W o r l dor l d W a t e r D a yD a y W doo r l dr ll d W a t e r W d r y W … · 2015-01-30 · In recent years, a drought period coinciding with a religious celebration gave rise

waa

wa

wtt at aat aeetettetrr

................

.

CULTURE

United NationsEducational, Scientifi c and

Cultural Organization

and

W o r l do r l d W a t e rW a t e r D a y D a yW o r l d W a t e r D a yWWWW o r l do r l do r l do r l do r l do r l do r l do r l d W a t e rW a t e rW a t e rW a t e rW a t e r

W a t e rW a t e rW a t e rW a t e rW a t e rW a t e rW a t e rW a t e rW a t e r D a y D a y D a y D a y D a y D a y D a y D a y D a y D a y D a y D a y D a y D a y

www

����������������������������

�������������������������������������

���������������������������������������

����������������������������

���������������

���� ������

�������������������������������

�����

����

����

�����

����

water and culture

AND WORLDVIEWS

wwwwwwwwaa

wa

wt AND t AND

WORLDVIEWStWORLDVIEWSat aetetr In 1993, the United Nations General Assembly designated 22 March as World Water Day

(WWD) in a worldwide celebration of this vital resource. Each year, UN-Water, the United Nations system-wide coordinating mechanism for freshwater issues, selects a different UN agency to coordinate events surrounding WWD around the world, and a different theme is chosen to refl ect the many facets of freshwater resources.

World Water Day 2006 will be guided by the United Nations Educational, Scientifi c and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) under the theme Water and Culture.

The theme “Water and Culture” draws attention to the fact that there are as many ways of viewing, using, and celebrating water as there are cultural traditions around the world. Each region recognizes the value and central place of water in human life. Cultural traditions, indigenous practices and societal values determine how people perceive and manage water.

Modern science confi rms that water is the source of all life on earth and that all living species are largely made of water. Early cultures already understood this and numerous creation myths represent the world emerging from a primordial ocean.

In many religions and beliefs, water plays a central role: as a source of life, water represents birth and regeneration. Water cleanses the body and, by extension, purifi es it. These two qualities confer a highly symbolic – even sacred – value to water, which is a key element in many ceremonies and religious rites. The occurrence of water in nature is often of striking beauty. But humanity also frequently experiences the destructive powers of water. Awareness of its dual nature has infl uenced cultures around the world, placing water prominently in all the major mythologies and cosmologies, and affecting the role of water in traditions and rituals.

In Latin America, for example, according to an ancient worldview still prevalent in many Andean communities, water originated from Wirakocha, the God who created the universe, who impregnated Pachamama (Mother Earth) and made it possible for life to reproduce. Water is therefore considered to be a divinity that is present in streams, rivers, lakes, lagoons, the sea etc. In many communities with similar cosmologies, water is considered holistically: its physical and spiritual aspects forming a whole.

“[…] We recognize, honour and respect water as sacred […]. Our traditional knowledge, laws and ways of life teach us to be responsible in caring for this sacred gift that connects all life.

Our relationship with our lands, territories and water is the fundamental physical cultural and spiritual basis for our existence. This relationship to our Mother Earth requires us to conserve our freshwaters and oceans for the survival of present and future generations. We assert our role as caretakers with rights and responsibilities to defend and ensure the protection, availability and purity of water. We stand united to follow and implement our knowledge and traditional laws and exercise our right of self-determination to preserve water, and to preserve life. […]”

Indigenous Peoples Kyoto DeclarationMarch 2003 - Third World Water Forum, Kyoto, Japan

2

water and culture

Cultural perceptions and practices are a part of a population’s identity. Language, rituals, and feasts may testify to a society’s interaction with water. This is the case, for instance, for the large variety of rain dances performed throughout the world and rituals like the Japanese tea ceremony. In some cultures, the signifi cance of water has become an inextricable part of everyday life, like in Chinese Feng Shui (“wind and water”). Water is an essential element of Feng Shui, where, when appropriately taken into account, it brings good luck, prosperity, and positive energies.

There are also many water festivals through the world such as the Thingyan Water Festival, also known as Myanmar’s Traditional New Years Festival. It has been celebrated for over 500 years on the second week of April, when residents throw water on each other to wash away their sins. The annual shift of the fl ow of the Mekong River is celebrated in Phnom Penh (Cambodia) with boat races and a great popular feast. In recent years, a drought period coinciding with a religious celebration gave rise to a water festival in Vilagarcia de Arousa (Spain), in the middle of August.

