Of the 1.3 billion people living in abject poverty, the majority are women and children. They also happen to be the largest group systematically under-represented in water management arrangements.

Some 3,800 children die every day from diseases associated with lack of access to safe drinking water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene.

Diarrhoeal diseases remain the leading cause of death from water-related diseases in children, accounting for 21% of all deaths of children under 5 in developing countries
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Out of the world’s total land area of 13 billion hectares (ha), 12% is cultivated, and an estimated 27% is used for pasture. The 1.5 billion ha of cropland include 277 million ha of irrigated land, representing 18% of cropland.

In population terms, cropland amounts to a global average of 0.25 ha per person.

To satisfy the growing demand for food between 2000 and 2030, production of food crops in developing countries is projected to increase by 67%. At the same time, a continuing rise in productivity should make it possible to restrain the increase in water use for agriculture to about 14%.
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Glaciers are defined as a large mass of perennial ice of atmospheric origin generally moving slowly on land over a long period.

About 75% of the world’s entire natural freshwater is contained within ice sheets and glaciers. However 97% is not considered to be a water resource as it is inaccessible, located in the Antarctic, Arctic and Greenland ice sheets.

Land-based glaciers and permanent snow and ice cover approximately 680,000 km2 and are critical to many nations’ water resources.

Between 1980 and 2001, the thickness of 30 major mountain glaciers decreased by an average of 6 metres.
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During the 20th century, the world’s urban population increased more than tenfold, while rural population increased but twofold.

Today, half of the world’s population lives in urban centres, compared to less than 15% in 1900.

Human population growth and the expansion of economic activities are collectively placing huge demands on coastal and freshwater ecosystems. Water withdrawals, for instance, have increased sixfold since the 1900s, which is twice the rate of population growth.

In 1900, ‘million cities’ (cities with more than one million inhabitants) were unusual and cities with over 10 million unknown; by 2000, there were 387 million cities and 18 with more than 10 million inhabitants.

In most urban areas in low- and middle-income countries, between 25% and 50% of the population lacks provision for water and sanitation of a quality that greatly reduces the risk of human contamination with faecal-oral pathogens.
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The right to water is already recognized in several legal or political instruments. It guarantees access to water, without discrimination, in a permanent and sustainable manner – and at a socially and economically acceptable cost. It also addresses the issues of subsidiarity, solidarity, and cooperation.

Increasing recognition is accorded to the right to water, in terms of a human right to a supply of safe water, the role of water rights in helping to deal with local competition for water and in dealing with social, economic and environmental problems.
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