Water is life, and with mounting evidence that earth's fresh water is being stretched to its limits, one thing is clear: Everything possible must be done to avert a freshwater crisis!

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Fresh water is essential for all life on Earth. People, animals and plants cannot survive without water. However, availability of fresh water (both quantity and quality) is increasingly insecure and there is a growing world water crisis. With a steadily increasing world population and rapidly developing consumptive economies the pressure on the Earth's finite freshwater resources continues to grow threatening the world's future development and security.

Freshwater ecosystems occupy less than 1% of the earth's surface and yet they deliver goods and services of enormous global value, totalling trillions of dollars annually. Water is required for the production of almost every item we buy or use as well as directly for drinking and washing. In many parts of the world, demands for water already exceed the natural supply. Without dramatic changes in water management, this local scarcity may soon extend to regional or global proportions.

Unless we begin to base our development and management decisions on their sustainability and compatibility with freshwater ecosystems, environmental deterioration will increase. Responsible stewardship to safeguard the world's freshwater resources will require effective integrated management at all levels, from the individual to international corporations and governments.

In its 2000 Millennium Declaration, the United Nations set eight goals for development, named the Millennium Development Goals. These goals set an ambitious agenda for improving the human condition by 2015. Addressing and averting the World's Freshwater Crisis was part of this agenda. Following this, the United Nations General Assembly have proclaimed the period from 2005 to 2015 the International Decade for Action "Water for Life". The Decade will officially begin on World Water Day March 22nd 2005 and will focus on a multitude of sustainable water use related issues.

The foundations for action have now been laid and there is growing public awareness of the coming challenges. However, it is going to require a supreme effort not only from the UN but by national governments, multinational corporations and NGO’s to publicise these projects in order to bring this looming crisis to the world's attention. Well managed, innovative projects will be the key to raising public awareness so that this challenge can be met and a crisis averted.