The focus of the last of three ISC meetings in preparation for the Bonn2011 Nexus Conference was on linking the conference content with global policy processes. Besides the current status of the Bonn preparations, another key point for discussion at the two-day meeting was the possible conference results.
As at the first two meetings of the ISC, the two-day meeting in Mayschoss near Bonn was jointly chaired by Uschi Eid, deputy chair of the UN Secretary General's Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation (UNSGAB) and Albert Butare, former Minister of Energy and Water of the Republic of Rwanda, and currently chairman of the board of Fatracs Co Limited.
The organising committee began with a review of the current status of preparations for the conference with the international experts. Central aspects were again the subject matter of the conference, its structure and formats, and the composition of participants. Subsequently, Johan Kuylenstierna, director of the Stockholm Environment Institute's Stockholm Centre, gave participants an overview of the current state of scientific discussion. The SEI is drawing up the background paper for the conference based on this, in broad cooperation with partners. It became clear in this connection that the nexus theme is gaining in importance among the international scientific community as well.
The agenda also included the contributions generated by the satellite discussions and the multi-stakeholder dialogue. Representatives of the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), the Global Water Partnership (GWP) and the UN Water and Stakeholder Forum for a Sustainable Future presented their various points of view on the nexus, and gave the organisers of the Bonn conference their feedback on the current status of preparations.
At the end of the first day, participants discussed possible policy recommendations, which will be a key result of the Bonn2011 Nexus Conference. The organisers were assisted here by Jeremy Bird, former director of the Secretariat of the Mekong River Commission.
On the second day, participants looked at possible initiatives for solving existing problems at the intersection of the three sectors water, energy and food security. Besides policy recommendations, these form another goal for the conference.
Finally, the international experts came together again to discuss possible points of contact with the 2012 UN Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro ("Rio+20"). The results of the Bonn2011 Nexus Conference will be a major German contribution to this central event in the international development and environmental debate.