From 16 March to 3 April, an exhibition “Water resources protection: national and international experience”, devoted to World Water Day, runs in the Official Documents Division (room 2007).
This Day was proclaimed by the UN General Assembly on 22 December 1992 (resolution 47/193). Since 1993 it has been annually celebrated on 22 March.
Water is one of the most widespread compounds on the Earth. It is almost the whole hydrosphere, it enters into the composition of various minerals and rocks, plants and animals, ranging from 50 to 90% of their weight, it is a component of soil and atmosphere. Water is essential for life. It is one of the most valuable resources. Water has a special place among all the compounds. It plays a paramount role in numerous processes and phenomena of animate and inanimate nature, as well as in the process when it is used by men.
In fact, all currently available water supplies are exhausting rapidly because of high population growth, unsustainable consumption patterns, poor management, environmental pollution, inadequate investment in infrastructure and low efficiency of water use.
In the twentieth century, water use has increased six times, and in future people will need more water. Therefore, the world community has a problem of protection and conservation of water resources of the planet that was the beginning of the annual observance of World Water Day.
The main objectives of the Day are:
- promote the adoption of appropriate measures to solve drinking water supply;
- informe the public about the importance of preservation and conservation of freshwater resources and water resources in general;
- attraction for the celebration of World Water Day, governments, international agencies, NGOs and a private sector around the world.
Every year World Water Day is dedicated to a specific topic to focus on issues concerning millions of people. The theme for 2012 is called "Water and Food Security". This theme is really very important because now about 700 million people in 43 countries around the world live suffering from chronic hunger and lack of drinking water, and by 2025 it will have been the problem for more than 3 billion people.
Complex water resources management will be a significant way to overcome the problem of water shortage. As many rivers and aquifers are the common heritage of countries, international cooperation will be important too. Such cooperation will contribute to the development of harmonious transboundary relations in general.
In the Republic of Belarus transboundary cooperation referred to the main directions of foreign policy of our state. Our country has rich and diverse water resources. So the problems of conservation, multiplying, and water resource management are given much attention. Belarus supports international water initiatives for cooperation, security and sustainable development in all countries.
The exhibition features more than 100 documents in the Russian and English languages: books, periodicals, UN mimeographed materials, brochures and booklets.
The exhibition includes the following sections:
- Water resources of the world, their condition and use;
- International legal instruments for the protection, conservation and utilization of water resources;
- International watercourses: protection and management of transboundary water resources;
- Water scarcity is a global problem. Water and food security;
- Use, condition and protect water resources of the Republic of Belarus.
The exhibition will be interesting for scientists, students, graduate students, specialists in hydrology, environmental economics, environmental protection, and all those who are interested in the problems of environmental protection of water resources.
Useful references:
- World Water Day
- International Decade for action "Water for life"
- UN Water
- Water and sanitation
- World Oceans Day (8 June)
- International Year of Freshwater (2003)
- International Year of Sanitation (2008)
- UN works for people and the planet
- UN works on preservation of freshwater
- Water Supply&Sanitation collaborative council
- World Water Council
- EU Water Initiative
Documents
- Human development report 2006. Beyond scarcity: Power, poverty and the global water crisis
- UN-Water Annual Report 2010
- UN-Water Policy Brief on Water Quality
- Guide UN water
Information about transbundary resources
- Transboundary waters
- Right for water
- Water has its own price
- Protection of the quality and supply of freshwater resources application of intergrated approaches to the development, management abd use of water resources
Resolutions
- General Assembly
- Economic and social council
- Secretary-General’s reports
- UN Human Rights Council
- Dushanbe declaration on water-related disaster reduction
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