The HSGs who participated in the 4th APWS asked the questions to address the barriers, breakthroughs, opportunities, and ways forward for reform and improvement in governance, finance, and science and technology to leaders, experts, scientists, and all participants gathered at the 4th APWS and answered the questions as the part of the outcomes of the 4th APWS. To answer the questions, we organized the nine parallel thematic sessions on the afternoon of Day1 and the morning of Day2 of the 4th APWS.
In each parallel thematic session, the session conveners clarified considerations for achieving the water-related SDGs and ensuring “quality-oriented growth,” discussed the actions needed to steadily develop “quality-oriented infrastructure” from both structural and non-structural measures from the perspectives of governance, finance, and science and technology, and disseminated their policy recommendations. In addition, they also presented the approaches to solve water challenges following the situation of each country. Please also refer to the publication about the 4th APWS showcase and the roadmap.
We also organized the two special sessions: (1) Showcase, which shared the ranging from local to national levels as lessons learned toward the quality-oriented growth in Asia and the Pacific, and (2) Small Islands State (SIS) Session, which focused on the challenges of SIS of Asia and the Pacific.
In the afternoon of the Day2, we hold the 4 integration sessions. The session conveners of Science and Technology, Governance, and Finance, respectively, presented the concrete measures and actions, summarizing the messages and proposals comprehensively from the nine parallel thematic sessions and answering the questions from the HSGs.
Furthermore, the overall integration session “Building Post-Covid World Back Better through Water – Actions and Commitments from Kumamoto to the World-were also organized. The representative of the above 3 integration sessions delivered their key messages introducing their session outcomes. In addition, it also discussed how to synchronize the result of the 4th APWS with previous and succeeding preparatory processes such as the Bonn Conference, the 9th World Water Forum, and the 2022 Dushanbe Process and what is necessary to deliver our common messages to the UN 2023 Midterm Review Conference.
The outcomes of this overall integration session became the foundation of the 4th APWS Chairs summary, as the holistic outcomes of all nine thematics and three integration sessions.
In the closing ceremony, His Excellency. Dr. Han Seung-soo, Chair of HELP, Former Prime Minister of Korea, and Her Excellency. Ms. Yoko Kamikawa, MP, House of Representatives, and Former Minister of Justice, Japan, delivered the summary of the discussion of the overall integration session. Based on the synopsis, Mr. Mark Pascoe read out the Preamble of the 4th APWS Chairs Summary on behalf of Mr. Mori, the Chair of the Joint Executive Committee of the 4th APWS and President of the APWF, and the 4th APWS Chairs summary was adopted.
The Chair’s Summary shows the pathway toward quality-oriented growth with developing a sustainable, resilient, and inclusive society. It is part of the Kumamoto Declaration process by answering the questions by HSG at the 4th APWS. Furthermore, it also proposes Water, Climate Change, and Disaster Risk, which were discussed in parallel thematic sessions cross-cuttingly and be one of the main pillars of the Kumamoto Initiative for Water, should be a key topic in the global process, notably the UN 2023 Water Conference. The Chair’s summary also emphasizes that all multi-stakeholders should keep their steady progress and decision steps towards solving every water challenge and building a quality society in Asia, the Pacific, and the world.