Centre of Climate and Environment Protection

World Water Day was established by the United Nations General Assembly with a resolution of 22 December 1992, as part of Agenda 21, during the 1992 Earth Summit (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This year's theme is "Accelerating Change".

Every year since 1993, World Water Day (22 March) raises awareness and inspires action to tackle the water and sanitation crisis.  It is about taking action to tackle the global water crisis of the 2.2 billion people living without access to safe water. It is a United Nations observance coordinated by UN-Water. The theme is proposed in advance by UN-Water. It is aligned with the annual publication of the UN World Water Development Report, published by UNESCO on behalf of UN Water.

The global campaign Be the change encourages people to take action in their lives to change how they use, consume and manage water. These promises from individuals and communities will contribute to the Water Action Agenda alongside larger commitments from governments, companies, organizations, institutions, and coalitions.

The celebration of this World Water Day coincides with the start of the UN 2023 Water Conference (March 22-24, New York). Around 10,000 participants gathered at UN Headquarters and online for three days of discussions. The UN 2023 Water Conference has generated more than 700 commitments aimed at driving the transformation towards a water-secure world. By 2030, the EU aims to support the access of 70 million individuals to an improved drinking water source and/or sanitation facility. The EU will also support Member States with €20 million funding to accelerate the deployment of wastewater surveillance for COVID-19.

Sources: https://www.worldwaterday.org/, https://www.un.org/, https://www.worldbank.org/