Developed through a two-year dialogue among regional stakeholders, this Agenda diagnoses the current situation and principal challenges facing water management in the Americas, and proposes 11 time-bound targets for action under six themes: access to water and sanitation for all; climate change adaptation; integrated water resources management (IWRM); food security; energy and water; and the quality of water resources and ecosystems. To address growing environmental degradation, the Agenda proposes that for 2015 all Latin American countries recognise and implement strategies that sustain ecosystem services from which water stewardship obtains direct benefits. The Agenda also discusses challenges to water management in the Americas for which specific targets are not proposed, including: urban water integrated management; over-exploitation of subterranean water resources; transboundary water management; and growing conflict for water resources within countries.