This is as true for the United States as it is for other countries. This effort takes a regional approach towards watershed management, and it links land-based activities and protection of the catchments in order to address water quality and quantity issues as the most cost effective approach to water issues. Our approach is also built on partnerships. We must have partnerships between humans and nature, on the one hand, and partnerships across the various sectors which use or impact water resources, on the other hand. These partnerships need to link the environmental, social and economic aspects of water.
Agriculture is an example.
In the United States, we are supporting education and action programs to increase the awareness and the implementation of programs to protect wetlands and catchments, to control erosion and to reduce pollution. This initiative links our efforts in other sectors to the protection of human health by improving the quality of both drinking water and fish. These efforts are also linked to protecting and restoring natural heritage of areas in the US, such as the Everglades. The report which will be prepared by our two co-chairs from this meeting shall stress ways in which govenments and the international community can take practical steps, using a watershed and river basin approach, to integrate the sectors using water. We will also emphasize partnership with the communities, state and local governments that manage and use water.