The official UN World Water Day event is to be hosted by the Government of South Africa in Cape Town!
The UN World Water Day 2011 event will take place from 20 – 22nd March 2011 at the Cape Town International Conference Center. On 20 and 21st March 2011 many organisations will have parallel and side events.
FLOW will be able to share more details on the events to be held in Cape Town very soon… but in the meantime, here is some background on World Water Day.
International World Water Day is held annually on 22 March as a means of focusing attention on the importance of freshwater and advocating for the sustainable management of freshwater resources.
An international day to celebrate freshwater was recommended at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED). The United Nations General Assembly responded by designating 22 March 1993 as the first World Water Day.
Each year, World Water Day highlights a specific aspect of freshwater.
The theme for this year (2011) is Water for cities: responding to the urban challenge.
This is the first time in human history that most of the world’s population live in cities: 3.3 billion people …and the urban landscape continues to grow.
38% of the growth is represented by expanding slums, while the city populations are increasing faster than city infrastructure can adapt.
The objective of World Water Day 2011 is to focus international attention on the impact of rapid urban population growth, industrialization and uncertainties caused by climate change, conflicts and natural disasters on urban water systems.
This year theme, Water for cities: responding to the urban challenge, aims to spotlight and encourage governments, organizations, communities, and individuals to actively engage in addressing the defy of urban water management.
World Water Day is a special day for FLOW – this year it will mark our one year anniversary! We launched FLOW on World Water Day 2010 at The Two Oceans Aquarium. Read about the event here, or watch the video on the right hand side of your screen.
