Environmental Events 2018: What is World Water Day?

There are a wide range of environmental events taking place across the world throughout the year. We want to uncover some of the most influential events and discover where they originated and how they impact the planet.

So far, we’ve taken a look at the longest-standing environmental event, Earth Day, as well as World Vegan Day, World Wildlife Day and World Cleanup Day.

In this post, we’re looking at the final of our 5 events – World Water Day.

Long-standing celebration

The first World Water Day took place back on March 22^nd, 1993. Organised and designated by the United Nations, the day is used to promote and advocate the sustainable management of freshwater resources.

Each year, UN-Water chooses a different theme to focus on. Previously, themes have included ‘water and jobs’, ‘water and sustainable development’ and ‘why waste water?’. Around the 22^nd of March each year, the United Nations release their UN World Water Development Report, giving an overview of the usage and sustainability of the planet’s most valuable resource.

‘Nature for Water’

In 2018, the theme for World Water Day was ‘nature for water’, focusing on how we can use nature to solve the water challenges we face. Our environment has been suffering in recent years, with pollution, biodiversity and deforestation impacting the earth drastically.

To combat these issues, we need to go beyond using advancing technology for river conservation. Reforestation, for instance, can work to anchor soil in place, as well as enhancing its ability to absorb water and keep the land hydrated. Conserving land, particularly wetland, can help to provide important protection buffers to keep communities and villages safe from storms and flooding.

These types of ‘green infrastructure’ can help us to enhance our natural environment, as well as reducing some of the key issues caused by a lack of water. It’s a win-win.

Floods, droughts and water pollution can be made much worse with degraded vegetation, soil, rivers and lakes – and a neglected ecosystem can’t provide the necessary nutrients to keep the world healthy and thriving.

The natural water supplies created can help to provide safe drinking water for communities around the world, as well as helping to mitigate pollution in lakes and waterways.

Keeping the planet clean

The final post in our series summarises at the top 5 environmental events and what they entail.