Summary
News
- World Water Day 2011 – 22 March: Water for Cities: Responding to the Urban Challenge
- Launch of the "Water for Life" Best Practices Award
- 2011 World Water Week in Stockholm - Call for Abstracts and Event Proposals
Events
UNESCO Water Family (*)
- Water Treatment and Purification: What Role for Renewable Energy?
Featured International Events
- International Conference on Integrated Water Management
- 6th EARSeL Workshop: Remote Sensing of Snow and Glaciers: Cryosphere, Hydrology and Climate Interactions
- Zero Flow: A PUB (Predictions in Ungauged Basins) Workshop on Intermittent Streams
Vacancies
- Programme Specialist – UNESCO Office Montevideo
Did you know?
Facts and figures about lakes
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News
World Water Day 2011 – 22 March
Water for Cities: Responding to the Urban Challenge
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The objective of World Water Day 2011 is to focus international attention on the impact of rapid urban population growth, industrialization and uncertainties caused by climate change, conflicts and natural disasters on urban water systems.
This year’s theme, Water for cities: responding to the urban challenge, aims to spotlight and encourage governments, organizations, communities, and individuals to actively engage in addressing the challenge of urban water management.
Access the Day’s official website
Launch of the "Water for Life" Best Practices Award
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The United Nations Office to Support the International Decade for Action "Water for Life" 2005-2015/UN-Water Decade Programme on Advocacy and Communication (UNW-DPAC) and the UN World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP) are pleased to invite you to submit your Best Practice for the 1st edition of the "Water for Life" Best Practices Award. The purpose of the Award is to promote efforts to fulfil international commitments made on water and water-related issues by 2015 through recognition of outstanding best practices that can ensure the long-term sustainable management of water resources and contribute to the achievement of internationally agreed goals and targets contained in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Agenda 21 and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation.
The prize is awarded yearly in two categories, one in best water management practices and another one in best participatory, communication, awareness-raising and education practices. Every year, special emphasis is being put on the theme selected for next World Water Day. In 2011, special focus is given to the topic "Urban Water Management". The prize will be awarded at a special ceremony on World Water Day, 22 March.
More information [PDF – 161 KB]
2011 World Water Week in Stockholm - Call for Abstracts and Event Proposals
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The 2011 World Water Week in Stockholm, August 21-27, is inviting interested individuals or organisations to submit workshop abstracts or proposals to convene a seminar or side event in 2011.
2011 World Water Week 1st Announcement
The special theme for the 2011 conference is: "Responding to Global Changes - Water in an Urbanising World".
Abstract Submittal
Proposals for workshop papers and poster presentations for the World Water Week are welcome from experts and actors in different disciplines. Information on the workshop themes and the abstract submittal process is available online. The deadline for abstract submittal is February 15, 2011.
Proposals for Seminars and Side Events
Is there a particular issue you would like to see on the programme for the 2011 World Water Week in Stockholm? Proposals are welcome from organisations who wish to host a seminar or side event. More information is available online. The deadline for proposals is February 15, 2011.
About the World Water Week in Stockholm
The World Water Week in Stockholm is the annual meeting place for the planet’s most urgent water-related issues. Organised by the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), it brings together about 2500 experts, practitioners, decision makers and business innovators from around the globe to exchange ideas, foster new thinking and develop solutions.
Further information
Events
UNESCO Water Family (*)
Water Treatment and Purification: What Role for Renewable Energy?
13-17 February 2011: Bou-Ismail, Tipaza, Algeria
Featured International Events
International Conference on Integrated Water Management
2-5 February 2011: Perth, Australia
6th EARSeL Workshop: Remote Sensing of Snow and Glaciers: Cryosphere, Hydrology and Climate Interactions
7-9 February 2011: Bern, Switzerland
Zero Flow: A PUB (Predictions in Ungauged Basins) Workshop on Intermittent Streams
23-25 February 2011: Drumheller, Alberta, Canada
Access a complete list of water events around the world
Vacancies
Programme Specialist – UNESCO Office Montevideo
Under the overall authority of the Assistant Director General for Natural Sciences, under the direct supervision of the Director of UNESCO Office in Montevideo, and in close coordination with the Division of Water Sciences at Headquarters, the incumbent is responsible for the formulation, coordination, management and evaluation of UNESCO programme in water resources at the national, cluster, sub-regional, and regional levels in Latin America and the Caribbean region.
Closing Date: 14 March 2011
Full announcement
Did you know...? Facts and figures about lakes
- Less than two percent of the freshwater on our planet exists in a readily usable form for human uses. And of this total, it is estimated that lakes contain more than 90% of all the liquid freshwater on the earth’s surface. Thus, this water source is important for meeting the needs of both humans and ecosystems, including the life-supporting services provided to humanity by the latter.
- Lakes and reservoirs provide a range of resource values, including drinking water, irrigation water, navigation, fisheries, tourism, recreation, flood and drought management, climate mediation, as well as having religious and historic values.
- In addition to containing the vast majority of the liquid freshwater on the surface of our planet, humans use lakes for more purposes than any other type of water system. Accordingly, lakes also are subject to more use conflicts than any other type of water system. Although seemingly a problematic feature, their effective management also a greater potential for developing sustainable solutions to water resources issues than any other type of water system.
- In contrast to flowing rivers, lakes and reservoirs have long water residence times, an indication of the average time water will spend in a lake. Lakes with long retention times are slow to respond to many inputs, being able to absorb floodwaters and pollutants, for example, without exhibiting immediate changes.
- Lakes also act as a sink for water and material inputs from diverse sources from their surrounding drainage basins. The mixing of these inputs within a lake ensures that the problems associated with them are disseminated throughout the volume of a lake. Thus, it is not possible for a pollutant to affect only a portion of a lake, nor is it possible to treat only a portion of a lake. Rather, water-related problems are typically lake-wide in nature.
- Another unique feature of lakes is that they exhibit complex response dynamics. Thus, the physical, chemical and biological characteristics of lakes and reservoirs can be viewed as a type of barometer of the consequences of human activities within their surrounding drainage basin.
The section "Did You Know…?" is taken from the 3rd World Water Development Report "Water in a Changing World".
UNESCO's Water Family consists of the following:
- International Hydrological Programme
- World Water Assessment Programme
- UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education
- Water-related Institutes and Centres under the Auspices of UNESCO
- UNESCO Water-related Chairs
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