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FACTS AND FIGURES ABOUT WATER AND THE UNITED NATIONS The name ‘United Nations’, coined by United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt, was first used in the ‘Declaration by United Nations’ of 1 January 1942, during the Second World War, when representatives of 26 nations pledged their governments to continue fighting together against the Axis Powers. In 1945, representatives of 50 countries met in San Francisco, United States at the United Nations Conference on International Organization to draw up the United Nations Charter. Those delegates deliberated on the basis of proposals worked out by the representatives of China, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States at Dumbarton Oaks, United States, in August-October 1944. The Charter was signed on 26 June 1945 by the representatives of 50 countries. Poland, which was not represented at the Conference, signed it later and became one of the original 51 member states. The United Nations officially came into existence on 24 October 1945, when the Charter had been ratified by China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, the United States and a majority of other signatories. The General Comment on the right to water, adopted by the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) in November 2002, is a milestone in the history of human rights. For the first time water is explicitly recognized as a fundamental human right and the 145 countries that have ratified the International CESCR will now be compelled to progressively ensure that everyone has access to safe and secure drinking water, equitably and without discrimination. In its 2000 Millennium Declaration, the United Nations set 8 goals for development, called the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Through this declaration the UN called on the nations of the world ‘to halve by the year 2015 (...) the proportion of people who are unable to reach, or to afford, safe drinking water’ and ‘to stop the unsustainable exploitation of water resources, by developing water management strategies at the regional, national and local levels, which promote both equitable access and adequate supply.’ The Mar del Plata Action Plan of the UN Conference on Water (1977), the Dublin Conference on Water (1992) and the Environment and the Rio Earth Summit (1992), with its highly important Agenda 21 document, and the World Water Vision exercise (2000) has successively increased awareness of the need for a comprehensive assessment of the world's freshwater as the basis for more integrated water management. At the urging of the Commission on Sustainable Development and with the strong endorsement by the Ministerial Conference at The Hague in March 2000, UN-Water has undertaken a collective UN system-wide continuing assessment process, the World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP). Through the programme, the efforts of 24 UN organisations are coordinated towards monitoring and assessment. The 1st World Water Forum was held in Marrakech on 21-22 March 1997 and focused on water and sanitation, management of shared waters, preserving ecosystems, gender equity, and efficient use of water. The upcoming 4th World Water Forum will take place from the 16-22 March 2006, in Mexico City, Mexico. The United Nations General Assembly in resolution 55/196 proclaimed the year 2003 as the International Year of Freshwater. The resolution adopted on 20 December 2000, was initiated by the Government of Tajikistan and supported by 148 other countries. It encourages Governments, the United Nations system and all other actors to take advantage of the Year to increase awareness of the importance of sustainable freshwater use, management and protection. Based on the title of the first UN World Water Development Report 'Water for People, Water for Life', the General Assembly of the United Nations decided to proclaim, in its resolution A/RES/58/217, the period from 2005 to 2015 the International Decade for Action, 'Water for Life', commencing on World Water Day, 22 March 2005. The main goal of the Decade is to focus on water-related issues at all levels and on the implementation of water-related programmes in order to achieve internationally agreed upon water-related goals contained in Agenda 21, the United Nations Millennium Development Goals and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation. 2005 marks the 30th anniversary of the creation of the International Hydrology Programme (IHP). This scientific intergovernmental UNESCO programme focuses mainly on research, capacity-building and development.
Information from: Source: UNESCO Water Portal, October 2005
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