The third Water Forum is expected to play a critical role in solving water issues in the 21st century. The world's population is predicted to grow from six billion today to nearly nine billion by 2050, increasing pressure on local authorities and planners to supply water to satisfy growing agricultural and urban water and sanitation demands. If current water-consumption patterns continue, it is predicted that by 2025 approximately half of the world's 3.5 billion people will live in water-stressed drainage basins. Developing countries will be particularly hard hit.

The United Nations University is an autonomous academic organization under the U.N. umbrella. It has a mandate to contribute to efforts to resolve pressing water-related global problems by taking the following actions:

* Promote, implement and fund long-term, demand-driven, integrated capacity-building efforts in the developing world. To this end, the donor community should attend meetings hosted by the U.N. that are aimed at building commitment and consensus on strategies and processes to greatly expand the scale of effort;