During a keynote speech at the sixth World Water Forum held in Marseille, France, South Korean Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik stressed the need for active global cooperation in tackling water problems to better utilize the limited resource. "Despite decades of global efforts to solve water issues, the world has been witnessing more serious water-related natural disasters," Kim said, as reported by Yonhap. "Under the circumstances, joint efforts and active cooperation among global players are required to deal with and adapt to climate change, the main cause of such disasters," he added, citing the government's 'four-river refurbishment project,' thanks to which South Korea saw a 90 percent reduction in damage by floods last year compared to 2006.