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World Water Day was conceived during the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development held in 1992. Since then the goal of the annual celebration has been to draw attention to the need for sustainable management of this vital resource. Each year World Water Day places attention on a different aspect of freshwater. The theme of this year’s observance is Glacier Preservation. It draws attention to the fact that due to climate change, glaciers are melting faster than ever with devastating effects for ecosystems and billions of people. Glacier preservation is now seen as a survival strategy.

World Water Day 2025 provides teachers and students with excellent opportunities to explore the essential nature of water and contribute to achieving Sustainable Development Goal #6.

Why Care about World Water Day?

• Clean, freshwater is a basic requirement for all life

• Rapidly melting glaciers are causing uncertainty to water flows, with profound impacts on people and the planet. (UN 2025)

• Glaciers are critical to life – their meltwater is essential for drinking water, agriculture, industry, clean energy production and healthy ecosystems.

• While 70% of the earth’s surface is covered with water, less than .003% of this water is potable.

• Currently, > 2.2 billion people live without access to safe drinking water. (UN Water, 2021)

• Human activities and climate change are causing serious depletion and pollution of the groundwater in many parts of the world

• Canada ranks second in the world in per capita use of water (Conference Board of Canada, 2018)

• For many of the 400,000 Canadians living on First Nations reserves, access to safe drinking water remains a major challenge

• Water is an integral part of the earth’s web of ecosystems, providing critical habitat for wildlife.

• Canadians depend on healthy aquatic ecosystems to provide essential economic and social services

• As climate change impacts increase, there is an urgent need, within and between countries, to unite around protecting and conserving our most precious resource

Resources 4 Rethinking encourages students and teachers to participate in World Water Day. Top R4R Picks will connect you to some excellent resources to support these efforts.

Lesson Plans from the R4R database-

For more information and ideas be sure to check out World Water Day