World Water Day 22 March 2012

Theme: Water and food security

World Water Day, which aims to draw wider public attention to the importance of water for mankind, is celebrated on 22 March each year. All countries are called on to use World Water Day for implementing UN recommendations and carrying out appropriate concrete measures at national level.

World Water Day has been celebrated since 1993, following the 1992 Earth Summit on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro and based on a resolution of the UN General Assembly of 22 December 1992.

The 2012 World Water Day celebrations will centre on Marseille, host to the World Water Forum from 16 to 22 March 2012. The fourth UNESCO World Water Development Report will be presented at the Forum.

Population rise, economic growth and urbanisation all mean that demand for food, water and energy will increase throughout the world. Meeting the rising demand for food and the related energy needs will lead to a significant increase in demand for water and to further degradation of water resources and ecosystems through over use and pollution. There is a danger that a considerable gap will develop between available water resources and demand. This will exacerbate the gap in supply in the more arid regions of the world and hinder food production and energy generation.

These relationships and possible solutions were discussed in detail at the international conference the Water, Energy and Food Security Nexus – Solutions for the Green Economy, which took place in Bonn from 16 to 18 November 2011. This international event was hosted by the German government as part of the preparations for the Rio+20 conference and as a contribution to the issue of green economy. It was jointly organised by the Ministries for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) and for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) under the patronage of Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel. For the first time, around 550 high-level participants from politics, national and international administration, industry, science and civil society were brought together to discuss common approaches for water, energy and food security in the context of poverty alleviation and sustainable development.

The conference focused on three aspects of sustainable development and their relationships: the social dimension - access to basic water supply; the economic dimension - greater prosperity with fewer resources; the ecological dimension - investing in the conservation of ecosystems and their services. The aim was to develop overarching solutions for water, energy and food security.

The results and messages of the conference will be incorporated into the preparatory process for Rio+20. The BMU and BMZ will also highlight this issue with key contributions at the 6th World Water Forum in March 2012 in Marseille. Since 2011, the Federal Environment Agency has selected a "water body type of the year". In 2012, the water body type of the year will be announced on World Water Day. This year it is the "sandy, loamy lowland river", a water body type that includes the rivers Lippe, Ems, Aller, Alster, Elbe and Spree.

Each year, the United Nations selects different themes for World Water Day.