World Water Day

Not to be confused with World Water Monitoring Day.

World Water Day
A World Water Day celebration in Kenya in 2011
Observed byPeople and organizations worldwide, including all UN member states
Date22 March
Next time22 March 2025 (2025-03-22)
FrequencyAnnual
First time22 March 1993
Related toWater, Sustainable development, Sustainability

World Water Day is an annual United Nations (UN) observance day held on the 22nd of March that highlights the importance of fresh water. The day is used to advocate for the sustainable management of freshwater resources.[1] The theme of each year focuses on topics relevant to clean water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), which is in line with the targets of Sustainable Development Goal 6.[2] The UN World Water Development Report (WWDR) is released each year around World Water Day.

UN-Water is the convener for World Water Day and selects the theme for each year in consultation with UN organizations that share an interest in that year's focus.[1] The theme for 2021 was "Valuing Water" and the public campaign invited people to join a global conversation on social media to "tell us your stories, thoughts and feelings about water".[3]

In 2020, the theme was "Water and Climate Change".[4] Previous themes for the years 2016 to 2019 were "Water and Jobs'",[5] "Why waste water?"[6] "Nature for Water",[7] and "Leaving no one behind".[8] World Water Day is celebrated around the world with a variety of events. These can be theatrical, musical or lobbying in nature. The day can also include campaigns to raise money for water projects. The first World Water Day, designated by the United Nations, was in 1993.[1]

  1. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference UNWATER2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ WHO and UNICEF (2017) Progress on Drinking Water, Sanitation and Hygiene: 2017 Update and SDG Baselines Archived 27 February 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Geneva: World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), 2017
  3. ^ "World Water Day". UN-Water. Archived from the original on 1 June 2020. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
  4. ^ "World Water Day 2020 – Water and Climate Change". UN-Water. 2020. Archived from the original on 6 March 2021. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ "World Water Day theme (2017)". UN-Water. Archived from the original on 12 October 2018. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference :3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).