Water, a shared responsibility

Last week, on the eve of the Fourth World Water Forum in Mexico City, the United Nations issued its second World Water Development Report entitled "Water, a shared responsibility". A joint effort of 24 different U.N. bodies involved in water management, the report focuses on the importance of governance in managing the world's water resources and tackling poverty and points out that "mismanagement, limited resources and environmental changes mean that almost one-fifth of the planet's population still lacks access to safe drinking water and 40 per cent lack access to basic sanitation."

Many scientists and policymakers agree water issues will soon come to the forefront of national and international debate as growing populations and shifting climate patterns stretch our freshwater resources. To highlight this topic of growing concern, the Worldwatch Institute released the paper Liquid Assets: The Critical Need to Safeguard Freshwater Ecosystems in July of 2005. In it, researcher Sandra Postel discusses the various threats faced by watersheds worldwide and offers examples of effective water governance regimes from Boston to Bogotá. An abbreviated version of this paper appears as Chapter 3 in State of the World 2006: Special Focus China and India.

Tomorrow, March 22 is World Water Day.