Publisher's Synopsis
The 12th Stockholm Water Symposium had the theme "Balancing Competing Water Uses - Present Status and New Prospects". The aim was to highlight the present situation in different parts of the world in terms of competing water uses, to debate what will be needed to perform the necessary balancing of interests and improve water use performance, and to indicate prospects in terms of cases where balancing is already practised or planned. Only a limited number of oral presentations were given and more than half the time was used for dialogue and discussion. The dialogues were conducted by the Workshop Chairmen and summarised jointly with the Rapporteurs. The Symposium 2002 was the last in a series of five, addressing various issues within the niche "Water is the key to socio-economic development and quality of life". The overall conclusions from these five years were summarised in the Stockholm Statement 2002, stressing the need for urgent action for water security, and highlighting four principles: water users must be involved in the governance of water resources; the link between economic growth and water degradation must be urgently broken; urban water services are crucial for urban stability and security; policy, planning and implementation must be based on integrated solutions. The future-oriented, multidisciplinary Stockholm Water Symposia are convened annually by the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), a scientific, technical and awareness-building organisation that contributes to international efforts to combat the escalating water crisis.