Water is a recurrent subject in painting, sculpture, photography and fi lm, music and literature. Artistic representations of water can be found in most cultures. The forms, colours and refl ections of water have inspired patterns that are recurrent in arts and in crafts since times immemorial, often associated with symbols of fertility. Interestingly, water often blurs the limit between art and sciences. An example is the work, of Leonardo da Vinci, who was fascinated by water. He studied it both as an artist, a scientist and as a hydrological engineer. Da Vinci described water as “the vehicle of nature” (vetturale di natura) believing it to be to the world what blood is to our bodies.

Many songs have been written about water and great composers of all times have been inspired and infl uenced by the sounds of moving water. Modern art is still very much inspired by water.

Numerous fi lms treat of water as a subject or use it in various, often highly symbolic ways. The First International Water and Film Event will celebrate this relationship on the occasion of the 4th World Water Forum in Mexico.

All the ancient civilizations of the world evolved around water, which provided the indispensable conditions for the development of agriculture, trade, transport and defence. The Roman Empire, the Khmer, Indus and Nile civilizations, for example, were all founded on their access to, and control of, water. They developed political and administrative systems, and the cohesion of their societies, while developing the management of their water resources. The decline of some of those civilizations can be attributed to their loss of control over the resource.

Many water management systems found in ancient times are still used and remain the basis of modern societies. For example, some of the 3000-year old Persian quanats, sub-terranean canals transporting water over long distances are still in use today. The principle of the Roman sewage system, invented some 2000 years ago, remains the basis for the development of large modern cities.

����������������������������

�������������������������������������

���������������������������������������

����������������������������

���������������

���� ������

�������������������������������

�����

����

����

�����

����

wwstill in use today. The principle of the Roman sewage system, invented some 2000 wstill in use today. The principle of the Roman sewage system, invented some 2000 years ago, remains the basis for the development of large modern cities.wyears ago, remains the basis for the development of large modern cities.waaaaaa

wa

wttt at aat aat aeeeeee te tte tte trrrr

CIVILIZATIONS

INTANGIBLEHERITAGEAND ARTS

3

water and culture

wwa

wa

wtt at aeetettetrr

����������������������������

�������������������������������������

���������������������������������������

����������������������������

���������������

���� ������

�������������������������������

�����

����

����

�����

����

Water in the World Heritage

UNESCO’s World Heritage List features properties forming part of the natural and cultural heritage which considered to be of outstanding universal value.

Numerous natural sites all over the world have been shaped by water, among them, to name but a few, are: Los Glaciares National Park, in the southern Argentine Andes, the 3rd largest ice fi eld in the world after Antarctica and Greenland; Lake Baikal, 3.15 million ha in south-east Siberia (Russia), is the oldest (25 million years) and deepest (1,700 m) lake in the world and contains 20% of the world’s total surface freshwater reserve; the spectacular gorge of the Grand Canyon (U.S.A.), nearly 1,500 m deep, was carved out by the Colorado River; the Mosi-oa-Tunya water falls, Victoria Falls, between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zimbabwe, are among the most impressive “waterscapes” in the world.

Examples of the many water-related cultural sites are: Xochimilco, 28 km south of Mexico City (Mexico), featuring a network of canals and artifi cial islands which testify to the efforts of the Aztec people to build a habitat in the midst of an unfavourable environment. This site is the only reminder of the lacustrine (i.e. lake) landscape of the Aztec capital, “the Venice of the New World.” The Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras (Philippines) were inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1995. For 2,000 years, the high rice fi elds of the Ifugao have followed the contours of the mountains, creating a beautiful landscape that testifi es to a harmonious relationship between humanity and the environment. Around the Mediterranean, among the various elements of urban infrastructure introduced by the Romans, were the water distribution systems and thermae (grand public baths). They illustrate some of the earliest developments in water management technology. The Caracalla bath in Djémila (Cuicul, in Algeria) was as large as 2,600 square metres and a fountain distributed water to the town’s inhabitants. Built by Emperor Trajan, Timgad, (also in modern-day Algeria) had public bath with a toilet system, running water, and basins.

Water shapes our daily lives, our collective memory and our identities. Water is the only natural resource that is central to all aspects of civilization – from agriculture and industry to cultural practices and religious values. While the socio-cultural interaction with water varies as much as the distribution of the resource on our planet, our vital dependence on water is a common denominator and a driving force of development.

Today’s water problems cannot be solved by technical fi xes alone. We must better understand and fully take into account the diversity of the cultural dimension of water to fi nd sustainable solutions.

CULTURE ANDSUSTAINABLE

DEVELOPMENT

ww

4

wweeeerr

wa

wa

wtt at aeetettet

• 1.1 billion people lack suffi cient access to safe drinking water.

• 2.6 billion people lack access to basic sanitation.

• 6,000 children die every day from lack of safe water or poor hygiene.

• On average, African and Asian women have to cover 8 kilometers a to get fresh water.

