World Water Development Report III - working group

The United Nations World Water Development Report, released every three years in conjunction with the World Water Forum, is the UN’s flagship report on water. It is a comprehensive review that gives an overall picture of the state of the world's freshwater resources and aims to provide decision-makers with the tools to implement sustainable use of our water.

Through a series of assessments, the Reports provide a mechanism for monitoring changes in the resource and its management and tracking progress towards achieving targets, particularly those of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the World Summit on Sustainable Development. The Reports also offer best practices as well as in-depth theoretical analyses to help stimulate ideas and actions for better stewardship in the water sector.

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.

The Third edition of the Report (WWDR-3) is currently under preparation and will be presented at the Fifth World Water Forum in Istanbul, Turkey on March 16, 2009. The WWDR-3, called "Water in a Changing World", builds on the work of previous studies, including the two previous WWDRs, "Water for People, Water for Life" (WWDR-1), presented at the 3rd World Water Forum in Japan in 2003, and "Water: A Shared Responsibility" (WWDR-2), presented in 2006 at the 4th World Water Forum in Mexico. However, the Third Edition of the Report presents several changes from the previous two editions. Unlike the earlier Reports which were structured along UN agency lines, the third Report has a new, holistic format.

The Side Publication of the WWDR-3 on disaster risk reduction will complement the main report by providing more detailed information on how climate change impacts on society can be mitigated through disaster risk reduction. WMO, UNESCO, UNU/EHS, ICHARM, and ISDR agreed to work together to develop the Side Publication. This woking space is created to foster the process to complete the work towards the summer 2009.

The draft texts will be completed by the above partners by the end of 2008 and then consultated widely with water-related experts through the preventionweb.

Language: English
Members: 15