Climate

Water is a finite resource, cycling through physical states of vapor, liquid and ice. There is the same amount of water on Earth today as there was millions of years ago – no more, no less. However, only 3.5 percent of that water is freshwater, and most of that is trapped in glaciers, icecaps, snowpack, permafrost and inaccessible groundwater.

This means that all life depends on a relatively tiny amount of accessible freshwater. And that precious water is at risk from unbalanced and unsustainable consumption patterns, poor practices in resource management, inefficient water use, and pollution. An estimated 1.2 billion people do not have access to safe drinking water and by 2050 the majority of the Earth’s population could be living with water scarcity. Half the world’s wetlands have been paved, drained or planted, and freshwater species are disappearing faster than those of any other biome or habitat type.

That’s why WWF is focused on conserving freshwater ecosystems. We have secured protection for hundreds of millions of acres of wetlands around the world. Our Conservation Science Program, in partnership with The Nature Conservancy, has advanced the science of freshwater conservation with the first-ever comprehensive database of global freshwater diversity, known as Freshwater Ecoregions of the World, or FEOW. Also this year, we partnered with Wetlands International, IUCN and Ramsar to produce a comprehensive reference for water and wetland managers.

We’re continuing our global programs to advocate for government policies and industrial and agricultural techniques that conserve water, protect biodiversity, and conserve natural resources for nearby communities. We support the UN Watercourses Convention, an international agreement that could play a key role in water security for about 40 percent of the world’s population. And through our partnership with The Coca-Cola Company, we're advancing toward 2010 goals to measurably conserve seven key freshwater river basins, including those in the Mekong, Coastal East Africa
and the U.S. Southeast.

As with other serious environmental problems, from climate change to deforestation to species loss, WWF is committed to turning the world freshwater crisis around before it is too late.