The purpose of the Forum is to advance sustainable development implementation by strengthening and fostering water and energy related partnerships. The 2nd Forum will build upon outcomes from other international partnership discussions, including the 1st International Forum on Partnerships for Sustainable Development (March 2004 in Rome, Italy) and the 12th Session of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD-12, April 2004 in UNHQ, New York). Forum outcomes will be presented during CSD-13 in New York, April 11-22, 2005.

The Forum aims to highlight key elements of sustainable development partnerships related to water and energy. Elements include, using innovative partnership approaches to overcome constraints in implementing water and energy related goals; establishing new and strengthening existing partnerships, particularly in developing countries; sharing lessons learned and best practices in the partnering process (e.g. building, managing, and resource partnerships, etc.).

The forum will also provide networking opportunities and showcase partnerships that work, including through an exposition. For more information go to Forum Announcement.

Seed Award Finalists Announced
November 17, 2004--The twelve finalists of the first biennial Supporting Entrepreneurs for Environment and Development (Seed) Awards were announced at the 3^rd IUCN World Conservation Congress in Bangkok. The finalist partnerships were chosen for their potential to spur economic growth, social development and environmental stewardship at the local level.

The partnerships tackle a range of economic, environmental and social issues from malnutrition to water provision, biodiversity of medicinal plants to fishing stock depletion. Partnerships are involved in each region of the world. What they have in common is their innovative and entrepreneurial approach--addressing challenges while creating jobs and improving livelihoods.

United States joined the Seed Initiative on September 7, 2004. The Seed Initiative, a voluntary partnership, encourages local partnerships by assisting new development solutions to community challenges. "Partnerships, such as Seed, are vital to helping local communities improve the quality of their citizens' lives and can make an important contribution to the world community's efforts to achieve development goals," stated Under Secretary Dobriansky. Seed originally announced at the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), Seed will link large and small entrepreneurs from all parts of the world to build local ability to support the outcomes from the WSSD and internationally agreed goals contained in the Millennium Declaration.

Aside from the award program, the Seed Initiative also works to provide lessons-learned and best practices resource for other partnerships. It also showcases selected partnerships on their website, http://www.seedint.org/.

For more information see State Department Media Note and Seed Initiative press release; Seed Initiative press release in Spanish.

Global Village Energy Partnership Announces Selection of New Host and Program Manager
On August 11^th, Paul Hassing, Chair of the Global Village Energy Partnership Board, announced the selection of the Intermediate Technology Development Group (ITDG) as the new host for the GVEP Technical Secretariat. In addition, Dr. Abeeku Brew Hammond was named as the GVEP Program Manager, and will begin his new responsibilities on September 1, 2004. As the GVEP Program Manager, Dr. Hammond will be responsible for providing strategic planning and guidance support for the GVEP Technical Secretariat, as well as developing and ensuring the successful implementation of the GVEP work program. Dr. Hammond is the former director of the Ghana-based Kumasi Institute of Technology & Environment and an Associate Professor at Ghana's Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.

Dr. Griff Thompson, GVEP Board member and lead of the transition search committee, called the announcement an "historic time for GVEP", having selected a strong host organization and superb Program Manager. He also thanked Judy Siegel, who has served as the interim Program Manager, for her "excellent" work and support to the Board through the transitional period, and added that Ms. Siegel will continue to assist GVEP as lead of the Financing Facilitation Service Line.

Dr. Thompson thanked the World Bank, and in particular Ms. Dominique Lallement for hosting GVEP through the start up phase. Thompson noted that the Bank had been instrumental in the launch of GVEP and a major contributor to the Partnership's substantial progress to date.

Jamal Saghir, Director Energy and Water at the World Bank, and GVEP Board member said the Bank had been pleased to host the GVEP Secretariat until a the Board identified a more permanent home. He also repeated the Bank's continued support to the Partnership.

GVEP aims to reduce poverty and enhance economic and social development for millions around the world by bringing together developing and industrialized country governments, public and private organizations, multilateral institutions, consumers and others in an effort to ensure access to modern energy services by the poor.

• National action plan development and implementation in 18 countries in Africa, Latin America and Asia.
• Programs linked to the delivery of energy services to more than 20 million people.
• Training programs for entrepreneurs, microfinance organizations and financial institution officers.
• Shifting of host country government, private sector, NGO, and donor funding from electrification alone to broader energy-poverty and modern energy service delivery issues.

For more information about the partnership, see http://www.sdp.gov/sdp/initiative/cei/28305.htm. 

Safe Water System
In its July 21 edition, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) highlighted the Safe Water System (SWS) partnership's successful efforts in 15 countries to reduce waterborne diseases in children under five and in other vulnerable populations. JAMA observed that, “[The Safe Water System] illustrates how the developed world's financial and technical resources can work in tandem with local authorities in resource poor nations where millions become ill and die each year from waterborne diseases.” For more details on this article link to JAMA article. For more information on Safe Water System, visit their fact sheet.

The Safe Water System partnership -- which includes U.S. Government agencies, health ministries in 17 developing countries, international organizations, the private sector, and civil society organizations -- has distributed or sold at low cost more than eight million bottles of disinfectant solution. Each bottle can typically treat enough water to meet one person's drinking and cooking needs for six months. Coupled with safer water storage and improved hygiene practices, the Safe Water System has been shown to dramatically reduce the risk of diarrhea, typically by about one-half.”

2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development
At the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg, South Africa, the U.K. and the U.S. launched the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP) and the Clean Energy Initiative, respectively. On April 28, 2004, the United Kingdom's Secretary of State Margaret Beckett and the United States of America's Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs Paula Dobriansky announced their joining of each other's partnership. At the signing ceremony, Under Secretary Dobriansky commented that, “By joining forces, our respective initiatives will be better able to demonstrate in real ways how renewable energy and energy efficiency can make the vision of sustainable development become a reality. Through our alliances we will illuminate homes, classrooms, and factories, provide water for health and agriculture ends, and ignite economic growth in both rural villages and urban municipalities.”

Global Information for Sustainable Development
GISD combines a variety of information technologies, including satellite images and geographic information systems, to enable government agencies and local communities to better address sustainable development challenges. For example, the GISD partnership helps countries use geospatial information to better respond to all phases of natural disasters, including prediction, preparedness, response, and recovery. This image, from the Famine Early Warning Systems Network, shows the extent and severity of floods affecting human populations (areas in blue) in the Lower Limpopo Basin of Mozambique. The U.S. Agency for International Development has continued to support GISD through EIS-Africa which co-sponsored the successful 10th Africa GIS conference in Dakar, Senegal, in November 2003. For more information, please go to http://www.sdp.gov/sdp/initiative/gisd/28311.htm

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