Resource detail

Water and energy are closely interconnected and highly interdependent. Choices made and actions taken in one domain can greatly affect the other, positively or negatively. Trade-offs need to be managed to limit negative impacts and foster opportunities for synergy. Water and energy have crucial impacts on poverty alleviation both directly, as a number of the Millennium Development Goals depend on major improvements in access to water, sanitation, power and energy sources, and indirectly, as water and energy can be binding constraints on economic growth – the ultimate hope for widespread poverty reduction. In view of the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals, likely to include increased access to water and energy services, this fifth edition of the United Nations World Water Development Report seeks to inform decision makers (inside and outside the water and energy domains), stakeholders and practitioners about the interlink ages, potential synergies and trade-offs, and to highlight the need for appropriate responses and regulatory frameworks that account for both water and energy priorities.