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To underscore the particular importance of water to Education for Sustainable Development, the German National Committee that was convened by the German Commission for UNESCO to implement the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development selected "water" as the annual theme for 2008. This multifaceted theme covers aspects such as virtual water trade, provision of sanitation and development work, irrigation, drinking and flood water protection, in addition to the implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive.

The issue of virtual concealed water in food and products is currently all over the media. Scientists at the UNESCO Institute for Water Education (UNESCO-IHE) in the Netherlands have calculated that a fifth of the shrinkage of the Aral Sea results from imports of cotton from Uzbekistan, as its tributaries are used to irrigate cotton monocultures. One person’s "basis for existence" is an environmental catastrophe for others and an example of non-sustainable action.

Humans can only live for a maximum four days without water. It is all the more shocking therefore that roughly a third of the world's population does not have safe access to clean drinking water. This alarming asymmetry prompted the United Nations in their Millennium Declaration to strive to halve the number of people with no access to clean drinking water by 2015. Supplying water and dealing with waste water are closely connected. This is why the goal is also to halve the number of people without basic sanitation at the same time.

However, water is not only the basis of life, but also a threat. Floods and high water catastrophes are multiplying in regions that were previously little affected or not affected at all. Researchers forecast a rise in sea levels and the danger of new flood areas due to global warming.

The complexity of the issue highlights the need for multi-layered action at ecological, economic and social level. It is evident that the theme of water has every relevance to sustainable development and vice versa. Creating awareness about water is therefore an important task in order to be able to deal with the challenges of our time adequately.

• 2009: Energy