Every year, World Water Day is celebrated on March 22 to help raise awareness and inspire action to tackle the water and sanitation crisis. It is a United Nations observance, coordinated by UN-Water.
This year’s World Water Day campaign is called, “Water for Peace.”
“Water for Peace” explained
Water can create peace or spark conflict. When water is scarce or polluted, or when people have unequal or no access, tensions can rise between communities and countries.
More than 3 billion people worldwide depend on water that crosses national borders. Yet, out of 153 countries that share rivers, lakes, and aquifers with their neighbors, only 24 countries report having cooperation agreements for all their shared water.
In addition, water quality data are not collected routinely in a majority of countries. This means that more than 3 billion people are at risk because the health of their freshwater ecosystems is unknown.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicates that water is considered “the most important resource for sustaining ecosystems, which provide life-supporting services for people, animals, and plants.”
Not only do individuals need clean water, but entire communities need clean water, and they need more than just water. Communities need clean water that is safe to use for household cooking, washing, and sanitation.
As climate change impacts increase, there is an urgent need, within and between countries, to unite around protecting and conserving our most precious resource.
As populations grow, water will become increasingly important in the fight against poverty and the deterioration of the environment.
Cooperation on water can build vital resilience to extreme weather events and help populations to mitigate and adapt to a changing climate.
Public health and prosperity, food and energy systems, economic productivity, and environmental integrity all rely on a well-functioning and equitably managed water cycle.
This means that non-discrimination and equality in ensuring access to water and sanitation can have a positive ripple effect across society.
Peaceful cooperation around water can flow into peaceful cooperation in all sectors.
By working together to balance everyone’s human rights and needs, water can be a stabilizing force and a catalyst for sustainable development.
We must act upon the realization that water is not only a resource to be used and competed over—it is a human right, intrinsic to every aspect of life.
At the local and national level, different water users, particularly water and sanitation utilities, energy, food, and industry, must cooperate through an integrated water resources management approach and promote a circular economy that fulfills people’s human rights.
At the basin level, countries should develop agreements and set up institutions to peacefully manage water resources that cross international borders.
Cooperation on transboundary waters is essential for peace and prosperity.
We all have a part to play.
As individuals, we can use water more carefully, reducing stress on the environment and water infrastructure. We can also hold elected officials, companies, organizations, and others to account for their obligations and promises on water.
In our working lives, we can ensure that all our activities are done responsibly and protect water resources and ecosystems.
We all need to unite around water and use water for peace, laying the foundations of a more stable and prosperous tomorrow.
How is water linked to conflict?
Water often plays a role during conflict. Some examples include:
Water can be a trigger when interests of different water users, including states and provinces, clash and are perceived as irreconcilable, or when water quantity and/or quality decreases, which may affect human- and ecosystem health.
Water can be a weapon during armed conflict, used by both State and non-State actors, as a means to gain or maintain control over territory and populations or as a means to pressurize opponent groups.
Who can forget the water cannons used on 400 peaceful protestors in North Dakota by local police during Standing Rock?
Water can be a casualty of conflict when water resources, water systems, or utility employees are intentional or incidental casualties or targets of violence. Attacks on civilian infrastructure, including water systems, pose serious health risks and violate international humanitarian law.
How can water be a tool for peace?
Water scarcity is an increasing problem on every continent, with lower income communities most affected. To build resilience against climate change and to serve a growing population equitably and sustainably, an integrated and inclusive approach, centered on human rights, and based on sound, trusted data, must be taken to managing this finite resource.
In this context, water can be a catalyst for peace at all levels.
At the community level, water can bring together different water users or “rights- holders,” around a common cause and provide an entry point for dialogue, reconciliation, and peace building.
At the national level, the need to cooperate across different water-using sectors might provide a starting point for coordination across interests.
At the transboundary level, cooperation over shared water resources and “hydrodiplomacy,” can be a starting point for communication and broader cooperation, including beyond water resources. In post-conflict situations, water cooperation plays a pivotal role in rebuilding trust and fostering long-term stability, offering a tangible foundation for collaboration and mutual understanding.
At all levels, the various actors must ensure the effective participation of rights-holders, particularly of riparian (which means adjacent to the water body) communities, to prevent internal and cross-border conflicts. Transparency, accountability, and open availability of information are also key to guarantee a human rights-based approach to water management.
In general, science and education are essential, as they enable people to exchange and benefit from knowledge and data, and the development of shared understanding and solutions.
Looking to the future, educating people, starting in schools, about water’s role in peace, stability, social equity, and prosperity, is crucial to building the awareness and skills that will ensure a more sustainable and peaceful world is created with water at its core.
Ways To Get Involved
Read the UN World Water Development Report, launching on March 22:
Think about what water and peace mean to you and make an artwork, installation, song, or film as inspiration for others. Share it on your social media with the hashtag #WorldWaterDay
Organize a talk in your school, university, community, office, or organization to start a conversation on water.
Organize a lakeside or river shore clean-up campaign, preferably involving the communities that share the resource.
Host a concert, play, or sports event to draw attention to local water and peace issues.
If you are a teacher or student, organize/propose a lesson on water or get the whole school involved in water and peace-themed activities.
Organize a community clean-up of local streams, rivers, lakes, and beaches.
Check out this incredible tool from Minnesota-based Freshwater, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving clean, sustainable water that is vital for healthy communities and ecosystems.
Visit a lake, wetland or river, and learn more about your closest water ecosystem and find your watershed.
Investigate if the water you use comes from a water basin that is shared across a
political boundary.
Organize a photo contest or local exhibition themed on water and peace.
Contribute to or launch citizen science participatory projects aimed at promoting
knowledge of local water bodies, also by collecting data and information.