Water is essential for life and crucial for sustainable development, including the preservation of our natural environment and the alleviation of poverty and hunger. Water is indispensable for human health and well-being. Realizing these facts, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly, in December 2003, proclaimed the years 2005 to 2015 as the International Decade for Action 'Water for Life' and declared 22 March of each year as the World Water Day (WWD).

Every year, a different UN agency is selected to coordinate events surrounding WWD around the world, and a different theme is chosen to reflect the many facets of freshwater resources. WWD 2006 was guided by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) under the theme 'Water and Culture.' As the UN's focal point for the promotion of cultural diversity, UNESCO drew attention to the fact that there are as many ways of viewing, using, and celebrating water as there are cultural traditions across the world.

Currently, over 1 billion people in the world lack access to water and over 2.4 billion lack access to basic sanitation. Access to clean water is lowest in Africa, while Asia has the largest number of people with no access to basic sanitation. However, this water crisis is largely our own making. It has resulted not from the natural limitations of the water supply or lack of financing and appropriate technologies but rather from profound failures in Water Governance, which refers to the range of political, social, economic, and administrative systems that are in place to

develop and manage water resources and the delivery of water services at different levels of society. In this matter, UN is working to create concrete activities such as the promotion of public awareness through the publication and diffusion of documentaries and the organization of conferences, round tables, seminars and expositions related to the conservation and development of water resources.

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) also aims to achieve sustainable water resources development and management and its Water Governance Programme is currently providing assistance to member countries on different levels through the following areas:

1) Local Management of Water Resources, Water Supply, and Sanitation
2) Integrated Water Resource Management
3) Addressing Global and Regional Water Challenges
4) Water and Climate Change
5) Gender Mainstreaming
6) Capacity Development for Effective Water Governance

UNDP is additionally one of the implementing agencies of the Global Environment Facility (GEF). UNDP-GEF administers and implements an important programme on International Waters. Besides, several UNDP-GEF Biodiversity projects involve coastal, marine and freshwater ecosystems.

(For more information on World Water Day 2006 please visit: http://www.unesco.org/water/wwd2006/index.shtml)

UNDP Turkey and Water

UNDP Turkey gives great importance to issues related to water in its environment portfolio. UNDP Turkey’s Black Sea Ecosystems Recovery Project (BSERP) is an example for projects supported in this area. The overall objective of the BSERP is to support participating countries in the development of national policies and legislation and the definition of priority actions to avoid that discharge of nitrogen and phosphorus to the Black Sea exceed those levels as observed in 1997. On the other hand the specific objectives includes reinforcing regional cooperation under the Black Sea Convention, setting up institutional and legal instruments and defining priority actions at regional and national levels to assure sustainable coastal zone management, and protection of coastal and marine ecosystems and habitats in order to secure sustainable use of coastal and marine resources.

Another project of UNDP Turkey is “Natural Wastewater Treatment in Karaurgan Village”, which aims to set up a waste water system with natural filtration ponds and prevent the health problems caused by the direct flow of wastewater into rivers. Karaurgan Development Society, which was established in 2005, initiated natural wastewater treatment implementation to solve this problem. In leadership of the Society, a committee will be founded and a fund will be created and managed by the village householders for natural wastewater treatment system’s maintenance. In addition, with naturally filtered water returns from the ponds, it is planned to water 400.000 m² of agricultural estates of Karaurgan village.

For more information on UNDP Turkey’s Energy and Environment projects please visit: http://www.undp.org.tr/EnergyAndEnvironment.asp