Aimed at facilitating and promoting dialogue among the UN system and stakeholders at local level, UNW-DPAC organizes the UN Water Dialogue Series in Casa Solans, Zaragoza, Spain.

1st Dialogue: Human right to water and sanitation

This 1st Dialogue addressed the issue of the human right to water and sanitation with two experts: Mr. Antonio Embid, Professor of Law at the University of Zaragoza, Spain, and Mr. Robert Bos, Coordinator, Water, Sanitation, Hygiene and Health at the World Health Organization (WHO).
>> Brief summary [ - 102 KB]
>> Final report [ - 264 KB]

2nd Dialogue: Water and the Rio+20 Summit

From 20 to 22 June 2012, Rio+20 provided an historic opportunity to define pathways to a safer, more equitable, cleaner, greener and more prosperous world for all. Previous to the Summit, this Dialogue focused on water-related conclusions from the Report of the UN Secretary General's High-level Panel on Global Sustainability Resilient People, Resilient Planet: A Future Worth Choosing.
>> Final report [ - 367 KB]

3rd Dialogue: Water Safety Plans

This dialogue addressed the issue of Water Safety Plans (WSPs). The 3rd edition of the World Health Organization (WHO) Guidelines for Drinking Water Quality recommends the adoption and implementation of Water Safety Plans as the most effective means to consistently ensure the safety of drinking-water supplies at all levels, from catchment to consumer. This integrated tool requires engaging all stakeholders, from health and environment authorities to water operators and consumers. WSPs should be implemented within a public health context, respond to standard health and quality indicators and checked by independent surveillance. To debate on Water Safety Plans, implementation protocols and on specific challenges during the implementation phase in Spain and other countries, national experts and officers met and shared their experiences and recommendations with WHO representatives participating in this 3rd Dialogue.
>> Final report
>> Dialogue Agenda [ - 673 KB]

4th Dialogue: Environment and sustainability. Post-2015 consultation in Spain

The post-2015 process refers to the issues and dialogue for advancing the UN development agenda beyond the 2015 MDG deadline. The United Nations is planning to organise a series of 50+ national consultations to solicit input from citizens and organisations at country level. These will inform the report of the High Level Panel on Post 2015 as well as the subsequent UN Secretary Generals official report to the 2013 UN General Assembly, which is likely to hold a special session on Post 2015.

Organized by the UN Office to support the Decade and the Millennium Campaign in Spain, this meeting aimed at preparing a set of preliminary priorities in the field of the environment and sustainability in view of the post-2015 development agenda. These conclusions were presented and debated in a joint consultation meeting that took place on 16 October and which had the participation of representatives from youth, development, human rights, the environment and sustainability and representatives from different institutions and experts from different fields.
>> Programme of the meeting [– 176 KB]

5th Dialogue: Innovation in Water and Energy for Development

The objective of these dialogues, organized by the UN Office to support the International Decade for Action 'Water for Life' 2005-2015, is to improve the knowledge in Spain of the International Water Agenda and to serve as a space for dialogue and interaction among UN organizations and different stakeholders involved in Spain.

Carolina González de Castro, from the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), presented the approach and the work of UNIDO on water and energy. Clemente Prieto, Assistant Director of Hydroelectricity Production in Iberdrola, highlighted the main water and industry challenges from the industry perspective.

The purpose of the debate was is to discuss about future developments on water and energy and the role of different actors. The debate analyzed the issues of efficiency and water and energy security and focused on how to ensure that both are simultaneously attained through, among other, technological and management measures.

The results of this dialogue will serve to start preparing World Water Day 2014, which will focus on water and energy.
>> Final report
>> Dialogue's contents and programme agenda
>> Press release with main conclusions

6^th Dialogue: Improving access to water and sanitation information and knowledge from the UN system

This UN Water Dialogue of Casa Solans focused on water and sanitation information and knowledge management issues. The dialogue was celebrated in the framework of the XII Seminar of Spanish documentation centres on the environment and natural protected areas, which took place from 17 to 19 June 2013.

The dialogue offered an opportunity to share different knowledge management practices and initiatives on water and sanitation inside and outside the UN system and also included different training sessions in this field.

Among the initiatives which debated were the UN Documentation Centre on Water and Sanitation, a UNW-DPAC initiative to improve access to UN publications on water and sanitation issues. Other initiatives included the 20-years experience of the Spanish information system on drinking-water, developed by the Ministry of Health of Spain, and the WASH Consortium group initiative by the IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre. The dialogue also included a series of training sessions, including a workshop on water and social media by iAgua, and a workshop on W3C standards by the Spanish section of the World Wide Web Consortium. The dialogue concluded with an agreement to facilitate access to UN publications on water and sanitation issues among Spanish environmental information and documentation centres.
>> Programme agenda
>> Press note
>> Final report and participants

7^th Dialogue: Water and Sanitation in Central America. Challenges for the implementation of the Post-2015 agenda

The 7^th UN Water Dialogue in Casa Solans provided an opportunity to present and discuss the recommendations of UN-Water for a Global Goal on Water and the specific challenges in Central America in reference to the implementation of the Human Right to Water and Sanitation. Participants from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Panama, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic introduced the specific challenges and priorities for action in their countries. For many of them, legal recognition is a reality and represents a unique opportunity for a new wave of water policies. Participants emphasized the importance of participative processes for designing policies and actions and the importance of coherence and coordination, especially given the fact there are many actors, including NGOs, international donors and organizations and local and national actors. Some key activities emerged as priorities such as the need to support changes in national policies (beyond legislation alone) and citizens’ awareness-raising of the implications the UN Resolution has on the Human Right to water and sanitation.
>> Agenda

8^th UN Water Dialogue in Casa Solans: Dialogue on the role of academia in promoting water and sustainable development

The 8^th UN-Water Dialogue in Casa Solans was organized by UNW-DPAC and the University of Zaragoza in the framework of the 2015 UN-Water International Conference in Zaragoza, Spain, which will focus on water and sustainable development. The specific objectives of the dialogue included informing representatives from academia on progress in the Post-2015 Agenda, sharing experiences, expressing suggestions for the Conference, and facilitating a dialogue on its possible outcomes. The dialogue aimed to address the implementation’s challenges in relation to UN-Water recommendations.