World Lake Conference (WLC) is a global forum dedicated to the sustainable future of lakes and their basins. The conference was first held in 1984 on the shores of Lake Biwa as the Shiga Conference on Conservation and Management of World Lake Environment (LECS ’84), where Dr. Mostafa K. Tolba, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), proposed that the meeting be continued on a regular basis. Since then, WLC has been held biennially in different regions of the world.

In 2024, the United Nations established World Lake Day, observed on August 27, a date derived from the first WLC. Upholding its original mission to promote scientific approaches to lake basin management, the WLC is now widely recognized as a platform where academia, governments, citizens, NGOs, and the private sector exchange ideas and experiences for the sustainable management of lakes and their basins worldwide.