Background
The Hague Ministerial Declaration, signed in March 2000, identified the key challenges to achieving water security. These challenges provided the context for the launch of the World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP). The Hague Declaration reflected the public's perception of the water problems, and outlined seven water-related challenges that need to be addressed in order to achieve 'Water Security in the 21st Century'. WWAP adopted the same declaration as its point of departure, and determined further additional challenges (see WWAP Challenges).
Within this UN-wide initiative, UNESCO launched the programme From Potential Conflict to Co-operation Potential (PCCP). While this effort is relevant to each of the challenges, it addresses more specifically the challenge of sharing water resources primarily from the point of view of governments, and develops decision-making and conflict prevention tools for the future.