The Heinrich Boell Foundation and the National Wildlife Federation co-hosted a conference on "Water: A Key Issue for Sustainable Development – For Johannesburg and Beyond" in Washington, DC, on 16 April 2002. R. Andreas Kraemer spoke on the emerging water policy framework in Europe, its likely effect on water management, and lessons for other part of the world.

Although Agenda 21 establishes principles for protecting the quality and supply of freshwater resources, the world's freshwater resources are becoming more polluted and degraded, freshwater ecosystems are disappearing at an alarming rate, and an increasing number of people lack access to potable water and sanitation. From this analysis, the hosting organizations convened a panel on:

• The Linkages among Poverty, Sustainable Development and Water
• Coordinating and Financing Sustainable Water Management
• The Next Steps: Johannesburg and Beyond

R. Andreas Kraemer spoke in the first panel, which examined:

• current initiatives and proposals for improving water security (including meeting the needs of local food security);
• protection of basic water needs to maintain healthy freshwater ecosystems and meet the basic needs of people;
• development of an integrated water management policy framework;
• exclusion of water and services from international and bilateral treaties and investment agreements;
• pros and cons of models for sustainable water management (European Water Framework directive, South African Water Policy Framework).

The presentation of R. Andreas Kraemer is available for download [pdf, 40 KB, English].