There is an emerging “water crisis” in many regions of the world. Today, about one-third of the world’s population is living under moderate or severe water stress, most notably in the Middle East and North Africa. One billion and three hundred million people lack access to adequate supply of safe drinking water and two billion people do not have access to adequate sanitation. Water pollution is continuing to cause millions of preventable deaths every year, especially among children. The challenges of this crisis require a vigorous scientific, technological and managerial action in order to use adequately and better the existing supplies, to recover degraded surfaces and groundwater reserves, and to secure for the future generations the necessary water resources.

To cope with this problem, at the beginning of 2002, the Brazilian Academy of Sciences presented to the IAP Executive Committee the proposal of a new IAP programme on Capacity Building in Water Resources Management. Later that year, in Johannesburg, during the “Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation for Sustainable Development” - that was a satellite symposium to the World Summit on Sustainable Development - the Brazilian Academy made a presentation on this topic, pointing the need of the Science Academies of the world to develop a water programme to help in the coping of one of the most serious problems presently afflicting humanity, especially in the developing world.

This proposal was discussed in the Executive Committee of IAP and finally approved on 2003, during the IAP General Assembly held in Mexico. In mid 2004 the IAP decided to designate the Brazilian Academy of Sciences as lead Academy to this programme. A proposal and plan of action were then submitted by the Brazilian Academy to IAP. Once these were approved, in September 2004 a circular letter inviting the Science Academies to join the programme was issued. Reactions were very positive and 41 Science Academies nominated water specialists to represent them at the programme. Responding to this circular letter, a few Academies also manifested their interest in holding a regional workshop, as requested at the opportunity.

In May 2005 a preparatory meeting was held in IAP headquarters in Trieste to discuss the organization of the workshops and the implementation of the programme. At the opportunity, the 6 Academies that will be hosting the regional workshops: Brazil (Americas); China (East Asia); Jordan (Middle East and South Asia); Kazakhstan (Central Asia); South Africa (Africa); and Poland (Europe) assembled to discuss the programme and set up the actions. To avoid duplication of efforts and to learn from their experiences, some of the most important international networks and programmes in the area of water (GEMS WATER; UNEP; ILEC; INWEH-UNU; SIL; IHP-UNESCO) were also invited to the meeting to share their views and opinions. Similarly, as IAP understands the central role that the regional networks of Science Academies must play in the structuring of its programmes, these were also invited to discuss how could they work together with IAP in the building-up of this initiative.

A second circular letter was then sent out in August 2005, updating the Academies in the evolution of the programme. Together with this letter a detailed report on the Trieste meeting was distributed, with the objective of providing the Academies that were not present at the preparatory meeting a broad perspective on the discussions that were held. The six host Academies are now in the process of organizing the regional workshops and Academies are being contacted to discuss the implementation of the programme.

The regional workshops will discuss the water problems from a regional perspective, aiming at the regional improvement of existing programmes of water conservation, wastewater treatment, control of eutrophication and contamination, as well as the development of a strong scientific and technical capability. A major concern will be capacity building and networking of researchers and high-level water managers.