NEWS

UN General Assembly Adopts Resolution Recognizing Access to Clean Water and Sanitation as Human Right

By a vote of 122 in favour to none against, with 41 abstentions, the UN General Assembly adopted on 28 July 2010 a resolution calling on States and international organizations to provide financial resources, build capacity and transfer technology, particularly to developing countries, in scaling up efforts to provide safe, clean, accessible and affordable drinking water and sanitation for all. The resolution “declares the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation as a human right that is essential for the full enjoyment of life and all human rights.”
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UN steps up flood relief in Pakistan

The United Nations is expanding its relief operations in Pakistan as the area inundated by flood waters continues to increase and the number of people affected by the disaster has climbed past 17 million. An area of more than 160,000 square kilometres – greater than the entire size of England, Bangladesh or Cuba – has now been ravaged by floods since exceptionally heavy monsoon rains began falling in Pakistan late last month. The number of people classed as significantly affected is almost 17.2 million, while about 1.2 million homes have been destroyed or badly damaged.
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Thousands displaced as massive floods in Pakistan spread to the South

The massive floods in Pakistan have spread to the southern province of Sindh, where hundreds of thousands of people are on the move after evacuating their inundated villages as humanitarian agencies continued to deliver relief supplies to millions of those affected. “The situation in Sindh is of high concern. The water now is in Sindh and entire cities have been evacuated,” said Maurizio Giuliano, spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), in an interview with UN Radio. “We have hundreds of thousands of people on the move [and] if we are not able to reach all those in need fast enough, there may be a spread of waterborne diseases” he added.
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Contribute to the UN World Water Development Report

In an ongoing effort to make the United Nations World Water Development Report more relevant to all of its target audiences, the World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP) is carrying out regular consultations with stakeholders from all fields to identify specific needs or issues and emerging challenge areas. WWAP has now opened registration to anyone who may be interested in the consultation process.
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Launch of the Millennium Development Goals Report 2010

The Millennium Development Goals Report 2010, launched on 23 June by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, shows that the world has made huge strides in reducing extreme poverty, tackling HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, and boosting access to clean drinking water, but is still lagging in other critical areas, such as improving maternal health and increasing access to decent sanitation.
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Release of UNW-DPAC annual activity report for 2009

The United Nations Office to Support the International Decade for Action ‘Water for Life’ 2005-2015, which implements the UN-Water Decade Programme on Advocacy and Communication (UNW-DPAC), presents its annual report of activities for 2009.
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EVENTS

8 September 2010: UN-Water dialogue session on ‘Sick water is threatening the MDGs: A stakeholder dialogue to address capacity development and communication needs’, Stockholm, Sweden

This session, convened by UN-Water at the Stockholm World Water Week, will bring together experts and stakeholders to discuss the current situation and challenges related to water quality and wastewater production and management. Specifically, it looks at the ways different agents can provide solutions and response options to improve water quality and ensure sustainable development. The discussion will build on the outcomes of ‘Sick Water. The central role of wastewater management in sustainable development’, a report produced by UNEP and UN-Habitat in March 2010.
> > Programme agenda [ - 198 KB]
> > Speakers profile [ - 264 KB]
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9 September 2010: Making the Case – Building Bridges between Water and Media, Stockholm, Sweden

Climate change gets coverage. Oils spills make front-page news. Yet, where are the water and sanitation stories, pictures, issues and people in the print, online, broadcast and social media? Most water, sanitation and development professionals, and probably some journalists, producers and managing editors, would answer, "Less present than they should be."
This session, jointly organized by UN-Water Decade Programme on Advocacy and Communication (UNW-DPAC), Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) and Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC) at the Stockholm World Water Week, will find out where the bottlenecks are in the communications from water and sanitation professionals to journalists, vice versa, and what can be done about them.
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21 September 2010: Sharing social tools: building a water operators’ community of practice, Montréal, Canada

As the main providers of drinking water to the world’s population, water operators have great power to communicate, show by example, and inspire their customers to act in solidarity towards common environmental and development goals. Increasingly, water operators are engaging in awareness-raising campaigns, international development, and corporate social responsibility efforts. During this UN-Water development corner session, that will take place at the 2010 IWA World Water Congress, different experiences, lessons learned and practices in this field with particular emphasis on strategies in poor and rural areas will be discussed.
> > Programme agenda [ - 250 KB]
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26 September 2010: World Rivers Day

World Rivers Day is a celebration of the world’s waterways. It highlights the many values of our rivers, strives to increase public awareness, and encourage the improved stewardship of all rivers around the world. Join the Celebration! Plan on attending an event near you or start a Rivers Day event on your own. Events can range from stream cleanups to educational outings and community riverside celebrations.
> > Access the official website

13-17 December 2010: Sustainable Water Management in Cities: engaging stakeholders for effective change and action, Zaragoza, Spain

This global meeting, jointly organized by the UN-Water Programme on Advocacy and Communication (UNW-DPAC), the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) , the SWITCH consortium, and the Zaragoza City Council, will bring together more than 200 experts, local government officials, media specialists, key water operators and political representatives of cities and stakeholder groups to discuss the issues and propose practical ways to move forward to meet the challenges of achieving water and sanitation for all, of disseminating results to a wider audience, and considering different development contexts and regional characteristics. The meeting is also an intermediary step in the preparation for World Water Day 2011, which focuses on the issue of urban water management.
> > Conference website

> > Archived events stories