World Water Day // Launch of the World Water Development Report 2014: "Water and Energy"

The World Water Development Report, or WWDR, is produced by the World Water Assessment Programme, a programme of UN-Water hosted by UNESCO, and is the result of the joint efforts of the UN agencies and entities which make up UN-Water, working in partnership with governments, international organizations, non-governmental organizations and other stakeholders. <> Water and energy are closely interconnected and highly interdependent. Choices made and actions taken in one domain can greatly affect the other, positively or negatively. Trade-offs need to be managed to limit negative impacts and foster opportunities for synergy. Water and energy have crucial impacts on poverty alleviation both directly, as a number of the Millennium Development Goals depend on major improvements in access to water, sanitation, power and energy sources, and indirectly, as water and energy can be binding constraints on economic growth — the ultimate hope for widespread poverty reduction. In view of the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals, likely to include increased access to water and energy services, this fifth edition of the United Nations World Water Development Report seeks to inform decision-makers (inside and outside the water and energy domains), stakeholders and practitioners about the interlinkages, potential synergies and trade-offs, and to highlight the need for appropriate responses and regulatory frameworks that account for both water and energy priorities. The Report provides a comprehensive overview of major and emerging trends from around the world, with examples of how some of the trend-related challenges have been addressed, their implications for policy-makers, and further actions that can be taken by stakeholders and the international community.