Remarks at the Istanbul Water Arena | 17 June 2009

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Remarks at the Istanbul Water Arena

17 June 2009

Mehmet Ogutcu

Introduction:

I am honored to address this forum. I will not stand long between you and your meal, but I do hope to offer some appetizing food for thought by describing to you a revolutionary discovery that will substantially increase the “fresh water available for beneficial us” in the water balance calculations of most countries worldwide.  This new perspective on deep groundwater resources, called “Megawatershed” represents a paradigm shift in the field of water resource conceptualization and assessment and which has profound implications on the closely related topics of Water Economics and Geopolitics in the 21^st Century.

A discussion of these topics are especially timely given fact that the 5th World Water Forum was held in Istanbul in 2009. At that meeting, WWF Secretary General Dr. Oktay Tabasaran announced the Forum’s theme as: “Bridging Divides for Water” and went on to explain that the theme “…is built around an acknowledgement of the fact that Istanbul is located at the geographical crossroads between Europe and Asia, the Middle East and Africa, North and South; among various water cultures; between rich and poor, between developed and developing regions of the world.”

Dr. Tabasaran also said “Most importantly, this theme also calls upon the international water community to make concrete proposals so that “better management of the resource may contribute to achieving the entirety of the Millennium Development Goals.”

Click for more:  SPEECH draft 8 may2009