The 4^th World Water Forum official session
“Water Accounting and InformationPlatforms”

The WEPA activities were introduced at a session of the 4^th World Water Forum entitled "The Water Accounting and Information Platforms", which was held on 20 March 2006, in Mexico City. The session was held jointly with the United Nations University, the Comision Nacional del Agua (CONAGUA) and the Instituto Nacional de Estadistica Geografia e Informatica (INEGI). About 150 participants participated in the session. The participants reaffirmed an important role of information platform through which people could share knowledge and experience on water environment conservation. The “Recommendations from the Session”was produced as an output of the session.

Date& Time	20 March, 2006 (Monday) 14:30 - 16:30
Venue	The Banamex Center, Mexico City
Organisers	Ministry of the Environment, Japan Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) The United Nations University Comision Nacional del Agua (CONAGUA), Mexico Instituto Nacional de Estadistica Geografia e Informatica (INEGI), Mexico
Co-organiser	Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)
Language	English/Spanish/Japanese

Programme

Session Opening
Moderator: Dr. Futaba Kazama, University of Yamanashi, Japan

Opening Address
Dr. Yasuyuki Eda, Senior Vice Minister of the Environment, Japan

Keynote Address
"Importance of information for conservation of the water environment"

Dr. Motoyuki Suzuki, Special Programme Advisor, the United Nations University

Local Actions Presentation

Unified System for Basic Data on Water (LA 1608)
Mr. Juan Carlos Valencia Vargas, Manager of Hydraulic Planning, Comision Nacional del Agua (CONAGUA), Mexico

Development System of Economic and Ecological Accounts for Mexico: Environmental information for decision making: water accounting and ecological GDP (LA 0417)
Mr. Raul Figueroa Diaz, Coordinator of Environmental Accounts, Instituto Nacional de Estadistica Geografia e Informatica (INEGI), Mexico

Water Environment Partnership in Asia (WEPA) (LA 0084)
Dr. Mitsumasa Okada Executive Vice President, Hiroshima University, Japan

Expert Panel Discussion
Water Accounting and Information Platforms - the provision of information concerning the water environment and information sharing for its improvement
Coordinator: Dr. Mitsumasa Okada

- Dr. Hans J. A. van Ginkel, Rector, the United Nations University
- Mr. Francisco Takaki Takaki, Deputy General Director of Normativity, Instituto Nacional de Estadistica Geografia e Informatica (INEGI), Mexico
- Dr. Salmah Zakaria, Director, National Hydraulics Research Institute, Malaysia
- Dr. Motoyuki Suzuki, Special Programme Advisor, the United Nations University
- Dr. Arturo Flores Martinez, General Director of Statistics, Geography and Informatics, Secretaria del Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (SEMARNAT), Mexico

Questions and comments

Session conclusion
Dr. Hans J. A. van Ginkel
Dr. Mitsumasa Okada

Closing remarks
Mr.Mario Reyes Ibara, Instituto Nacional de Estadistica Geografia e Informatica (INEGI), Mexico

Recommendations from the session