A big day and a big year for water

World Water Day is approaching (22nd March) in celebration of both the importance of water and raising awareness of its conservation, management and sustainable use.

2018’s theme is ‘Nature for Water’ and investigates nature-based solutions to the water challenges we face in the 21st century. Events are held in schools, offices and communities worldwide and this year is also the triennial World Water Forum (18-23 March), the world’s biggest water-related event!

The 2018 World Water Forum is hosted by Brasilía, Brasil with the tremendous biodiversity of the country serving to underscore the importance of nature-based solutions, which have the potential to solve many of our water challenges. The opportunity and need to increase ‘green’ infrastructure and harmonize it with ‘grey’ infrastructure is a core message of this year’s World Water Day.Managing river basins and planting new forests, reconnecting rivers to floodplains, and restoring wetlands will rebalance the water cycle and improve human health and livelihoods.

The World Water Forum also provides to platform for the release of the World Water Development Report, a global report prepared with input from the 26 UN agencies that make up UN-Water, governments, international organisations, NGOs and other stakeholders.

The report aligns with the World Water Day theme and seeks to inform policy and decision-makers about the potential of nature-based solutions to address contemporary water management challenges across all sectors, and particularly regarding water for agriculture, sustainable cities, disaster risk reduction and improving water quality.

If you would like further information or have any questions about any of the above please do not hesitate to contact the UNSW Global Water Institute on gwi@unsw.edu.au