"Peace with Water" to Establish a World Water Protocol

"Peace with Water" intends to contribute to the current international governmental processes aimed at defining and approving the 2013 post-Kyoto agreement by proposing a Memorandum for a World Water Protocol. The protocol will focus on conflict prevention, the promotion of the right to water for all and the safeguard of the global water heritage for future generations.

The conference brings together parliamentarians, locally elected representatives and administrators, governments and international/intergovernmental organisations, public unions and other concerned unions (agricultural, industrial...), water companies, representatives from academic and research areas, associations and movements of the civil society; to discuss different themes within the water issue. Participation is open to any person or organisation sharing the conference's objectives. Anyone wishing to participate must register on the event's website.

The Conference is led by a presidential committee, composed of:

- Mikhail Gorbachev (Russia), President (Mr. Gorbachev is president of The World Political Forum and of Green Cross International, two active organisations on prevention and resolution of water conflicts)

- Mario Soares (Portugal), former President of the Republic of Portugal and President of the International Committee for a World Water Contract

- Guy Laliberté (Canada), Founder of the Cirque du Soleil and of the «One Drop» Foundation

- Marina da Silva (Brazil), Senator, former Minister for Environment of the Government of Brazil

World Political Forum Background

The World Political Forum (WPF) was the original idea of the Nobel Prize Laureate Mikhail Gorbachev, aiming to foster contacts between politicians, scientists and high level personalities in the cultural and religious life of different continents, faiths, languages and cultures, in order to analyse the issue of interdependence, but above all to suggest solutions for global governance and critical problems that affect our societies today.

The course of WPF meetings about the environment began in Turin in March 2008, with the conference "From Global Warning to Global Policy", intended as a call to the responsibilities of the political class. Political leaders and international experts participated in the event, in collaboration with the Club of Rome, which for the past ten years has been warning global leaders about environmental risks.