Water

Only 3% of the earth’s water is freshwater; about two-thirds of it is frozen in glaciers and polar ice caps and we have long over-stretched this precious resource.

 

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Water is the source of all life and
needs to be managed carefully

 

for people

+ 50 %

increase in global water demand by 2030

for nature

- 80%

decline in freshwater biodiversity since 1970

for security

90%

of all natural disasters are water-related

How we engage

Our work focuses on water governance that integrates the needs of people and nature, the implementation of sustainable water resource management to secure water-related ecosystem services and conserve freshwater biodiversity, and support increased investment in ecosystems as natural water infrastructure. 

 

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  • Boy by waterfall, natural landscape, Lao PDR Photo: ©Shutterstock/Sirisak Baokaew
    In the spotlight:

    Wetlands and the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration

    On World Environment Day 5 June 2021, the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration was officially launched. Along with WWF, BirdLife International, Wetlands International, the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT), and the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), IUCN is committed to restoring wetlands in the coming decade.

     

     

    Watch our video and find out why. #WorldEnvironmentDay #GenerationRestoration #PartnersForWetlands 

  • Children's hands collecting water from a tap Photo: ©Shutterstock/Riccardo Mayer
    In the spotlight:

    World Water Day 2021

    On 22 March the world celebrates World Water Day. A precious and limited resource, how we value water determines how we treat water.

     

    Click on the heading for our NEW Feature Story:

    'The Value of Water - Precious public good or profitable private asset?' 

     

     

    #WorldWaterDay #Water2me #ValueWater

  • Zelenci Springs nature reserve, Slovenia Photo: ©Shutterstock/tetiana_u
    In the spotlight:

    World Wetlands Day 2021

    Each year, the international community celebrates World Wetlands Day on the 2nd February, a day to put a spotlight on the state of our wetlands globally.

    Organised by the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, the 2021 theme focuses on the intrinsic link between wetlands and freshwater, highlighting the role wetlands play in the quantity and quality of freshwater on our planet.

     

    #WorldWetlandsDay #RestoreWetlands

  • Peat bog on the Isle of Skye, Scotland with the Cuillin mountain range in the background Photo: ©Shutterstock/Helen Hotson
    In the spotlight:

    Peatlands Impact Call

    The call aims to increase investment in peatland protection, management and restoration; demonstrate bankable business models that protect peatlands; strengthen local livelihoods whilst yielding financial returns, and; build partnerships for action, replication and scale.

     

    Find out more and submit your peatland project before 10 January 2021 at 23:59 CET

  • Dumbea river, New Caledonia Photo: ©Shutterstock/Anton Ivanov
    In the spotlight:

    World Water Week At Home

    WWWeek At Home will bring together convenor-hosted, virtual adaptations of sessions on water and climate change originally destined for World Water Week 2020. 

    IUCN will be hosting the session 'Facing the climate emergency: effectively leveraging science, governance and diplomacy' on Monday 24 August from 16:00-16:45

News

Follow IUCN Water

Learn more

Sugarcane grower, SUSTAIN Initiative, Tanzania Photo: Maria Ana Borges

SUSTAIN

Bridging water security and sustainable development. Building sustainable and inclusive growth to improve water and food security and climate resilience.

 

BRIDGE basins_alt map_2019 Photo: IUCN Water Programme

BRIDGE

BRIDGE - Building River Dialogue and Governance. This project aims to build water governance capacities through learning, demonstration, leadership, and consensus-building, in particular in transboundary river basins.

 

Cover: Women as change-makers Photo: ©IUCN Water

New report

Women as change-makers in the governance of shared waters

 

Wise Up Photo: © shutterstock Vladimir

WISE-UP to Climate

WISE-UP or 'Water Infrastructure Solutions from Ecosystem Services Underpinning Climate Resilient Policies and Programmes'

 

Quick reads

Aimed at policy-makers and journalists, IUCN Issues Briefs provide key information on selected issues in a two-pager format.

Gender-based violence and the environment - an IUCN Issues Brief Photo: IUCN

Gender-based violence and the environment

Evidence shows that there are direct links between environmental pressures and gender-based violence, and that the degradation of nature, competition over increasingly scarce resources and...
thumbnail_iucn_issues_cc_peatlands Photo: thumbnail_iucn_issues_cc_peatlands

Peatlands and climate change

Peatlands are a type of wetlands that occur in almost every country on Earth, currently covering 3% of the global land surface. The term ‘peatland’ refers to the peat soil and the wetland habitat...
Thumbnail_CC and Water issues brief Photo: IUCN

Water and climate change

Water and weather, the delicate balance between evaporation and precipitation, is the primary cycle through which climate change is felt. As our climate changes, droughts, floods, melting glaciers,...
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