Water - a shared responsibility

This report provides an up-to-date global overview of the state and uses of freshwater, critical water-related problems and societies' coping mechanisms. Section 1 gives an overview of the pressures and complexity that water managers face, in what is often a fast changing setting where the available resources can vary greatly in time and space and the increasingly refined techniques necessary to secure the equitable management of water resources. Section 2 presents an overview of the state of water resources and ecosystems and explores current assessment techniques and approaches to Integrated Water Resources Management. Section 3 examines the current conditions of and the different demands placed on water for food, human health, industry and energy. Section four deals with the complexity of water issues that require a more effective policy framework that builds, maintains, extends and shares knowledge and uses of water resources, and respects the values placed on them. Section 5 includes lessons learned that will help to solve some of the world's most pressing freshwater-related problems.