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WECF participated on workshop under the protocol on water and health

In Geneva, on 16-17 February, WECF participated on the workshop on reporting under the protocol on water and health (PWH), organised by the PWH secreatariat of the WHO regional office for Europe and the UNECE

22.02.2010 |Margriet Samwel

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The Protocol on Water and Health requires parties to establish and publish national and/or local targets and target dates in different areas in order to achieve or maintain a high level for the protection of human health and well-being and for the sustainable management of water resources.

Furthermore, the Protocol requires parties to collect, evaluate data and report on their progress towards the achievement of the targets every three years. Cooperation and involvement of all stakeholders, civil society and NGOs is one of the requests of this process.  This workshop aimed to support Parties and non-Parties in the preparation of their national summary reports. The summary reports should be submitted by Parties and non-Parties by 31 March 2010.  Summary reports will be circulated to all Parties and will provide an important input to the second session of the Meeting of the Parties, scheduled for October/November 2010.

The workshop in Geneva provided the opportunity to exchange experiences and lessons learned by Parties and non-Parties engaged in the process of preparing their national summary reports, to clarify possible questions related to the reporting template and facilitate the completion of summary reports, to assess the progress in setting targets and reporting under the Protocol.
The text of the Protocol on Water and Health is available in several languages

The Protocol has been ratified by 21 countries and entered into force on 4 August 2005.

Back to back with the workshop on reporting under the PWH, a meeting of the Protocol Task Force on indicators and reporting was held on the 17 - 18 th of February.  This Task Force was established by the first Meeting of the Parties to the Protocol in 2007 to provide guidance to Parties and to promote exchange of experience and harmonization in the Region.  To this aim, the Task Force is drafting guidelines for setting targets and target dates, as well as guidelines for reporting, for adoption by the Parties at their second meeting in 2010.  Members of the Task Force include Finland, Hungary, Republic of Moldova, the Netherlands and Norway, under the leadership of Switzerland.
Among other NGOs, WECF is actively involved in the process of implementation of the Protocol on Water and Health.

Coming Protocol meetings and related events:

• Pre-event of the Fifth Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health. Parma, Italy, 9 March 2010:
• Protocol Day: 10 years since the adoption of the Protocol on Water and Health
• Parma, Italy, 10-12 March 2010: Protecting children's health in a changing environment: Fifth Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health
•  26 May 2010: Third meeting of the Protocol ad hoc project facilitation mechanism (AHPFM)
•  27–28 May 2010: Third meeting of the Working Group on Water and Health

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