for the 2008 World Water Week. If you are interested in submitting a proposal for 2009, please contact Michael Moore at michael.moore@siwi.org.

A sampling of what can be expected in seminars and side events at the 2008 World Water Week is below.

Keeping the Debate Alive
Many of the events in 2008 will revisit general themes and specific issues and activities that have been initiated in previous World Water Weeks. The aim is to maintain focus on critical water-related issues where sustained debate is essential and where the field is undergoing major change. This provides opportunities for speakers and participants to provide updates on progress made over the course of the preceding year and to share their experiences. Continuing
general themes for 2008 will include:

• Drinking water supply
• Ecosystems and biodiversity
• Finance, business, economics and the private sector
• Governance
• Water and climate change
• Water resource management

Some sessions following up preceding years are featured below. As of November 2007, some of the actors involved in them include:
UN-Water, The European Union Water Initiative, The World Bank, Water and Sanitation Programme (WSP) and SIWI.

• Anti-corruption in the water sector
• Micro-credit financing for water
• Monitoring and evaluation of water sector trends
• The European Union Water Initiative
• The role of pro-poor, small-scale, private sector actors
and solutions in the water sector
• The activities related to the UN-Water agenda and theme for 2009
• Transboundary groundwater in the Middle East and Africa
• Water and climate adaptation

In addition, a number of other specific seminars have already been preliminarily planned. More details on these and other seminars and side events will be available in April 2008 in the Second Announcement and Call for Registration.