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At IETC we pay specific attention to urban environmental problems such
as water supply, sewage, solid waste, energy, loss of green and natural spaces,
urban sprawl, land contamination, traffic, transport, air pollution and noise.
With urban populations growing two and a half times faster than its rural counterpart,
the UN estimates that the level of urban population will cross the 50 per cent
mark in 2005. By 2025, more than three fifths of the world's population will live
in urban areas. The urban population in that year will be approximately 5.2 billion,
of whom 77 per cent will live in developing countries. 
The management of freshwater basins is also of prime concern to IETC and
lakes, reservoirs, and ground water are the planet's most important freshwater
resources providing water for domestic, agricultural and industrial uses for much
of the world's population. We are all familiar with the image of Earth as the
"blue planet" when seen from space. It gives the impression that water
is plentiful and indeed it is. However, pictures can be deceiving. Freshwater
only accounts for 2.15 per cent of all the Earth's water. But even that percentage
is deceiving because 99.5 per cent of all surface freshwater is locked away in
continental ice. Freshwater, therefore, is a scarce resource, often a limiting
factor for development, and one which we should take great care to protect.