• The average African lives with less than 20 litres per day while the average European consumes more than 150 litres daily and the average North American more than 300 litres.

• 4 billion hectares, representing 1/3 of the emerged lands of the globe, are threatened by desertifi cation.

Water challenges for the 21st century

Over the last century, the global population has tripled and water consumption has increased six fold. The ever-growing demand of people, industry and agriculture

make managing water one of the planet’s biggest challenges for the 21st century.

Unevenly distributed, wasted, polluted, a source of confl ict, water is no longer a free and unlimited resource. According to some projections, if nothing is done, 7 billion people in 60 countries will face moderate to severe water scarcity (2 billion people in 48 countries according to the most optimistic projections). This imminent crisis is one of the greatest causes of concern this century.

Although 70% of the world’s surface is covered by water, only 2.5% of this is freshwater. 0.3% of this freshwater is to be found in rivers, lakes and reservoirs, 30% in groundwater, while the rest is stored in distant glaciers, ice sheets and mountainous areas.

Various factors need to be taken into account to raise awareness of water issues: Population growth: The six billion inhabitants of the world are already appropriating 54% of all accessible freshwater. By 2025 humankind’s share will increase to 70%. If per capita consumption of water resources continues to rise at its current rate, humankind could be using over 90% of all available freshwater within 25 years, leaving 10% only for all other living beings.Uneven distribution: The Asian continent supports 60% of the world’s population with only 36% of the world’s water resources. Europe has 13% of the world’s population and 7% of world’s water resources; Africa has 13% of the population and 11% of the water; North and Central America have 8% of the population and 15% of the water; Oceania has less than 1% of the world’s population but 5% of the world’s water; and South America has 6% of the world’s population and 26% of the world’s water resources.Increased use in agriculture and industry: Seventy percent of all water tapped for human use goes to agriculture, mostly for irrigation; industry accounts for 22%, and domestic use (household, drinking and sanitation) accounts for 8%.Increase in energy needs: Hydropower is the most widely-used renewable source of energy; it represents 19% of total electricity production. There are now about 45,000 large dams worldwide. Somewhere between 40 and 80 million people have been displaced by dam construction, forced to relocate to other, often less productive, land.

SCARCITY

5

water and culture

wwa

wa

wtt at aeetettetr

����������������������������

�������������������������������������

���������������������������������������

����������������������������

���������������

���� ������

�������������������������������

�����

����

����

�����

����

wUrbanization: By 2030, over 60% (nearly 5 billion people) of the world’s population will be living in urban areas. Competing demands from domestic, commercial, industrial and peri-urban agriculture are putting enormous pressure on freshwater resources.Climate change: Floods, droughts, desertifi cation… According to many forecasts, global warming will lead to a 1° C to 2° C increase in air temperature by 2050. In arid regions this could result in a 10% drop in rainfall and a 40 to 70% reduction in the water available in rivers and lakes. In cooler regions at high latitudes, winter thaws could be more intense, causing fl ooding, while river levels would run low in summer. Poverty: People living on less than US$1 a day are the same people who have no access to safe drinking water; people living on less than US$2 a day have no access to safe sanitation. Women and children have to contend with long walks to fetch water and high prices to buy it. Insuffi cient and unclean water supplies furthermore lead to food insecurity and diseases.

Industrialization and urbanization produce large volumes of effl uent wastewater.Each year, industry generates 300 to 500 million tons of heavy metals, solvents, toxic waste and other refuse. More than 80% of the world’s hazardous waste is produced in the industrialized countries. In developing countries, 70% of all industrial waste is dumped untreated, polluting water supplies. Intensifi cation of agriculture has also resulted in massive increases in agrochemicals, whose residues are discharged into rivers, lakes and groundwater.

Poor water quality has dramatic impacts on human health, natural habitats and biodiversity. Eighty percent of all diseases are water-related (schistosomiasis, intestinal helminthes, hepatitis A, diarrhoea, malaria, chikungunya, etc.) and 5 million people, mostly children, die from water-borne diseases every year.

Water scarcity and deteriorating water quality risk intensifying tensions at the national and international levels.

Over 260 river basins are shared by two or more countries. To date, the UNESCO’s International Shared Aquifer Resource Management project (ISARM) has inventoried over 150 shared aquifer systems with boundaries that do not correspond to those of surface basins. UNESCO, through its From Potential Confl ict to Co-operation Potential project (PC-CP) has also supported research at Oregon State University (U.S.A.) that counted 263 international river basins (surface water). Approximately one third of those basins are shared by more than two countries, and 19 involve fi ve or more sovereign states. Of these, one basin – the Danube – has 18 riparian nations. Five basins – the Congo, Niger, Nile, Rhine and Zambezi – are shared by nine to 11 countries. The remaining 13 basins – the Amazon, Aral Sea, Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna, Jordan, Kura-Araks, Lake Chad, Mekong, Neman, La Plata, Tarim, Tigris-Euphrates and Vistula (Wista) – have fi ve to eight riparian countries.

