Ambitious water assessment programme presented on occasion of world day for water

Paris, March 22
On the occasion of World Day for Water celebrated today UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura presented an ambitious United Nations World Water Assessment Programme, to be hosted by UNESCO.

Speaking at the close of the Second World Water Forum in The Hague, the Netherlands, Mr Matsuura announced the United Nations system-wide initiative which will publish a World Water Development Report in two years' time. It will feature a global analysis of fresh water resources and examine progress achieved towards meeting the water-related objectives set in Agenda 21, adopted at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. The Report will be updated every two years.

The Report will be the central product of a larger UN World Water Assessment Programme, a comprehensive initiative to assist developing countries to improve their monitoring, assessment and reporting capacity, with particular focus on water quality, human health and river basin management. Mr Matsuura announced that the Programme will develop a global freshwater assessment methodology, and establish a water information network.

As well as hosting the secretariat of the new UN system initiative, UNESCO will set its operational stage, the Director-General said, inviting all donors - governments, the international financial institutions and bilateral donors, the private sector and non-governmental organisations - to contribute to this initiative.

Mr Matsuura explained the thinking behind the initiative: "Galileo's remark - that we know more about the movement of celestial bodies than about the water that we see before our eyes - still holds true today. Many scientific challenges remain: accurate assessment of water resources, of groundwater recharge rates, floods and baseflows. Hydrology, the basic science of the water cycle, is to be nurtured not only for the sake of scientific curiosity, but in particular to provide policy-relevant knowledge. That is why I have taken steps to ensure that the UN World Water Assessment Programme will soon be launched with its Secretariat housed at UNESCO, following intensive consultations with UN system partners."

The Director-General placed the initiative within the context of the ever more urgent need to ensure water security and pointed out that "water scarcity gives the gravest cause for concern. It is already a chronic problem in many areas, but with demand for irrigation and drinking water expected to rise sharply in the coming 25 years, it is likely to become very critical."

"Water security in the 21st century is the goal we all share," Mr Matsuura said. He added: "I pledge that the Organization I represent will do all within its power to help attain it. Since its foundation, UNESCO has occupied a unique position as the knowledge Organization within the UN family. It stands at the crossroads of human knowledge and human needs. And in the complex knowledge society of the 21st century, that special position is increasingly strategic. Science and education - and also communication and culture - will be, more than ever, the driving force for the process of attaining water security for all. UNESCO's International Hydrological Programme is a formidable instrument to this end. [...] Problems of scarcity or conflicts of interest over water resources between upstream and downstream countries can only find lasting solutions in co-operative, integrated water management."

Mr Matsuura explained that another component linked to the World Water Assessment Programme will be to help avert conflicts that could arise from the growing water shortage. He said: "UNESCO with its unique mandate to build peace in the minds of all, through science, culture and education, sees as an integral component of this programme, the development of water-related conflict resolution tools. Science, including of course the social sciences, can and should be central in developing tools for resolving or mitigating water conflicts between water user groups and between sovereign nations for transboundary aquifers and rivers."

The UN system initiative includes 24 United Nations funds, programmes, specialised agencies, regional commissions and convention secretariats. It responds to the 1998 call by the UN Commission for Sustainable Development for the UN system to undertake period assessments of "the sustainable development, management, protection and use of fresh water resources." It requested that progress towards goals adopted in Agenda 21 be monitored and requested that "a global picture of the state of freshwater resources and potential problems" be drawn. The Administrative Committee on Coordination's Subcommittee on Water Resources is the Task Manager for follow-up on the freshwater goals set out in Agenda 21.