Villa Colombella - WWAP, UNESCO Headquarters

The Secretariat of the World Water Assessment Program (WWAP) is a UNESCO center of international excellence funded by the Italian Government together with the Umbria Region since 2006.

WWAP was founded in 2000 under the auspices of UNESCO, as an international program aimed at the periodic assessment of the world's water resources. This UNESCO program is responsible for assessing the state and management of the world's freshwater resources; provides water managers and policy makers with the information, data and skills needed to effectively contribute to the development of sustainable water policies; disseminates knowledge about emerging problems and challenges through the dissemination of scientific results using a variety of media.

WWAP coordinates the work of 31 United Nations Agencies and 39 UN-WATER partners in the annual production of the authoritative World Water Development Report (WWDR) - the Report on the Development of World Water Resources - the most important report of the United Nations on water resources. The Report has been translated into Italian and it is possible to consult a summary.

The structure of Villa la Colombella - four buildings immersed in two hectares of land - is located in the hamlet of Colombella, five minutes by car from the historic center of Perugia, and since 2007 it hosts the WWAP (World Water Assessment Program), a program of the Nations Unite which aims to assess water worldwide. WWAP was born in 2000 and can boast the collaboration of 24 United Nations agencies; deals with the monitoring of all freshwater on the planet, the results of which are then presented during various international congresses. The WAAP also takes advantage of the participation of universities and their research projects to organize training courses for students mainly from developing countries.

But why did such an important organization for the fate of our planet choose Umbria to establish its headquarters? Immediately after its founding, the WWAP secretariat was stationed in Paris, but it was the organization's intention to establish itself in a place that was actually consistent with the objectives of the WAAP itself. Many countries have applied to host the WAAP, but in the end Unesco decided to opt for the splendid Villa la Colombella.

The reasons that led to this decision lie in the great sensitivity that Umbria has shown over the years for issues such as environmental protection and in the important investment of resources and people that the University of Foreigners of Perugia has allocated to studies on water resources.
And the prestigious university is the keystone that made the choice of WWAP fall on Perugia: in fact, Villa la Colombella has also been the headquarters of WARREDOC (Water Resources Research and Documentation Center) for more than twenty years, the center that deals with research in the field of water resources at an academic level.

The synergy between these two forces is the right ingredient to develop tools and experiences to better understand the processes, practical management and policies that increase the quality of global water resources.

The events that take place at Villa la Colombella - from conferences to round tables, passing through the drafting of the three-year report on the world state of water, which will be ready for the next World Water Forum in Marseille in 2012 - once again demonstrate the quality of the initiatives carried out in the Region. Another confirmation of the Perugian excellence that is made available to the world scientific community to preserve, monitor and improve the health of our planet and its inhabitants.

The WWDR is the UN's flagship report on water issues; is a comprehensive review that provides an overview of the state, use and management of the world's water resources and aims to equip decision makers with tools to formulate and implement sustainable water policies.

The WWDR is published each year with a different focus on different strategic water issues, and is a comprehensive review that provides an overall picture of the state of freshwater resources around the world, with the aim of providing managers and key decision makers the information, data, tools and skills needed to enable them to participate effectively in policy development.

As a result, WWAP aims to equip water managers and policy and decision makers with the knowledge, tools and skills needed to formulate and implement sustainable water policies.

Map: Villa Colombella - WWAP, UNESCO Headquarters