The 2nd Children's World Water Forum

The 2nd Children’s World Water Forum, which took place at the 4th World Water Forum in Mexico City from the 16th – 22nd March 2006, was a landmark children’s meeting on water, survival and education.

© UNICEF/2006/Ariel Carlomagno

Participants at the Children’s World Water Forum in Mexico meet with journalists.

One hundred and seven young water activists from 29 countries across the world met government ministers to discuss how children can help solve the world’s growing water crisis.

Involving children in discussions about water and sanitation policy is important for many reasons:

• Lack of safe water and basic sanitation is a crisis for over 400 million children. Ordinary diarrhoea sickens more children than any other disease, and kills more than 4,500 every day.
• Lack of safe water and basic sanitation also costs many children their education, particularly girls.  Millions of children will miss school days because of waterborne illnesses or inadequate school facilities.
• As children suffer, so do nations.  Illness and low education rates cost developing countries billions in lost productivity every year.
• Finding solutions means starting with children.  Meeting the needs of children is the most certain way to reduce the high cost of water deprivation worldwide – and children themselves are already leading the way!