On the occasion of World Water Day, a report has been made public by the United Nations. In the said report released on Tuesday, it has been mentioned that 26 percent of the world’s population does not have access to safe drinking water. In addition, 46 percent reported no access to basic sanitation.
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. It is about taking action to tackle the global water crisis, in support of Sustainable Development Goal : ‘water and sanitation for all by 2030’.
In the ‘World Water Development Report 2023’, information has been given about ensuring access to clean water and sanitation for all people until the year 2030.
Richard Connor, the report’s editor-in-chief, told reporters at a press conference at UN Headquarters ahead of the launch that “uncertainties are increasing”.
“If we don’t address it, there definitely will be a global crisis,” he said, pointing to rising scarcity that reflects reduced availability and increased demand, from urban and industrial growth to agriculture, which alone consumes 70 per cent of the world’s supply.
Building partnerships and cooperation are key to realizing human rights to water and overcoming existing challenges, he said.
Explaining the landscape of such shortages, he said economic water scarcity is a big problem, where governments fail to provide safe access, such as in the middle of Africa, where water flows. Meanwhile, physical scarcity is worst in desert areas, including northern India and through the Middle East.
Answering reporters’ questions about possible “water wars” in the face of a global crisis, Mr. Connor said the essential natural resource “tends to lead to peace and cooperation rather than to conflict”.
Strengthening transboundary cooperation is the main tool to avoid conflict and escalating tensions, he said, noting that 153 countries share nearly 900 rivers, lakes and aquifer systems, and more than half having signed agreements.
From city dwellers to small holder farmers, partnerships have produced mutually beneficial results. By investing in agricultural communities upstream, farmers can benefit in ways that help the downstream cities they feed, he said.
States and stakeholders can cooperate in such areas as flood and pollution control, data sharing, and co-financing. From wastewater treatment systems to protecting wetlands, efforts contributing to reducing greenhouse gas emissions should “open the door to further collaboration and increase access to water funds,” he said.
Johannes Cullmann, scientific advisor to the president of the UN General Assembly, said that “it’s a question of investing wisely.”
While water resources and how they are managed impact almost all aspects of sustainable development, including the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), he said current investments must be quadrupled to meet the annually estimated 600 billion to 1 trillion U.S. dollars required to realize the SDGs on water and sanitation.
“Cooperation is the heart of sustainable development, and water is an immensely powerful connector,” he said. “We should not negotiate water. We should deliberate on it,” he said.
Indeed, water should be “managed as a common good, not a commodity,” a group of 18 UN independent experts and special rapporteurs said in a joint statement on Tuesday.
“It is time to stop a technocratic approach to water and consider the ideas, knowledge and solutions of indigenous peoples and local communities who understand the local aquatic ecosystems to ensure sustainability of the water agenda,” they said
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