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Taking Stock of Progress Towards Gender Equality in the Water Domain: Where Do We Stand 25 Years After the Beijing Declaration? Year of publication: 2021 Corporate author: UNESCO World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP) Women are not only the main persons responsible for water collection in many parts of the world, but they also possess invaluable knowledge with regard to water resources and play a key role in water and sanitation management at the local and community levels. Accordingly, women must be able to enjoy equal access to water and also have an equal say in the management and governance of water resources. Twenty-five years after the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, progress towards gender equality through the fulfilment of the basic right to water and sanitation is clearly off track.Despite advances at the policy level in acknowledging the need to progress towards gender equality in the water sector – and the resulting benefits – large gender inequalities persist in practice. Women are generally under-represented in terms of participation at all levels: from institutional bodies that manage national or transboundary waters, to water-related institutions such as governmental water agencies and water utilities, to local water management institutions.This report provides a detailed overview of the existing and emerging challenges to gender equality in the water domain with a particular focus on: access to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), health, employment,climate change management, water governance, education and training, and data collection and funding. Systematic and sustained efforts to eliminate these inequalities are essential to achieve meaningful and lasting gender equality in the water sector, and to promote sustainable development in general.Governments, international organizations, professionals and policy-makers in the water sector, academia and NGOs are invited to join forces to accelerate the achievement of gender equality in water for a more just, sustainable and peaceful future. 
[Executive Summary] The United Nations World Water Development Report 2024: Water for Prosperity and Peace Year of publication: 2024 Author: Richard Connor Corporate author: UNESCO World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP) This is the executive summary of the 2024 edition of the United Nations World Water Development Report (UN WWDR). 
Water and Climate Change: Coursebook Year of publication: 2020 Corporate author: UNESCO World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP) The United Nations World Water Development Report (WWDR) is UN-Water’s flagship report on water and sanitation issues, focusing on a different theme each year. The report is published by UNESCO, on behalf of UN-Water and its production is coordinated by the UNESCO World Water Assessment Programme. The report gives insight on main trends concerning the state, use and management of freshwater and sanitation, based on work done by the Members and Partners of UN-Water. Launched in conjunction with World Water Day, the report provides decision-makers with knowledge and tools to formulate and implement sustainable water policies. It also offers best practices and in-depth analyses to stimulate ideas and actions for better stewardship in the water sector and beyond.The 2020 edition of the WWDR, titled ‘Water and Climate Change’ illustrates the critical linkages between water and climate change in the context of the broader sustainable development agenda. Supported by examples from across the world, it describes both the challenges and opportunities created by climate change, and provides potential responses – in terms of adaptation, mitigation and improved resilience – that can be undertaken by enhancing water resources management, attenuating water-related risks, and improving access to water supply and sanitation services for all in a sustainable manner. It addresses the interrelations between water, people, environment and economics in a changing climate, demonstrating how climate change can be a positive catalyst for improved water management, governance and financing to achieve a sustainable and prosperous world for all.The report provides a fact-based, water-focused contribution to the knowledge base on climate change. It is complementary to existing scientific assessments and designed to support international political frameworks, with the goals of helping the water community tackle the challenges of climate change, and informing the climate change community about the opportunities that improved water management offers in terms of adaptation and mitigation. 
[Facts and Figures] The United Nations World Water Development Report 2020: Water and Climate Change; Facts and Figures Year of publication: 2020 Author: Engin Koncagül | Michael Tran | Richard Connor Corporate author: UNESCO World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP) Since the mid-20th century, changes in the intensity and frequency of extreme weather and climate events have been observed, including a decrease in cold temperature extremes, an increase in warm temperature extremes, an increase in extremely high sea levels and an increase in the number of heavy precipitation events in a number of regions (Min et al., 2011).Climate projections indicate with high confidence that extreme precipitation events will become more intense and frequent in many regions, but also that heatwaves will occur more often and last longer. The former will increase global flood risk (Hirabayashi et al., 2013), while the latter is expected to make droughts more intense (Trenberth et al., 2014). These risks are unevenly distributed geographically, and are generally larger for vulnerable people and communities in countries at all levels of development (IPCC, 2014a). Figure 1. Global water withdrawals throughout the previous centuryFigure 2. Climate change scenario trends in water availabilityFigure 3. Annual baseline water stressFigure 4. Seasonal variabilityFigure 5. World weather-related natural catastrophes by peril, 1980–2018Figure 6. Spatial distribution of water-related disasters (droughts, floods, landslides and storms), 2001–2018Figure 7. Spatial distribution of floods, 2001–2018Figure 8. Spatial distribution of droughts, 2001–2018Figure 9. Electricity consumption in the water sector by process, 2014–2040Figure 10. Number of people living under water stress under the Baseline Scenario 
[Summary] The United Nations World Water Development Report 2019: Leaving No One Behind; Executive Summary Year of publication: 2019 Author: Richard Connor | Stefan Uhlenbrook | Engin Koncagül Corporate author: UNESCO World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP) People from different groups are ‘left behind’ for different reasons. Discrimination, exclusion, marginalization, entrenched power asymmetries and material inequalities are among the main obstacles to achieving the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation for all and realizing the water-related goals of the 2030 Agenda. Poorly designed and inadequately implemented policies, inefficient and improper use of financial resources, as well as policy gaps fuel the persistence of inequalities in access to safe drinking water and sanitation. Unless exclusion and inequality are explicitly and responsively addressed in both policy and practice, water interventions will continue to fail to reach those most in need and who are likely to benefit most.Improving water resources management and providing access to safe and affordable drinking water and sanitation for all is essential for eradicating poverty, building peaceful and prosperous societies, and ensuring that ‘no one is left behind’ on the road towards sustainable development. These goals are entirely achievable, provided there is a collective will to do so. 
