Freshwater: Interagency Activities
UN Water -
United Nations Interagency coordination
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 new official 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.
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 (22 March) and the United Nations Decade
on Water 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 The ACC machinery has been replaced by the United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.
International Decade for Action 'Water for Life', 2005 - 2015
As the International Decade for Action 'Water for Life', 2005 - 2015
begins, the United Nations and Governments are seeking to galvanise efforts to meet the internationally agreed targets of halving the number of people without access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation by 2015. Ministers and government delegates will meet in April 2005 in New York to take policy decisions on practical measures and options to accelerate progress toward these and other water-related goals at the Commission for Sustainable Development’s 13th session.
The United Nations International Decade for Action 'Water for Life', 2005 - 2015, launched on World Water Day (22 March 2005), calls upon the international community to strengthen efforts to increase access to water and sanitation for all. The decision to establish this Decade was made by the General Assembly during its 58th annual session
(A/RES/58/217). This is the second international decade on water-related issues under the auspices of the United Nations. The first, the
International Decade on Drinking Water Supply and
Sanitation, was held from 1981 to 1990.
World Water Day (22 March)
World Water Day 2005 (22 March) is guided by the new
water decade's theme "Water for Life" and is the starting day for the
new International Decade on Water 2005 - 2015.
UN Water is responsible for organizing the annual United Nations World Water
Day (22 March) and choosing each year's theme. The United Nations
General Assembly adopted resolution A/RES/47/193
of 22 December 1992 by which 22 March of each year is declared World Day
for Water, starting in 1993, in conformity with the recommendations of
the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED)
contained in Chapter 18 (Fresh Water Resources) of Agenda 21.
United
Nations Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan used the
observance of World Water Day in 2004 to announce the establishment of
an
Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation, to galvanize global action
on these issues as part of international efforts to eradicate poverty
and achieve sustainable development.
Former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto of Japan serves
as Chair of the Board, which includes a wide range of eminent persons,
technical experts, and other individuals with proven experience in
inspiring people, moving the machinery of government, and working with
the media, the private sector and civil society. The Board will be using
the unique expertise of its members to raise awareness of water and
sanitation issues, to help mobilize funds for water and sanitation
projects, and to encourage new partnerships.
World Water
Assessment Programme
Under the auspices of
UN
Water, the system-wide World Water Assessment Programme develops the
tools and skills needed to achieve a better understanding of basic
processes, management practices and policies that will help improve the
supply and quality of global freshwater resources.
The WWAP secretariat is hosted by UNESCO on behalf of UN
Water. Its main output is The World Water Development Report (WWDR), a
periodic, comprehensive review providing an authoritative picture of the
state of the world's freshwater resources, and aiming to serve
decision-makers with the tools for sustainable use and management of
freshwater. Coordinated by the World Water Assessment Programme, the
report is the result of the collaboration of twenty-three UN agencies
and convention secretariats and lays the foundations for regular,
system-wide monitoring and reporting by the UN, together with
development of standardized methodologies and data. The second edition
of this report, Water, A Shared Responsibility, was launched on World
Water Day (March 22nd) 2006 at the Fourth World Water Forum in Mexico.
The
International Year of Freshwater 2003
Interagency Task Force on Gender and Water
(TFGW)
As part of the activities of
the International Year of Freshwater 2003, a new interagency Task
Force on Gender and Water was created to facilitate gender mainstreaming
in water-related United Nations policies and planning. The Task Force
unites gender and water focal points from
eighteen UN agencies, five non-UN entities and two observers. The
Water, Natural Resources and SIDS Branch of the
Division for
Sustainable Development functions as Task Manager of the Interagency
Task Force.
The Task Force promotes the integration of a gender perspective:
More information about the Interagency Task Force on Gender and Water,
including its latest report and the list of its current members, can be
found here.
Background information on gender and water:
E-Network on Strategic
Planning and Management of Water Resources in the Asia and the
Pacific Region: An FAO-UNESCAP Initiative
The E-Network on Strategic Planning and Management of Water
Resources in Asia and the Pacific is a joint initiative of the FAO
Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific and the United Nations
Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP).
The E-Network represents an effort to bring the world water vision
to the regional and national levels in the Asia and the Pacfic
Region through the partnership of UNESCAP and FAO, born from their
very complementary mandates, programmes and fields of expertise.
The mission of the regional E-network is to promote implementation
of strategic planning and management (SPM) methodologies for
effective integrated land and water resources management towards
socio-economic development in an environmentally sound manner.
The E-network envisages well-informed, multi-disciplinary and
multi-stakeholder decision-making processes that should result in
more sustainable practices, strategies and policies to manage land
and water resources, and mitigate disasters.
The E-network is thus aimed at providing the background knowledge
and a neutral meeting place for the exchange of experiences on the
use of SPM methodologies for approaching regional challenges on
integrated land and water resources management.
In its initial stage, the E-Network made a soft launch at the Second
Southeast Asia Water Forum held in Bali, Indonesia at the end of
August 2005. It is now planned to link directly to the process of
preparation for the Fourth World Water Forum (WWF4) through the WWF4
Virtual Workshop Website to promote integrated water resources
management (IWRM). Similarly, this initiative is also in the process
of establishing partnerships with other key stakeholders in Asia and
the Pacific, including: UNEP Collaborating Centre on Water and
Environment (UCC-Water), Japan Water Forum, Mekong River Commission
(MRC), Korea Water Forum, Asian Development Bank (ADB), Interstate
Coordination Water Commission of Central Asia (ICWC), Malaysia Water
Partnership, South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission (SOPAC),
International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and the Network of
Asian River Basin Organizations (NARBO), among others.
FAO and UNESCAP welcome and encourage water stakeholders and
professionals in the region to join and participate in the
E-Network. For more information please
visit or
contact.
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