Progress has been made, but the issue of sharing water has never been more pressing, and there is an increasing urgency to develop sustainable and equitable means for the peaceful sharing of water resources. In this context, the sound understanding of the environmental, socio-economic and cultural water issues is a prerequisite.

Although water is a renewable resource, it is only renewable within certain limits. Water is a common good of humanity. Access to suffi cient quantities of clean water is a fundamental human right and a UN Millennium Development Goal.

If we want to avoid the global social and environmental crisis, we must implement an ethical approach to water management at a global level.

rreerrrrQUALITY

DETERIORATION

CONFLICTS

6

In its 2000 Millennium Declaration, the General Assembly of the United Nations set eight goals for development, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a blueprint for sustainable development, which was approved by all the world’s countries and all the world’s leading development institutions.

Improving the management of water resources is a key to attaining the MDGs. One objective is to halve by 2015 the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation.

The primary goal of the Water for Life Decade (2005-2015) is to promote efforts to fulfi ll the international commitments made on water and water-related issues by 2015. Among the central themes of the Decade are: scarcity, access to sanitation and health, water and gender, capacity-building, fi nancing, valuation, integrated water resources management, trans-boundary water issues, environment and biodiversity, disaster prevention, food and agriculture, pollution and energy.

UN-Water, the offi cial United Nations inter-agency mechanism for follow-up of the water-related decisions reached at the World Summit on Sustainable Development of 2002 and the Millennium Development Goals, coordinates the Water for Life Decade. UN-Water brings together 24 UN entities involved in water.

WWAP builds on the achievements of many previous endeavors and focuses on assessing the evolving situation concerning freshwater throughout the world. It is hosted and led by UNESCO. Its primary output is the World Water Development Report, which is published every three years and provides the most comprehensive up-to-date overview of the state of this resource. The 2nd UN World Water Development Report (WWDR2) will be offi cially launched on 22 March, World Water Day 2006 at the 4th World Water Forum in Mexico City (Mexico). The report was compiled on the basis of contributions of numerous UN agencies.

The United Nations Educational, Scientifi c and Cultural Organization is currently celebrating its 60th anniversary. As early as 1956, the Organization started developing international projects and programmes to improve our understanding and management of the earth’s resources. UNESCO has taken an interdisciplinary approach to help provide the scientifi c knowledge, technological training and policy advice required to manage the world’s water resources, sustainably, effi ciently and fairly.

Following the International Hydrological Decade, which began in 1965, the IHP was established in 1975 as the only intergovernmental programme of the UN system devoted to the scientifi c study of the hydrological cycle and to formulating strategies and policies for the sustainable management of water resources.

IHP runs projects on hydrological sciences and water management, including: transboundary aquifers; international river basin monitoring and management; groundwater studies, particularly in arid zones; ecohydrology; urban water management; water governance, especially gender-related; studies concerning water history and civilization; the ethics of non-renewable water mining; and the prevention and resolution of water confl icts between and within countries.

UNESCO IHE is the largest postgraduate education institute in the world for water, environment and infrastructure. Since its creation in 1957, UNESCO-IHE has provided education, training and research to more than 12,000 water sector professionals from 120 different countries. The mission of UNESCO-IHE is to contribute to the education and training of professionals and to build the capacity of sector organizations, knowledge centres and other institutions working on water, the environment and infrastructure, in developing countries and countries in transition.

WORLD WATER ASSESSMENT PROGRAMME

(WWAP)

WATER ANDUNESCO

INTERNATIONAL HYDROLOGICAL

PROGRAMME (IHP)

UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water

Education

WaterWater and the UN system

7

UNESCOInternational Hydrological Programme

Division of water sciences

1, rue Miollis

75732 Paris cedex 15

France

Tel. +33 (0)1 45 68 4001

Fax +33 (0)1 45 68 5811

e-mail: [email protected]

www.unesco.org/water/wwd2006

Culture

“The set of distinctive spiritual, material, intellectual

and emotional features of society or a social group,

[...] it encompasses, in addition to art and literature,

lifestyles, ways of living together, value systems,

traditions and beliefs.”

Source: UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity

ccoonttact ct c

World Water Day celebrates the importance of water in our daily lives

and in the life of our planet; it is a global event, and one that welcomes

each and every attempt at participation. A special session is organized on

22 March 2006 to celebrate World Water Day during the 4th World Water

Forum, held in in Mexico City, Mexico.

Phot

os: U

NES

CO

P

rintin

g: G

rap

h200

0