International Dates, March, 2009

March 14 - International Day of Actions against Dams, and for Rivers, Water and Life;
March 15 - World Consumer Rights Day;
March 22 - World Water Day;
March 23 - World Meteorological Day;
March 28 - Earth Hour

March 14
International Day of Actions against Dams, and for Rivers, Water and Life 
 
The idea for the First International Meeting of People Affected by Dams originated during an annual meeting of Brazil’s Movement of People Affected by Large Dams (MAB). The International Day of Action Against Dams: For Rivers, Water, and Life was inspired and mandated by the participants of the First International Meeting of People Affected by Dams that took place in March, 1997 in Curitiba, Brazil. Representatives from twenty countries including decided that the International Day of Action would fall on 14 March, Brazil’s Day of Action Against Large Dams.
 
The International Day of Action Against Dams: For Rivers, Water, and Life is the next step in strengthening regional and international networks within the international anti-dam movement. The aim is to raise voices in unison against destructive water development projects, reclaim the health of our rivers and watersheds, and demand the equitable and sustainable management of waterways. By acting together, it is possible to demonstrate that these issues are not merely local, but global in scope.
 
For additional information, please, visit http://internationalrivers.org/en/day-of-action

March 15
World Consumer Rights Day (WCRD) is an annual occasion on March 15 for celebration and solidarity within the international consumer movement.
 
It is also a time for promoting the basic rights of all consumers by demanding that those rights are respected and protected by highlighting the market abuses and social injustices which undermine them.
 
WCRD was first observed on 15 March 1983, and has since become an important occasion for mobilising citizen action. Consumer organisations around the world use materials produced by Consumers International (CI) to generate local initiatives and media coverage for their work over the coming year.
 
World Consumer Rights Day 2009 is dedicated to the “Junk Food Generation - Consumers International campaign to stop the marketing of unhealthy food to children”
 
For additional information, please, visit
www.consumersinternational.org/Templates/Internal.asp?NodeID=95043 and http://junkfoodgeneration.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=80&Itemid=86

March 22
World Water Day is held annually on 22 March as a means of focusing attention on the importance of freshwater and advocating for the sustainable management of freshwater resources.
An international day to celebrate freshwater was recommended at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED). The United Nations General Assembly responded by designating 22 March 1993 as the first World Water Day.
 
In 2009, the theme for World Water Day is “Shared Water - Shared Opportunities”. Special focus will be placed on transboundary waters.
 
The world’s 263 transboundary lake and river basins include the territory of 145 countries and cover nearly half of the Earth’s land surface. Great reservoirs of freshwater also move silently below our borders in underground aquifers.
 
Over the last 60 years there have been more than 200 international water agreements and only 37 cases of reported violence between states over water. We need to continue to nurture the opportunities for cooperation that transboundary water management can provide.
 
For additional information, please, visit www.unwater.org/worldwaterday/about.html

March 23
World Meteorological Day  
Each year, on 23 March, the World Meteorological Organization, its 188 Members and the worldwide meteorological community celebrate World Meteorological Day around a chosen theme. This Day commemorates the entry into force, on that date in 1950, of the WMO Convention creating the Organization. Subsequently, in 1951, WMO was designated a specialized agency of the United Nations System.
 
This year, the theme is “Weather, climate and the air we breathe”.
 
For additional information, please, visit www.wmo.ch/wmd

March 28 - Earth Hour
Earth Hour began in Sydney in 2007, when 2.2 million homes and businesses switched off their lights for one hour. In 2008 the message had grown into a global sustainability movement, with 50 million people switching off their lights. Global landmarks such as the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, Rome’s Colosseum, the Sydney Opera House and the Coca Cola billboard in Times Square all stood in darkness.

For additional information, please, visit: http://www.earthhour.org/about/