Organization:UNESCO World Water Assessment Programme

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UNESCO WWAP
UNESCO World Water Assessment Programme
Logo
Formation2000
Legal statusActive
HeadquartersPerugia, Italy
Official language
English, Italian
Websitehttps://www.unesco.org/wwap

The UNESCO World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP) was established in 2000 in response to a call from the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) to produce a UN system-wide periodic global overview of the status in terms of quantity and quality, use and management of freshwater resources.

WWAP actively coordinates the sustained efforts of a broad coalition of UN-Water members and various international partners. This collaboration is central to producing the World Water Development Report (WWDR), the UN-Water's flagship report on water and sanitation issues. Released annually, the WWDR focuses on different strategic water issues each year, providing a comprehensive review of the global state of freshwater resources.

WWAP also developed a comprehensive gender component with concrete achievements, namely, the development of Toolkit on Sex-disaggregated Water Data and the Call for Action Initiative supported by a Multi-Stakeholder Coalition composed of Member State institutions, UN agencies, international and regional organizations, Official Development Assistance (ODA) agencies, and civil society.[1]

Background

In 1998, during the Sixth Session of the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD), the need for regular, global assessments of freshwater resources was highlighted. In response to this call, what is now known as UN-Water (then the ACC Subcommittee on Water Resources) took the decision to produce a UN system-wide periodic global overview of the status, use and management of freshwater resources. Recognizing the importance for the report to have a multi-stakeholder dimension, it was decided that it would be a United Nations report in cooperation with other stakeholders. The World Water Assessment Programme was established in 2000 to coordinate the production of the Report. The first WWDR was launched on 22 March 2003.

Until 2012, the WWDR was produced and released every three years. In 2012, as a result of a Global Stakeholder Survey in which stakeholders called for change in terms of focus and periodicity, UN-Water Members decided to change the WWDR into an annual production with a thematic focus on specific strategic water issues.

The World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP) is an extra-budgetary programme supported by the Italian government, and hosted by the Umbria region in Perugia, Italy, since 2007. Between 2000 and 2006, WWAP was funded by the Japanese government and was based at UNESCO headquarters in Paris.

WWAP, initially through the WWDR series, underlined the importance of gender equality in water domain for Sustainable Development. To add more substance and depth to the gender related discussion, UNESCO WWAP led a special working group that highlighted the substantial and persistent gender inequalities in water access, management, and governance. These inequalities are significant barriers to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In line with the alarming findings of this working group and aligned with UNESCO's Gender Equality Priority, WWAP developed its full-fledged programme on gender.[1]

Mission and Objectives

UNESCO WWAP provides knowledge, technical support and publications related to global water governance to help formulate and implement sustainable water policies.[2]

Activities

United Nations World Water Development Report (UN WWDR)

The WWDR is an annual thematic report that assesses global freshwater resources and water management challenges. It is launched each year the 22 March on the UN World Water Day. Since 2014, the World Water Development Report (WWDR) has been an annual, thematic publication, focusing each year on a different strategic issue, such as groundwater, climate change, or water governance. Prior to 2014, the reports were produced every three years and took a comprehensive approach.

WWAP coordinates with all UN agencies and international academic institutions to prepare the report, which each year focuses on a different aspect of water resources. The report provides policy recommendations to decision-makers by offering the most updated knowledge available, in-depth analyses, and best practices.[3][4]

The report is widely used as a reference in global water policy research and SDG 6 monitoring frameworks.[5][6] Independent evaluations highlight that the WWDR contributes to data harmonization in global water governance, although it is often complemented by World Bank and OECD datasets.[7]

  • 2026: Water for All People: Equal Rights and Opportunities[8]
  • 2025: Mountains and glaciers: water towers[9]
  • 2024: Water for Prosperity and Peace[10]
  • 2023: Partnerships and Cooperation for Water[11]
  • 2022: Groundwater: Making the invisible visible[12]
  • 2021: Valuing Water[13]
  • 2020: Water and Climate Change
  • 2019: Leaving No One Behind
  • 2018: Nature-Based Solutions for Water
  • 2017: Wastewater: The Untapped Resource
  • 2016: Water and Jobs
  • 2015: Water for a Sustainable World
  • 2014: Water and Energy
  • 2012: Managing Water under Uncertainty and Risk
  • 2009: Water in a Changing World
  • 2006: Water: A Shared Responsibility
  • 2003: Water for People, Water for Life

The role of WWAP and WWDR has been analyzed in academic literature as part of broader global environmental governance systems. Studies emphasize its function in aggregating fragmented water data across countries and institutions.[14]

Research from water policy institutions such as the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) notes that global water reports like the WWDR help shape international discourse on water security and sustainability.[15]

Water and Climate Change training program

Wastewater training program

Call for Action

UNESCO-WWAP Gender Disaggregated Water Data Toolkit

  • Tool 1: Gender-responsive indicators for water assessment, monitoring and reporting
  • Tool 2: Methodology for the collection of sex-disaggregated water data
  • Tool 3: Guidelines on the collection of sex-disaggregated water data
  • Tool 4: Questionnaire for the collection of sex-disaggregated water data

SDG 6 Synthesis Report

Criticism and limitations

Some policy analyses suggest that global water reporting systems rely heavily on aggregated data and may face limitations in consistency and national-level accuracy.[16]

Additionally, governance research highlights the challenge of balancing global reporting frameworks with locally produced water data systems.[17]

Publications

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "World Water Assessment Programme". https://www.unesco.org/en/wwap. 
  2. ↑ "World Water Assessment Programme_About us". https://www.unesco.org/en/wwap/about?hub=68313. 
  3. ↑ "World Water Assessment Programme_Report". https://www.unesco.org/reports/wwdr/en/reports?hub=68313. 
  4. ↑ "UN Water_Publication_WWDR". https://www.unwater.org/publications/un-world-water-development-report. 
  5. ↑ UNESCO (2021). UN World Water Development Report 2021: Valuing Water. UNESCO Publishing.
  6. ↑ UN Water (2018). Integrated Monitoring Initiative for SDG 6. UN-Water.
  7. ↑ OECD (2016). Water Governance in OECD Countries. OECD Publishing.
  8. ↑ Water for All People: Equal Rights and Opportunities. UNESCO World Water Assessment Programme. 2026. ISBN 978-92-3-100853-5. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000397159. 
  9. ↑ Mountains and glaciers: water towers. UNESCO World Water Assessment Programme. 2025. ISBN 978-92-3-100743-9. 
  10. ↑ Water for prosperity and peace. UNESCO World Water Assessment Programme. 2024. ISBN 978-92-3-100743-9. 
  11. ↑ Partnerships and cooperation for water. UNESCO World Water Assessment Programme. 2023. ISBN 978-92-3-100576-3. 
  12. ↑ Groundwater: making the invisible visible. UNESCO World Water Assessment Programme. 2022. ISBN 978-92-3-100507-7. 
  13. ↑ Valuing water. UNESCO World Water Assessment Programme. 2021. ISBN 978-92-3-100434-6. 
  14. ↑ Conca, K. (2015). An Unfinished Foundation: The United Nations and Global Environmental Governance. Oxford University Press.
  15. ↑ SIWI (2020). World Water Week Scientific Review Report. Stockholm International Water Institute.
  16. ↑ World Bank (2017). Uncharted Waters: The New Economics of Water Scarcity. World Bank Group.
  17. ↑ OECD (2015). Water Resources Governance. OECD Studies on Water.



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