1. World Water Day message from Dundee UNESCO IHP HELP Centre
As we look forward to the 2013 Year of International Cooperation on Water, we explore how our
activities at the Dundee IHP-HELP Centre might contribute to this important mission.
As a Category II UNESCO Centre, we have agreed to support UNESCO in the following ways:
(i) to provide a facility that promotes an interdisciplinary approach to addressing global water issues
with a focus on poverty reduction and international development issues (including the United
Nations Millennium Development Goals related to water), and, including water law (international,
national and transnational water law) as an essential and integral element thereof;
(ii) to provide the intellectual leadership necessary in achieving this approach and to establish a
dedicated institution for the dissemination of relevant research and scholarship on the topic,
available to the global water-concerned community worldwide and aimed at generating goodwill
with the international community;
(iii) to communicate legal expertise on global water issues for the HELP Programme of the UNESCO
IHP, especially through the IHP-HELP Regional Coordinating Units, as well as to support the other
water-related activities of IHP;
(iv) to act as the Regional Coordinating Unit for the European HELP basins and proactively interact
with other HELP Regional Coordinating Units.
These objectives align directly with the UN International Year of Water Cooperation by providing a
platform for meaningful engagement across disciplines with a broad range of stakeholders. One of
the key challenges remains addressing the diverse spectrum of challenges connected with integrated
water resources management -- at the local, national, regional, international and global levels.
Where all needs for water cannot be met and accommodations are required to be made -- for social,
environmental, or economic reasons -- it is important to find a credible and responsive pathway to
facilitate cooperation. The Dundee UNESCO HELP Centre seeks to do this through its research and
graduate teaching and training, working closely with our HELP network, including through Scotland’s
Tweed basin in Scotland, which has been designated a HELP demonstration basin, providing a solid
foundation for our integrated research work in water law, policy and science.

2. The global water challenge nonetheless persists and remains one of the most important and
complex issues affecting the economic, social and environmental well-being of local and global
communities around the world. Our own Scottish Government, with its innovative Hydro-Nation
initiative is making its contribution to this issue. We also note the contribution of the Global Water
Partnership in their support for IWRM and in implementing the Knowledge Chain scholarship
programme.
On the occasion of World Water Day 2012 the Dundee UNESCO HELP Centre calls for:
1. meaningful engagement with stakeholders at all levels for the integrated and cooperative
development and management of the world's water resources;
2. increased support from national governments for the higher education and training of 'local water
leaders' capable of tackling the complex issues linked to effective and peaceful management of
shared water resources;
3. enhanced leadership across the UNESCO HELP network in ways that progress the mission of
UNESCO in the water field, aligned with the IHP strategy for the current and future period.
Professor Patricia Wouters
Director, Dundee UNESCO HELP Centre
University of Dundee, Scotland, UK
www.dundee.ac.uk/water
22 March 2012 – World Water Day