The Initiative follows the growing international concerns on freshwater resources - as expressed at the 2nd World Water Forum last March. Forum participants and ministers from 132 countries called for actions to avert the world water crisis. Communities around the world already face serious shortages of fresh water, and the number is expected to rise to thirty percent of the world's population by 2025. It also comes at a time when IUCN's 2000 Red List of Threatened Species signals an extremely serious deterioration in river-dwelling species.
Further research is likely to reveal an even deeper worldwide crisis in freshwater biodiversity.
Healthy ecosystems renew our water and provide the clean water to support all life on earth, human as well as species'. The 'Water and Nature Initiative' will demonstrate how catchments and our water resources can be managed in a sustainable way through an integrated approach. Projects will focus on protecting, restoring and managing ecosystems that provide clean water and numerous other valuable services to communities. The Initiative recognises that the sustainable management of catchments and their water resources forms the basis of economic, social and environmental security of individuals and societies. Learning from its experiences, the Initiative will develop lesson that can be applied in other cases.