[Facts and Figures] The United Nations World Water Development Report 2019: Leaving No One Behind; Facts and Figures Year of publication: 2019 Author: Engin Koncagül | Michael Tran | Richard Connor | Stefan Uhlenbrook Corporate author: UNESCO World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP) Water availability and demandFigure 1 provides a global overview of countries experiencing different levels of water stress (the ratio of total freshwater withdrawn annually by all major sectors, including environmental water requirements, to the total amount of renewable freshwater resources, expressed as a percentage).Over 2 billion people live in countries experiencing high water stress. Recent estimates show that 31 countries experience water stress between 25% (which is defined as the minimum threshold of water stress) and 70%. Another 22 countries are above 70% and are therefore under serious water stress (UN, 2018a).Growing water stress indicates substantial use of water resources, with greater impacts on resource sustainability, and a rising potential for conflicts among users.It has been estimated that about 4 billion people, representing nearly two-thirds of the world population, experience severe water scarcity during at least one month of the year (Mekonnen and Hoekstra, 2016). 
The United Nations World Water Development Report 2021: Valuing Water Year of publication: 2021 Corporate author: UNESCO World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP) The 2021 edition of the United Nations World Water Development Report focuses on valuing water. There is enough water for all provided we use and manage it efficiently. But we don’t. We invest too little, and ineffectively. We use too much water, creating scarcities. Quality is suffering and so is the environment.The value we place on water varies, depending upon who is using it, and why. Value can be a guide to what our goals should be, what actions are needed, and where we should invest. Many of our problems arise because we don’t value water highly enough; all too often water is not valued at all.This report explains various approaches to valuing water for environmental considerations, water-related infrastructure, drinking water, sanitation and hygiene. It looks at valuation issues in food and agriculture, business, industry, energy and financing. And it highlights the perspectives of different value systems and cultures, and associated social and gender-based considerations. 
The United Nations World Water Development Report 2020: Water and Climate Change Year of publication: 2020 Corporate author: UNESCO World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP) The 2020 edition of the UN World Water Development Report addresses the critical linkages between water and climate change in the context of sustainable development. It also serves as a guide for concrete actions to address these challenges. It outlines actions, supported by examples from across the world, in three areas: first, enabling people to adapt to the impacts of climate change; second, improving the resilience of livelihoods; and, third, reducing the drivers of climate change. Critically, measures to improve the efficiency of water use in agriculture is inextricably linked to multiple SDGs. These include those related to zero hunger (SDG 2), availability and access to water (SDG 6), climate action (SDG 13), and promoting the sustainable use of ecosystem services (SDG 15).The Report concludes that reducing both the impacts and drivers of climate change will require substantial changes in the way we use and reuse the Earth’s limited water resources. The experience and expertise needed to achieve this goal are brought together in the Report through UN-Water’s Members and Partners. It will support policy makers in tackling the challenges of climate change by harnessing the wide-ranging opportunities that improved water management offers for adaptation, mitigation and resilience in a rapidly changing world. 
The United Nations World Water Development Report 2024: Water for Prosperity and Peace Year of publication: 2024 Corporate author: UNESCO World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP) Developing and maintaining a secure and equitable water future underpins prosperity and peace for all. The relationship also works in the opposite direction, as poverty and inequality, social tensions, and conflict can amplify water insecurity. The 2024 edition of the United Nations World Water Development Report (UN WWDR) calls attention to the complex and interlinked relationships between water, prosperity and peace, describing how progress in one dimension can have positive, often essential, repercussions on the others. 
[Summary] The United Nations World Water Development Report 2020: Water and Climate Change; Executive Summary Year of publication: 2020 Corporate author: UNESCO World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP) The 2020 edition of the United Nations World Water Development Report (WWDR) addresses the critical linkages between water and climate change in the context of the broader sustainable development agenda. The report is not meant to be a purely technical examination of the impacts of climate change on the hydrological cycle. Rather, the report focuses on the challenges, opportunities and potential responses to climate change – in terms of adaptation, mitigation and improved resilience – that can be addressed through improving how water resources are management and used, while providing water supply and sanitation services for all in a sustainable manner. In doing so, the report tackles two of the most critical crises the world will continue facing over the next several decades: Water (in)security and climate change.