Following the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, the General Assembly declared 22 March of each year as World Day for Water, beginning in 1993. The theme of World Water Day 2007 is Coping with Water Scarcity. This theme emphasizes the global water scarcity and the need for more national and international integration and cooperation in order to ensure that management of water resources is sustainable, efficient and equitable.

There is a special web site for World Water Day 2007 which is frequently being updated as new materials become available. On this web site you can find a 12-page World Water Day 2007 brochure, an events calendar, a video, a slide show and campaign materials such as WWD 2007 posters (in multiple languages), desktop backgrounds and screensavers. Please check this web site for further updates.

For more information about UN initiatives on water, see

• www.unwater.org/flashindex.html – web site of UN Water which is made up of UN agencies, programs and funds that play a significant role in addressing water concerns around the world, including the water-related targets of the Millennium Development Goals and the Water for Life Decade.
• www.un.org/waterforlifedecade/ – web site of the International Decade for Action “Water for Life, 2005-2015”, which aims to promote efforts to fulfill international commitments made on water and water-related issues by 2015, placing special emphasis on the involvement of women in these efforts. This site has links to the African Water Development Report 2006, and a report by the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF on meeting the MDG drinking-water and sanitation target.
• http://hdr.undp.org/hdr2006/ – web site of the 2006 Human Development Report by the United Nations Development Program entitled Beyond scarcity: power, poverty and the global water crisis. This report of the topic of the November 16, 2006 weekly DPI Briefing to NGOs of which a summary, in English only, can be found at www.un.org/dpi/ngosection/fall06/briefings/16nov06-summary.asp