Παρασκευή 22 Μαρτίου 2013

Live webcast of the official World Water Day ...


Live webcast of the official World Water Day event, The Hague, Netherlands

Water Cooperation is everyone’s business

http://wa1.www.unesco.org/new/typo3temp/pics/9354c86a26.jpg

Water cooperation is an imperative, not a choice. This is the message delivered by UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova at today’s official World Water Day celebrations in The Hague (Netherlands).
One month after the launch of the International Year of Water Cooperation at UNESCO Headquarters (11 February), the celebrations in The Hague highlight the importance of such cooperation. The event also seeks to ensure the issue is given priority on the international community’s post-2015 development agenda.
            High level participants at the event included Prince Willem-Alexander of Orange from the Netherlands, Prince El Hassan Bin Talal of Jordan, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of Liberia and Michel Jarraud, Chairperson of UN Water. They were joined by international experts, decision-makers and representatives from intergovernmental organizations and civil society.
            In her opening address, the Director-General recalled that 90 percent of the world’s population lives in countries that must share water resources with their neighbours.  Cooperation, she said, “is more than a technical or scientific issue,” it is also “about fighting poverty and protecting the environment”.
             “Too often,” she added, “people think water cooperation is only the concern of States. This is not enough. Water cooperation must happen at all levels – from the local to the global […] This concerns governments and the private sector, it concerns all of us.”
            2013 was proclaimed International Year of Water Cooperation, by the United Nations General Assembly. Cooperation is also the theme of World Water Day, celebrated each 22 March. At the request of UN Water, UNESCO was given responsibility for preparing celebrations for both the Year and the Day.

Water Cooperation is everyone’s business

” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in his message for the Day.

World Water Day: UN urges greater cooperation on common and fragile resource

22 March 2013 – Greater cooperation is urgently needed for more equitable use and division of water, senior United Nations officials today stressed, marking the twentieth anniversary of World Water Day.
“Water is a common resource. Let us use it more intelligently and waste less so all get a fair share,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in his message for the Day.
In separate remarks at the high-level dialogue on water cooperation in New York, Mr. Ban reiterated that “competition is growing among farmers and herders, industry and agriculture, town and country, upstream and downstream, and across borders.”
One out of every three people lives in a country with moderate to high water stress, he said, and by 2030 nearly half the global population could be facing water scarcity, with demand outstripping supply by 40 per cent due in part to climate change and the needs of populations that are growing in size and prosperity.

22 March 2013

World Water Day celebrations and High Level Forum

The Hague, Netherlands
22 March 2013

Official celebrations of World Water Day will be hosted on 22 March 2013 by the Government of The Netherlands in The Hague. The programme of the day includes inspirational speeches, presentations, panel and thematic discussions, and a series of public shows on the theme of water cooperation.

High-Level Interactive Dialogue of the 67th session of the UNGA

United Nations Headquarters, New York
22 March 2013

Taking place in the context of current discussions on the Post-2015 development framework and the process of developing a set of SDGs, the main objective of the event is to identify and discuss water-related challenges and key areas which in the future will require stronger political support and international cooperation.

Did you know?

There are 276 transboundary river basins in the world (64 transboundary river basins in Africa, 60 in Asia, 68 in Europe, 46 in North America and 38 in South America). More facts and figures >>



Virtual drought hits Farmerama on World Water Day!
Online farmers around the world were shocked to find their fields dry and their animals thirsty as they logged on to their Farmerama account on 22 March. There is no water this day on Farmerama! This initiative marks World Water Day and intends to raise awareness of issues of water scarcity.

Discover YUNGA's Water Challenge Badge


  http://www.unwater.org/fileadmin/user_upload/watercooperation2013/slider/large_image.jpg
This booklet is intended as a guide for teachers and youth leaders. Take it and explore, play and discover – and while you’re having fun, maybe you can even come up with some clever ways to help preserve water in your homes.