The Third edition of the United Nations World Water Development Report (WWDR-3) is currently under preparation and will be presented at the 5^th World Water Forum in Istanbul, Turkey on March 16, 2009. The development of the WWDR, coordinated by WWAP, is a joint effort of the 24 UN agencies and entities which make up UN-Water, working in partnership with governments, international organizations, non-governmental organizations and other stakeholders. For more information on the background of the Report and the two previous editions, please see the World Water Development Report page.

The WWAP Secretariat recently held a public comment period on a draft Table of Contents for the WWDR-3, which closed on March 16^th. Please be sure to check here for future opportunities to learn about and to contribute to the preparation of the UN World Water Development Report.

New Features of the 3^rd edition

The Third edition of the Report presents several changes compared to the previous two editions. Unlike the earlier Reports, which were structured along UN agency lines, the WWDR-3 has a new, holistic format. It will address a number of themes through out the report, including climate change, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), groundwater, biodiversity, water and migration, water and infrastructure, biofuels, etc.
Some of the new features include:

1. A new Table of Contents (ToC). The ToC was endorsed during the UN-Water meeting held in Stockholm on August 12^th, 2007. It was further developed through the discussion and contributions of members of UN-Water, professional organizations, non-governmental organizations, and WWDR-3 writers and contributors in attendance at the ‘Inception Meeting’ in November 2007.
2. A Technical Advisory Committee (TAC). The experience gained during the development of the first two WWDRs and insights learned from consultations and assessments on WWAP’s past performance demonstrated that the program will benefit from the involvement of a body comprised of scientists, policy and decision makers, stakeholders and representatives from member states. The TAC is composed of members from academia, research institutions, non-governmental organizations, public and professional organizations, and two ex-officio members (Chair of UN-Water and WWAP Coordinator).
3. Seven Expert Groups. To strengthen the scientific basis as well as possible implementation of the report and its recommendations, interdisciplinary expert groups were created for a number of topics, including ‘Indicators, Monitoring and Databases’, ‘Business, Trade, Finance and Involvement of the Private Sector’, ‘Policy Relevance’, ‘Scenarios’, ‘Climate Change and Water’, and ‘Legal Issues’ and ‘Storage’.
4. Accompanying Publications. A number of side publications will accompany the WWDR-3, which are intended to provide more focused, in-depth information, scientific background knowledge, policy guidelines and interface with other, less conventional water sectors. These publications will include scientific side papers, sector and topic-specific reports, briefs for policy makers and a Dialogue Series.
5. Side Processes. A number of side processes are planned to address relevant issues over time within the general framework of WWAP. These include “Scenario development and modelling”; “Indicator development, monitoring and reporting”; “WWDR Living Document”; “Data/ meta data bases”; and “Capacity development.”

The Structure and Process

In addition to the WWDR-3’s new features, there have been a number of changes to its production process, which is compressed into a period of 18 months. The WWDR-3’s holistic approach to addressing the world’s water resources is reflected in a new structure and stages for its development.

The structure of the WWDR-3 has four main chapters, apart from the introduction and the recommendations: ‘drivers of change’, ‘the use of the resource for humans and for ecosystems’, ‘the state of the resource’, and ‘responding to a changing world: what are the options?’ This requires a much deeper level of integration of the content coming from contributing institutions, compared to the earlier reports.
To ensure this integration, each chapter has a core team of two persons, a coordinator from a UN agency, and a facilitator from WWAP. Additionally, a number of topics which require specific attention in the process will be addressed by expert groups and specialists.

The first step in making the report is to produce a table of contents for each chapter. A draft ToC for each chapter was prepared through the discussion and contributions of members of UN-Water, professional organizations, non-governmental organizations, and WWDR-3 writers and contributors through two rounds of comments. The first round took place at the UN-Water meeting during the World Water Week in Stockholm in August 2007. Based on the ToC drafted during this first meeting, WWAP, in collaboration with UN partners and other contributors, developed the main messages and storyline of the Report and produced an annotated table of contents on a chapter-by chapter basis. The second round of contributions and comments were incorporated during the Inception Meeting held in November 2007 to produce the final ToC for each chapter, a list of accompanying publications, and the production schedule for writing the first draft.

The second preparatory meeting, or “Integration Meeting,” will take place in Perugia, Italy at the new WWAP Headquarters in April 2008. At this meeting, members of the Technical Advisory Committee, members of UN-Water, contributors, writers, and other participants will discuss the final drafts of the chapters and their integration. Conclusions and recommendations of the WWDR-3 will also be addressed. WWAP aims to gather various inputs from contributing agencies to produce the draft chapters by the end of March 2008.

Timeline for the WWDR-3:

1. 16 March 2008: Deadline for public comments on the draft ToC
2. 19-25 April 2008: Integration Meeting.
3. June 2008: Final chapter drafts.
4. June - September 2008: Integration, copy editing, refining, typesetting, and printing.
5. June 2008 – January 2009: Production of Executive Summary, promotional material and launching web-based campaign.
6. 16 March 2009: Launching of the WWDR-3 at the 5^th World Water Forum in Istanbul, Turkey.