Unquestionably, the World Water Forum in The Hague was the biggest and the most important water meeting since the United Nations Water Conference was held in Mar de Plata in March 1977.
The World Water Forum was an event of the World Water Council (WWC), the idea of which was first put forward by Prof Asit K. Biswas and Brian Grover within the International Water Resources Association.
The Forum was strongly supported organizationally and financially by the Government of the Netherlands. Some 4,600 participants from all over the world registered for this event.
The centerpiece of the Forum was the report of the World Commission on Water for the 21st Century, and the numerous activities that were preparatory components to this report. For the first time in the history of the world, an independent and impartial Commission looked at water holistically, futuristically, and comprehensively on a global basis.
By Asit K. Biswas, 2000. Editorial published in Water International, Volume 25, Number 2, Pages 280-283. DOI: 10.1080/02508060008686830