IUCN's Water Programme

Some Facts about International Union for Conservation of Nature's Water Programme.

The Challenge

Only 3% of the earth’s water is freshwater; about two-thirds of it is frozen in glaciers and polar ice caps and we have long over-stretched this precious resource.

The world faces considerable challenges in equitably managing the freshwater available to us for a growing population as we try and manage the impacts of climate change.

IUCN’s Water Programme brings together its extensive network of IUCN Members, experts, government and private sector partners to develop sustainable solutions to preserve our water resources.

From Asia’s Mekong River to Nigeria’s Komadugu Yobe River and Tanzania’s Pangani River Basin, IUCN works towards managing and protecting our water reserves for the benefit of all. We help to create policies and laws in which all users, rich and poor, urban and rural, have a say in how their increasingly stressed waters are allocated, managed and conserved.

IUCN's Response

Responding to the need to protect and conserve our water resources, IUCN formed the Water Programme in 1985. Since its inception, the Water Programme has been working across the world, mainly focusing on the Middle East, Africa, Central and South America, and Asia. These programmes have covered multiple areas such as integrated water resource management, environmental flows, water economics, watershed ecosystems, as well as river bank rehabilitation, and the effects of climate change on global water supply and distribution.

IUCN’s Water Programme contributes towards the conservation of water biodiversity by promoting, influencing and catalyzing sustainable uses and equitable sharing of resources, as well as protecting ecosystems. In order to attain these goals, the water programme is focusing on the following objectives:

• Further development and implementation of a focused Union-wide Water Programme
• Establishment of an active network of Members, Commissions, individuals and Institutions to implement the Programme
• Influencing global debate and decisions on conservation and sustainable use of water resources
• Establishment of partnerships through the implementation of joint activities on water conservation (eg. the Head of IUCN’s Water Programme also sits on the Board of Governors of the World Water Council – WWC) 

(Courtesy: www.iucn.org)

10 Facts on Water Scarcity...Its Big Time to act!!!

• Water scarcity occurs even in areas where there is plenty of rainfall or freshwater. How water is conserved, used and distributed in communities, and the quality of the water available can determine if there is enough to meet the demands of households, farms, industry and the environment.

• Water scarcity affects one in three people on every continent of the globe. The situation is getting worse as needs for water rise along with population growth, urbanization and increases in household and industrial uses.

• Almost one fifth of the world's population (about 1.2 billion people) live in areas where the water is physically scarce. One quarter of the global population also live in developing countries that face water shortages due to a lack of infrastructure to fetch water from rivers and aquifers.

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·         Water scarcity forces people to rely on unsafe sources of drinking water. It also means they cannot bathe or clean their clothes or homes properly.

• Poor water quality can increase the risk of such diarrhoeal diseases as cholera, typhoid fever and dysentery, and other water-borne infections. Water scarcity can lead to diseases such as trachoma (an eye infection that can lead to blindness), plague and typhus.

• Water scarcity encourages people to store water in their homes. This can increase the risk of household water contamination and provide breeding grounds for mosquitoes - which are carriers of dengue fever, malaria and other diseases.

• A lack of water has driven up the use of wastewater for agricultural production in poor urban and rural communities. More than 10% of people worldwide consume foods irrigated by wastewater that can contain chemicals or disease-causing organisms.

• Millennium Development Goal number 7, target 10 aims to halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation. Water scarcity could threaten progress to reach this target.

• Water is an essential resource to sustain life. As governments and community organizations make it a priority to deliver adequate supplies of quality water to people, individuals can help by learning how to conserve and protect the resource in their daily lives.

• Water scarcity underscores the need for better water management. Good water management also reduces breeding sites for such insects as mosquitoes that can transmit diseasees and prevents the spread of water-borne infections such as schistosomiasis, a severe illness.

Water conservation is a big thing, but every little bit helps, so don't think that what you do doesn't matter. A whole lot of people doing a little bit adds up to a whole lot. We must all make changes in our lifestyles that will change the course of our water and its quality. Water conservation needs to be a way of life, not just something we think about once in a while. If we all do our part in conserving Washington's water, we can make a huge difference for the environment.

Water conservation means using our water wisely and caring for it properly. Since each of us depends on water for life, it is our responsibility to learn more about water conservation and how we can help keep our water pure and safe for generations to come. Since we all enjoy the benefits of having pure, clean water, we must help conserve water so that we may continue to enjoy these benefits.

Water conservation is not a job that is just for the technician, soil scientist, hydrologist, forester, wildlife manager, plant scientist, city planner, park manager, farmer, rancher, or mine owner alone. It is a job for the every day person who just likes to have access to the life sustaining resource of water. We must all recognize that water conservation really is our personal responsibility and not just leave it up to other people. We all enjoy the many ways that we use water, so why not do our part in caring for our water?

Our water supply is finite, which means that we do not have an endless supply. We only have the water that we have now. Ninety - seven percent of all the water on the earth is salt water which is not suitable for drinking. Only three percent of all the water is fresh water, and only one percent is available for drinking water. The other two percent is locked in ice caps and glaciers.

With all the people on Earth relying on such a small percentage of all the water on Earth, it only makes sense that we must preserve and conserve our water. We must not pollute our water because it is the only water we will ever have. Some people do not realize the importance of water, and they are continually polluting it. Only about ten percent of waste water is disposed of properly.

We must learn to save water now for the future. The quality of our water is very important. 

We have the same amount of water now as there was when the earth was created. This is the water we have, and we must preserve its quality. Water is the foundation of food and life. Next to air, water is our most precious resource. We cannot live without water. Saving water helps to preserve our environment. It reduces the energy required to process and deliver water, which helps in reducing pollution and in conserving fuel resources. Saving water now means having water available in the future for recreational purposes, too. Conserving the water we have minimizes the effects of water shortages and helps build a better defense against future drought years. If we save water now, we are helping to ensure a water supply adequate for future generations. Saving water saves money. $It makes cents¢!

We must save water today so that it will be available to us in the future. We need to think of future generations, people who will not have a sufficient supply of water unless we become more concerned with how we use our water today. There are many things that we can do to help preserve Washington's water. These are not things that are hard. All it takes is a little bit of extra effort, and soon it will be second nature. Save the water, its all we've got!

Uses of Water
We use water for many, many different things like making electricity, cleaning, cooking, irrigating, etc. Click on this link to read more about ways that we use water.

People
We must conserve our water so that it will be available to people for years to come. Click on the link above to read more about the importance of this.

Fish and Wildlife
It is important that we save water because it is essential to sustain life. This page will tell you more about the importance of conserving water for fish and wildlife.

Nature
We need to conserve water so that our trees and plants can have life. Read this page to find out more about how important water is to the life of our trees and plants.