Responding to the need to protect and conserve our water resources, IUCN formed the Global Water Programme in 1985. Since its inception, it has been working across the world, mainly focusing on the Middle East, Africa, central and south America and Asia.
The mission of the IUCN Global Water Programme is to be a trusted partner for evidence-based and adaptive change in water resource management that benefits nature and people.
We bring together our extensive network of IUCN Members, experts, government and private sector partners to develop sustainable solutions to preserve our water resources. Our knowledge is based around the central theme of Implementing Sustainable River Basin Management, branching off into key components which consist of:
- Implementing IWRM (Integrated Water Resources Management) using an ecosystems approach
- Good governance of water and dialogue to build transboundary cooperation and effective national and local water resource management
- Promoting sustainable and inclusive growth to improve water and food security and climate resilience
- Demonstrating natural infrastructure solutions for climate change adaptation
- Building partnerships for water infrastructure innovation in the Water-Energy-Food security Nexus
- Increasing social, ecological, and agricultural resilience of ecosystems in the face of climate change
- Supporting corporate strategies with an aim to recognise, map, and reduce water risks for wider multi-stakeholder benefits at river basin scale