 |
Search : | ||
|
|||
News
|
News stories
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
17 March 2003 The Third World Water Forum opened in Kyoto, Japan, yesterday and featured the work of the Red Cross Red Crescent worldwide in ensuring better protection for the most vulnerable against disasters linked to climate change. The International Federation "is fully aware of the impact that climate change has upon the increasing occurrence and severity of natural disasters such as floods, droughts and food insecurity," said Uli Jaspers, head of water and sanitation for the organisation. He said that water and sanitation programmes in emergencies were critical in improving and saving the lives of people threatened by recurring natural disasters especially in a world where one billion people are denied access to clean water. The session was attended by the Crown Prince Willem Alexander of the Netherlands and chaired by the Dutch foreign minister, Bert Diphoorn. The audience, which included government officials, diplomats, aid agency workers and meteorological experts, watched a video on Red Cross Red Crescent disaster preparedness in two of the world's most disaster-prone countries, Vietnam and Bangladesh. The film examined how communities can be empowered in the face of recurring disasters like cyclones and coastal flooding. The video is an initiative of the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, which is hosted by the Netherlands Red Cross. The centre's director, Madeleen Helmer, explained the centre's focus on disaster preparedenss, noting that the number of people affected by extreme weather events has tripled over the last 30 years. "Among the challenges facing organisations such as the Federation is the need to forge new effective partnershps with government bodies, other aid organisations, donors and vulnerable communities at grassroots to be better prepared to meet the increasing needs created by large and complex disasters," said Thanh Le, the Federation's regional water and sanitation coordinator for south-east Asia. Today, the World Water Forum focus was very much on water and sanitation needs in Africa. David Grey, the senior water resources advisor to the World Bank described the situation as a "disgrace of the 21st century." "The debates at this meeting are a stark reminder that over 300 million African people have no access to safe water and sanitation, a situation that continues to have a severe effect on the daily survival of vulnerable people on the continent," elaborated Robert Fraser, the Federation's Water and Sanitation co-ordinator for east Africa. "It must be remembered that over 35 per cent of the most common diseases and cause of death in Africa, particularly among children, are attributed to poor water and santiation, in effect a pandemic similar in impact to HIV/AIDS," he added. According to a report launched by UNESCO on the eve of the World Water Forum, water scarcity will affect between two and seven billion people out of a projected total population of 9.3 billion, depending on factors like population growth and what measures poltical leaders take to tackle the crisis. World wide, the Federation provides impoverished communities and victims of disasters with 20 million litres of water per day, benefiting approximately one million people in over 30 programmes at an annual cost of 50 million Swiss francs. Related links: Special page: International Year of Fresh Water Third World Water Forum more about Water and Sanitation photo gallery Make a donation |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
