World Water Day 2012 |

World Water Day has been celebrated annually on March 22^nd since 1993 in response to a recommendation made in Agenda 21 at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED). The day is used to call public attention to and advocate for the sustainable management of the world’s fresh water resources. Each year is devoted to a particular fresh water issue. The theme of this year’s World Water Day is Water and Food Security, raising awareness about the importance of agricultural efficiency and examination of our individual water footprints in food choices. Sustainable water management is becoming increasingly imperative given the accelerating demands placed on agriculture to feed a growing world population that will see even more competition for water resources, a world where water scarcity will become all too common on many parts of the planet. UN Water reports that a “billion people in the world already live in chronic hunger and water resources are under pressure”. The challenge to ensure that everyone has access to nutritious food requires the world produce more food with less water, this is possible using sustainable agricultural production practices and adopting sustainable diets.

To learn more, explore the following resources:

World Water Day Themes from previous years

SD-Cite resources on this year’s theme of ‘Water and Food Security’
SD-Cite resources on Agenda 21
SD-Cite UNCED Archive