India Water Foundation Annual Report 2015-16

During 2015-2016, the activities conducted by India Water Foundation (IWF) were greatly influenced by momentous international developments like adoption of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in September 2015 and the conclusion of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change in December 2015 along with other developments in water and environment sectors and partially by domestic developments in the wake of new initiatives undertaken by the Government of India during the period under review. The major activities conducted by IWF during the period under review pertained to imparting training programme in Geo-morphological mapping for water prospection in 12 states, IWF presentation at World Water Week organized by SIWI at Stockholm, publication of the report entitled SAARC Outlook for water-energy-food nexus approach in South Asia, in collaboration with SAARC Agriculture Centre based in Bangladesh, and expression of interest in Inland Waterways etc.

The international developments, inter alia, included: World Water Day 2015 along with the release of 2015 World Water Development Report (WWDR) with its theme on Water and Sustainable Development, adoption of the SDGS and conclusion of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. Interestingly, we at IWF have already been emphasizing on some of these themes of the SDGs and Climate Change agreement for past couple of years and we are committed to accord priority to these themes. Another notable international development having relevance for the IWF was the release of the Global Sustainable Development Report (GSDR) 2015, the only comprehensive, global report on sustainable development, which brings together a broad range of existing scientific assessments and reviews global progress and future sustainable development pathways in an integrated way, taking into account the perspectives of scientific communities across the globe.

The report examines the SDGs as an interlinked system, analyzing how the goals are interrelated through their targets, and how progress towards one goal may depend on and contribute to progress towards others. Such an integrated assessment of the SDGs and the post-2015 agenda will be a standard feature of future GSDRs. Of the various new missions launched by Government of India in 2015, three missions viz., Small Cities Mission, Accessible India Mission and LED-lighting Mission, have been of great significance because these directly bear relevance to the prominent SDGs and for that matter India Water Foundation, while supporting these initiatives, has also recurrently expressed its eagerness to cooperate with the concerned ministries/departments of the Government of India as Development Partner in implementing these initiatives. F India Water Foundation Page 4 In the aftermath of the adoption of the SDGs and conclusion of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, IWF’s priority is on getting the major components of these two momentous international agreements integrated into the national policies of the country and build capacities of the people in this regard, with specific emphasis on SDG-1 on about Ending Poverty, SDG-2 about Food Security, SDG-6 about Water & Sanitation, SDG-7 about Energy and SDG-13 about combating Climate Change. While welcoming the various initiatives launched by Government of India, especially six missions viz., Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao, Skill Development Scheme, Digital India, Small Cities Mission, Accessible India Mission and LED-lighting Mission, the IWF has expressed its willingness and cooperation to cooperate effectively, especially in capacity building. The other activities carried out by IWF have been enumerated in this report. It gives me tremendous pleasure to inform through this report that India Water Foundation (IWF) has been granted Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations (UN-ECOSOC) since April 2016.

This has enabled us to get actively engaged with ECOSOC and its subsidiary bodies, as well as with the United Nations Secretariat, programmes, funds and agencies in a number of ways. Undoubtedly, grant of the Special Consultative Status to the IWF is a matter of pride for us at IWF because it is recognition of our yeoman contribution to the society for about a decade now; nevertheless, it bequeaths on us greater responsibility to perform our task with more diligence and dedication. It gives us enormous pleasure in presenting this annual report to our patrons, well-wishers, colleagues and the general public.

We wish to convey our gratitude to all those who stood with us in accomplishing our tasks despite all odds and hope to continue to enjoy their trust and affection.

Dr Arvind Kumar

Chairman, India water Foundation

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