The Second World Water Forum and Ministerial Conference took place in the Hague, the Netherlands, from the 17 and the 22 of March 2000, hosted by the Netherlands' Government and co-organised by the Dutch Ministry for Development Cooperation, the World Water Council's World Water Vision and Framework for Action, and the Global Water Partnership

Water was discussed in all its guises. For six whole days participants were able to choose from numerous sessions, including a selection of specially designed interactive workshops. A huge Forum was created where everybody was invited to express their views on water-related subjects, and discuss the action they plan to take. Naturally, all these sessions focused on different aspects of life's most precious subject, water.

Most importantly, the Forum and parallel Ministerial Conference looked at what action we, the people of the world, will be taking in the next 25 years - and how we can achieve these goals. This was the venue for the presentation of the World Water Vision for the 21st Century, which covered the issues of: Water and Nature, Water for People, Water for Food, Water for Industry, Gender Mainstreaming and Water in all the major regions of the world. Perhaps more significantly, the Forum was also the "launching pad" for the Framework for Action continuation of the Vision project, which hopes to combine the professional, academic, private sector, and Governmental dedication to a brighter water future which was evident in The Hague into a proactive programme of action.

Green Cross International was very actively involved as one of the sectoral coordinators in the World Water Vision presentations. GCI organised and participated in the high-level Panel on National Sovereignty and International Watercourses, which included our President, Mikhail Gorbachev, the Hon Ingvar Carlsson, Sir Ketumile Masire and the Hon. Fidel Ramos. The Panel was also joined by special guests HRH the Prince of Orange and the Hon Ruud Lubbers of the Netherlands.

As well as the one on Sovereignty, two other high-level debates were held by GCI on Monday, 20 March 2000 to discuss Water for Peace in the Middle East and Water for Peace in Southern Africa. It was in these three related sessions that the sensitive questions regarding the political and social benefits and impediments to sharing and protecting international watercourses were raised. The problem of how to prevent conflict over water in sensitive and arid regions was particularly addressed as one of the most critical issues in the increasingly water-stressed world.

At the Forum and in the Ministerial Conference, President Gorbachev and Green Cross actively promoted the need for international mediation to prevent and resolve water related conflicts, the establishment an international fund for water, and the recognition that a basic entitlement to safe water is a universal human right.