International Decade for Action 'Water for Life' 2005-2015

IN FOCUS

The United Nations Office to Support the International Decade for Action "Water for Life" 2005-2015/UN-Water Decade Programme on Advocacy and Communication (UNW-DPAC) and the UN World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP) are pleased to announce the opening of the 4th edition of the ’Water for Life’ UN-Water Best Practices Award.

The purpose of the Award is to promote efforts to fulfil international commitments made on water and water-related issues by 2015 through recognition of outstanding best practices that can ensure the long-term sustainable management of water resources and contribute to the achievement of internationally agreed goals and targets contained in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Agenda 21 and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation.

The Award is open to projects or programmes achieving particularly effective results in the field of water management or in raising awareness in water issues.

The prize is awarded yearly in two categories, one in ’best water management practices’ and another one in ’best participatory, communication, awareness-raising and education practices’.

This edition’s focus is on Water and Energy as World Water Day 2014 is dedicated to this important issue. Application period is open from 21 June to 15 September 2013.

>> More information

NEWS

UN Secretary-General appoints Prince of Jordan chairman of UNSGAB

18 June 2013 – On 10 June 2013, UN Secretary-General appointed His Royal Highness Prince El Hassan Bin Talal of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan as the new Chairman of his Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation. (UNSGAB).

World Tourism Day Essay Competition

10 June 2013 – On the occasion of this year's World Tourism Day (WTD) celebrations on 27 September, the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) is organizing the first ever WTD Essay Competition! Considering water as both a tourism resource and an asset, the essay should stress the importance of water planning and sustainable management as a powerful instrument for tourism development and green growth in the tourism sector. Furthermore, the essay should target a wide audience and is expected to be easy and engaging to read. Participate! Deadline closes on 30 June 2013.

Tourism and Water is the theme for World Tourism Day 2013

6 June 2013 – In line with the 2013 United Nations International Year of Water Cooperation, the 2013 theme for World Tourism Day, celebrated on 27 September, is 'Tourism and Water: Protecting our Common Future'. Clean, accessible water is vital to tourism, running most of the sector´s businesses, from hotels and restaurants to leisure facilities and transportation. More importantly, wetland tourism is growing, with many of the world's coastlines, lakes and other wetlands among the most popular tourism destinations.

>> Official website

UN-Water Vacancy: Communications Manager

6 June 2013 - UN-Water is seeking to appoint a Communications Manager to support all its corporate media and communications activities, and act as the facilitator and catalyser of all other activities in the "federated" system of UN-Water communications. Apply by 25 June 2013.
>> Application details

LatinoSan 2013 concludes with the signature of the Panama Declaration

3 June 2013 – The 3rd Latin American and Caribbean Sanitation Conference, LatinoSan 2013, which has taken place in Panama City from 29 to 31 May 2013, has concluded with the signature of the Panama Declaration. In the Declaration, delegates from the region agree to establish a Regional Meeting of Ministries of Sanitation every 2 years, a Secretary in charge of following-up on agreements from these meetings and a Latin-American and Caribbean Observatory on Sanitation among others.
>> Panama Declaration Available in Spanish PDF document
>> National reports

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (right) receives report of the High-level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda from co-Chair President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of Indonesia.

High Level Panel includes universal access to water and sanitation in Post-2015 agenda

31 May 2013 – The High Level Panel on the Post-2015 Development Agenda established by UN Secretary General released 'A New Global Partnership: Eradicate Poverty and Transform Economies through Sustainable Development', a report which sets out a universal agenda to eradicate extreme poverty from the face of the earth by 2030, and deliver on the promise of sustainable development. Among the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) considered, SDG6 aims at achieving universal access to water and sanitation.
>> Access the High-level panel report PDF document
>> Executive summary in different languages

>> Archived news stories

EVENTS

2013 Budapest Water Summit: The Role of Water and Sanitation in the Global Sustainable Development Agenda

Date: 8-11 October 2013
Place: Budapest, Hungary
Organizers: Government of Hungary in collaboration with the World Water Council and UNESCO
The objective of this high-level summit is to take stock of the various developments, in and outside the UN system, in preparing water-related goals for the post Rio+20 development agenda. The expected outcome is one overarching SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely) Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) on water and sanitation that corresponds and responds to multidimensional challenges.

High-Level Conference on Water Cooperation

Organizers: Government of Tajikistan in collaboration with UN agencies
Date: 20-21 August 2013
Place: Dushanbe, Tajikistan

The main objective of this Conference is to contribute to the improvement of water cooperation, in particular at transboundary level, by promoting successful policies, best practices and wider public participation, and encouraging policy makers to promote water cooperation at all levels in order to achieve internationally agreed goals on water. The conference will also provide an opportunity to discuss and develop new measures aimed at accelerating efforts towards the MDGs and recommendations for further action after 2015.

Meeting of Experts on Tariff and Regulatory Policies in the framework of the MDGs and Human Right to Water and Sanitation Available in Spanish

Date: 8 July 2013
Place: Santiago, Chile
Organizers: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (UNECLAC)
The objectives of this meeting are: to analyze current development issues on the water and sanitation sector, including those related to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), regulation and supervision challenges under a public model of water services, regional trends, the state of the art on tariff policies and implications of the recognition of the human right to water and sanitation; exchange experiences between regulatory organisations in the region; and define future working priorities with a focus on new themes.
>> Programme agenda Available in Spanish

Workshop on transboundary water cooperation. Latin American and Pan-European regions: sharing experiences and learning from each other

Date: 11-12 June 2013
Place: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Organizers: United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), among others

This workshop will offer a forum for debating the current state of water cooperation, the progress achieved and the prevailing challenges, as well as for sharing lessons learned and good practices for cooperation on transboundary waters in the Latin American and Caribbean region and the UNECE region.

>> Archived events stories