The 2008 World Water Week in Stockholm will scrutinise progress and prospects in the efforts to build a clean and healthy world. Special attention will be devoted this year to the sanitation challenge and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goal target on sanitation, where we continue to fall behind.

For a Clean and Healthy World
As a forum for a range of agencies and actors who will design and implement strategies for more efficient and sustainable policy and practice, the 2008 World Water Week is a unique opportunity to remove the stigma surrounding sanitation and to advocate for the multiple benefits thatflow from better hygiene and sanitation arrangements.
For a staggering 2.6 billion people, lack of access to adequate sanitation is a major and daily threat to their health and well-being. This bears tremendous social and environmental costs, of which premature deaths, degradation of living quarters and the nvironment, and reduced access to education are but a few. These ill effects of inadequate sanitation compromise human dignity and potential and thwart development in communities, individuals and in society at large.
One purpose of the 2008 World Water Week is to increase awareness and stimulate action on the downstream impacts of human activities in a broader sense. To reduce poverty and to meet an increasing demand for food, goods and services, intensified exploitation of natural resources will be necessary. During the early stages of economic development especially, economic growth, job creation and social services provision are considered paramount to those in charge. To this end, the supply of water and other inputs to households and economic activities is usually prioritised in budgets
and policy making. Less attention, however, is given to the effects increased waste has on downstream water bodies and actors. To cope with this challenge and to improve the sustainability and efficiency of water resource use; the week aims to find how the complexities surrounding sanitation, water supply, ecosystem management and economic development issues can be planned in a joint context and integrated as connected pieces of the larger global human development puzzle.

Theming up for a Fitter Planet
As always, the 2008 World Water Week will cover a wide breadth of topics to address the multiplicities of issues in water and development policy, planning and management. Following the special focus that will be given to sanitation, health and hygiene this year, increased attention will be placed on several specific themes which will be explored in seminars and individual workshops. Linking these themes
are key concepts that connect common sense to complex conundrums to maximise the cost-effectiveness and benefits gained from the actions that are taken today.

Preventive Action for Health
Prevention is always the best form of medicine, and usually the less costly option. In sanitation and waste management, preventive action is exponentially more effective than attempting to find cures in the future, as is clearly shown by the high cost of treating preventable diseases after they are protracted, and the much greater toll these
illnesses take on human lives when they go untreated.
Pollution abatement, climate adaptation and ecosystem maintenance provide further examples of the lower costs and greater benefits of taking preventive action.

Sustainable Cities
In the fast growing urban areas of the developing world, in clean and efficient infrastructure and management of sanitation and waste facilities will require considerable up-front financial investments, but the economic, social and environmental benefits down the road will far outweigh this initial expenditure. In rural areas, creating the physical infrastructure for clean sanitation is done on smaller scales and less cost-intensive, but is likewise vital and requires improved efforts to make sure that hygienic toilets are available to and used by inhabitants.

Waste as a Resource
Human, animal and industrial byproducts, so called “waste,” are perhaps the planet’s most wasted resource. Minimising the generation of, and human exposure to, harmful waste products is necessary, but the reuse of nutrients and other valuable byproducts of production presents valuable opportunities to reduce resource pressure and
provide economic benefits. Proper waste management includes not only strategies to reduce generation of waste in situ, but turn waste into an asset.

Sanitation under Different Climate Conditions
A mission of those at the World Water Week will be to catalyse a transformation of the sanitation crisis into opportunities for innovation in waste management. That is, to determine how to best pursue cost-effective investments in the sector and to ensure that the necessary investments in smart sanitation facilities in developing countries and cities are achieved. The effects of climate change on existing and future infrastructure must be considered in planning sanitation and waste systems.

Water Afteruse and the Ecosystem Approach
The sustainability of water management and use remains a central topic of the week. Natural and human constructed ecosystems are the very basis for human existence and play a fundamental role in the production of food, fibre and many other goods and services. To strive for sustainability is to work to ensure that present practices do not disable future users from having secure access to needed resources for their livelihoods. This reminds of the dilemma between
upstream and downstream water users. The global majority lives in downstream locations and must be ensured that water – after having been used upstream – is still drinkable, useable and suffi cient for both the present and the future. Increased attention is being placed at the World Water Week on guiding water policy to tackling the problems “upstream” before catastrophe results for people and
ecosystems downstream. To rectify past shortcomings in policy and planning, the week will seek to integrate economic, social and environmental values of water “afteruse” in water resources management.

Human Behaviour and Communication for Desired and Necessary Changes
Finally, changing human behaviour is crucial for accelerating progress and reversing unsustainable policy and lifestyles. Technical innovations are critical but are not in themselves sufficient as long-term solutions. Individual initiatives and collective action within communities can set examples for proper resource use and water management and are key to stopping the transmission of bacteria that cause for example the majority of the diarrheal diseases. The workshops and seminars will focus on “down to earth” issues to discuss how to best impact individual and societal behaviour and create meaningful sustainable change.

A Cross-Cutting Agenda
The wide-ranging approach of the 2008 World Water Week refl ects the present nature of the challenges in water and development issues and the latest progress made by all the co-convening organisations. This diversity of topics and events serves the greater purpose of the week and each and every stakeholder that takes part: to play a constructive role in pushing for a clean and healthy world.