Integrated Flood Prevention and Privatisation of Water Supply
Bern, 18.03.2003 - On the third day of the World Water Forum, the Swiss delegation made two important contributions in sessions preceding the Ministerial Conference. On the one hand, a project involving a “code of conduct” applicable in the case of privatisation of water supply was aroused the interest of numerous participants. On the other hand, the Swiss flood prevention strategy developed over the last 10 years also attracted the participants’ full attention.
One of most controversial issues of the World Water Forum is the privatisation of water supply. The Secretariat to the Economy, the Swiss Development and Cooperation Agency and SwissRe, the major Swiss reinsurance company, began work on drafting guidelines and a code of conduct to lay the foundations for the best possible collaboration in this sensitive area. The preliminary work was presented on Tuesday and has attracted much interest. Several participants from other countries expressed their interest in participating in the project.
Floods: Switzerland - a pioneer
Mr Bruno Schädler, who works for the Swiss Federal Office of Water and Geology, presented the Swiss policy, which has been in place for the past 10 years at the session on ”Integrated flood management”.
This policy is based on 4 principles: clear evaluation of danger by creating risk maps, provision of necessary space for rivers in land-use planning, restoration of ecosystems on the river banks, and integrated river basin management. Mr. Schädler noted that ”the need for allowing sufficient space for rivers has now been recognised by almost all countries.”
Although other countries have developed flood prevention strategies, Switzerland is one of the only countries to have implemented one. Participants in the session were keenly interested in our experience of 10 years in this field.
The World Water Forum must go on
Following the ultimatum by US President G.W. Bush to Saddam Hussein, Mr Oda Hideaki, Secretary General to the World Water Forum announced that there was no reason to cancel the World Water Forum. The delegates from Iraq (5 people) have nevertheless returned to their country.
Address for enquiries
Information: until 1.pm. (Swiss time)
Privatisation of water supply:
Mr Thomas Zeller, SDC
0081 90 2159 9836 (from Switzerland)
Integrated flood prevention:
Mr Bruno Schädler, SFWG
0081 90 2159 9802
Mrs Elisabeth Maret
Press Officer, SAEFL
0081 90 2159 98 55
Publisher
Federal Office for the Environment FOEN
https://www.bafu.admin.ch/en
