The United Nations World Water Development Report “Managing Water under Uncertainty and Risk” was presented in the UN House in Moscow on 13 March 2012. The event was attended by representatives of UNIC, UNESCO, journalists and experts in the fields of water resources, forestry and economics. The key messages of the Report were communicated by Prof. Viktor Danilov-Danilian, RAS Corresp. Member, Director of the Water Problems Institute of RAS.

The United Nations World Water Development Report is a UN Water flagship report produced by the United Nations World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP), a programme of UN Water hosted by UNESCO. The development of the report appeared to be a large-scale project and joined 29 UN agencies and 25 partner organizations.

This flagship report is a comprehensive review that gives an overall picture of the state of the world's freshwater resources. It analyses pressures from decisions that drive demand for water and affect its availability.

The presentation of the report in Moscow was opened by the event organizers: Mr Alexandre Gorelik, Director of UNIC in Moscow, and Mr Dendev Badarch, Director of the UNESCO Moscow Office. 

The problem of the quality and availability of water recourses needs to be addressed on both international and national levels. As Mr Danilov-Danilian emphasized, Russia is very likely to experience severe shortage of water in its Western territories already by 2030. The main water polluter in Russia is housing and public utility sector, industry and agriculture hold the second and third places respectively. Therefore, in order to solve the water problem it is essential to pay precise attention to the performance of the public utility sector, improve sewage water treatment, control water leakage and start to develop the water intensive industries on the Eastern territories of the country.

The participants of the presentation underlined that as well it is important to strengthen the interconnection between forest protection and water programmes, promote international cooperation and force government to change the general attitude to water management. At the end it becomes evident that the conclusions of the Russian participants are quite similar to the conclusions of the UN World Water Development Report.

To discover more, please visit the website and find there press-releases, report overview, posters, flyers and etc. in UNESCO official languages.