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International World Water Day has been held annually, on 22 March, since 1993, when the United Nations General Assembly designated IWWD as a vehicle for focusing attention on the significance of freshwater and promoting the equitable and sustainable management of freshwater resources, globally.Â Freshwater scarcity is one of today’s most urgent environmental challenges.Â The observance of World Water Day serves as an opportunity to draw attention to the 1 billion people in the world who lack access to clean, safe drinking water.Â Approximately one third of the world’s people live in countries with moderate to high water stress, which disproportionately negatively impacts the poor.

World Water Day’s 2009 theme is “Shared Water – Shared Opportunities”.Â Special focus will be on transboundary waters.Â Almost 40% of earth’s population lives near the 263 rivers and lakes in 145 countries, which are shared by two or more nations.Â Essential reservoirs of freshwater also cross borders underground in more than 200 known aquifers.Â Successful cooperation among nations in the conservation and management of transboundary water resources is a vehicle to promote trust, peace and sustainable economic growth in addition to securing clean drinking water for the future.

The Director-General of UNESCO, Mr. Koichiro Matsuura, had the following remarks for World Water Day on transboundary waters:

We have moved beyond the need for declarations and statements. The priority now is for action. We must mobilize the necessary political commitment, human capacities and goodwill to ensure that forecasts of looming water crises do not become true. Water has been, can be and must be a connecter, not a divider.

This year, World Water Day events include celebrations, symposiums, concerts, art shows, educational events, exhibitions, “Walks for Water”, and volunteer opportunities around the world.Â Check out World Water Day events, and consider attending an event near you.Â Volunteer with a water advocacy organization or organize a local water clean up in honor of World Water Day.