The 3rd United Nations World Water Development Report: Water in a Changing World (WWDR-3)

The news media are full of talk of crises – in climate change, energy and food and troubled financial markets. These crises are linked to each other and to water resources management. Unresolved, they may lead to increasing political insecurity and conflict.

Water is required to meet our fundamental needs and rising living standards and to sustain our planet’s fragile ecosystems. Pressures on the resource come from a growing and mobile population, social and cultural change, economic development and technological change. Adding complexity and risk is climate change, with impacts on the resource as well as on the sources of pressure on water.

The challenges, though substantial, are not insurmountable. The Report shows how some countries have responded. Progress in providing drinking water is heartening, with the Millennium Development Goal target on track in most regions. But other areas remain unaddressed, and after decades of inaction, the problems in water systems are enormous and will worsen if left unattended.

Leaders in the water sector can inform decisions outside their domain and manage water resources to achieve agreed socioeconomic objectives and environmental integrity. Leaders in government, the private sector and civil society determine these objectives and allocate human and financial resources to meet them. Recognizing this responsibility, they must act now!

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UNESCO ISBN: 978-9-23104-095-5
Earthscan ISBN: 978-1-84407-840-0

PREFACE
In 1999 the United Nations system resolved to issue regular editions of The United Nations World Water Development Report. An expert group, convened by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, developed recommendations for the objectives and targeted audience of the report (box 1).

The first edition, The United Nations World Water Development Report: Water for People, Water for Life, was released in March 2003 at the 3rd World Water Forum in Kyoto, Japan. The second, Water, a Shared Responsibility, was released in March 2006 at the 4th World Water Forum in Mexico City. The first report provided an inaugural assessment of progress since the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro. Both reports were based on key challenge areas (such as water for food, water for energy, and challenges for governance). Stand-alone assessments were prepared by UN agencies. The assessments included pilot case studies on which the Report drew in developing appropriate assessment methodologies and lessons learned.

This third edition embraces a holistic structure and focuses on the second objective established by the expert group – to accelerate coverage and investments for basic human water needs (drinking water supply, sanitation and health, food security, mitigation of floods and droughts and prevention of conflicts), giving priority to developing countries. ...

OVERVIEW
The amount of freshwater on Earth is finite, but its distribution has varied considerably, driven mainly by natural cycles of freezing and thawing and fluctuations in precipitation, water runoff patterns and evapotranspiration levels. That situation has changed, however. Alongside natural causes are new and continuing human activities that have become primary ‘drivers’ of the pressures affecting our planet’s water systems. These pressures are most often related to human development and economic growth.

History shows a strong link between economic development and water resources development. There are abundant examples of how water has contributed to economic development and how development has demanded increased harnessing of water. Such benefits came at a cost and in some places led to increasing pressure on the environment and increasing competition among users. Our requirements for water to meet our fundamental needs and our collective pursuit of higher living standards, coupled with the need for water to sustain our planet’s fragile ecosystems, make water unique among our planet’s natural resources.

Important decisions affecting water management are made outside the water sector and are driven by external, largely unpredictable drivers – demography, climate change, the global economy, changing societal values and norms, technological innovation, laws and customs, and financial markets. Many of these external drivers are dynamic and changing at a faster pace.

Developments outside the water domain influence water management strategies and policies. Decisions in other sectors and those related to development, growth and livelihoods need to incorporate water as an integral component, including responses to climate change, food and energy challenges and disaster management. The analysis of these issues leads to a set of responses and recommendations for action that incorporate the contribution of water to sustainable development. ...

ABOUT UN-WATER
UN-Water is a mechanism with 25 member agencies to strengthen coordination and coherence among all United Nations bodies that deal with freshwater issues: from water supply, sanitation and health to climate, food, energy, environment, disasters and sustainable water resources management for socioeconomic development.

Established in 2003 by the High-Level Committee on Programmes of the United Nations, it evolved from many years of close collaboration among UN agencies. UN-Water is not another agency; through task forces and programmes led and hosted by various members, it adds value to existing activities and fosters cooperation and information sharing among UN agencies and stakeholder representatives.

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