UN-Water

The United Nations System Chief Executive Board for Coordination (CEB), on the recommendation of its High-level Committee on Programmes (HLCP), endorsed UN Water in 2003 as the newofficial United Nations system-wide inter-agency mechanism for follow-up of the water-related decisions reached at the World Summit on Sustainable Development 2002 and the Millennium Development Goals. CEB mandate for UN Water [CEB/2003/2]

UN Water's objective is to facilitate effective support to Member States towards their achievement of water and sanitation-related, time-bound goals, targets and actions as agreed by the international community. To this end, UN Water acts at global, regional and country levels by: (a) building on and adding value to the work and expertise of UN agencies and programmes, ensuring coherence and integration among them and serving as a common voice of the UN system on water and sanitation; (b) facilitating communication and cooperation with external partners and (c) providing timely, policy-relevant information on status and trends of the world's freshwater resources.

UN Water is also responsible for organizing the annual United Nations World Water Day and the UN International Decade for Action 'Water for Life'  2005 - 2015.

Until 2001, the former ACC Subcommittee on Water Resources served as focal point for United Nations system-wide coordination in the area of water resources. The ACC machinery has been replaced by the United Nations System Chief Executives Board (CEB) for Coordination.