World Water Day 2011

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 of this year's celebration 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.

To learn more about World Water Day in general, do head on over to the main website of this annual celebration. To learn more about this year's celebration, do pay a visit to the official page of this year's celebration. All the information found in this blog post were sourced from the aforementioned webpages.