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24 March 2003 The Third World Water Forum, which ended in Kyoto yesterday, has highlighted the need for urgent measures to be taken to give millions of people access to safe water around the world, in particular making governments more accountable on the provision of clean drinking water. This was the largest conference ever devoted to the subject of water. The 13,000 participants ranged from politicians to Mongolian tribesmen, from businessmen to community rights activists. Central to their discussions were how to conserve fresh water and utilise it equitably, for the benefit of all mankind. Today, more than one billion people do not have access to clean drinking water and 2.4 billion do not have access to a safe latrine. By 2050, as many as seven billion people could be without safe water and sanitation. "Too little progress is being made in delivering water and decent sanitation to poor households," said Uli Jaspers, head of the International Federation's Water and Sanitation department and a participant at the gathering. "Let's hope that the Forum will have succeeded in persuading the 145 countries that have signed up to water as a human right to take steps to improve access." The International Federation sent a sizeable delegation from all over the world to Japan, a sign of the importance the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement attaches to water. Polluted water is responsible for a wide range of diseases - in 2002, 1.6 million young children died of diarrhoea worldwide - and every day, the Federation supplies 20 million litres of safe water to vulnerable communities. These efforts were showcased at a well-attended Federation exhibition stand and in various interventions in consultative groups and the forum proper, where Tadateru Konoe, Vice-President of the Japanese Red Cross Society and a member of the International Federation Governing Board, headed its delegation. While it remains to be seen how much impact the forum will have in the longer-term, Uli Jaspers says there were a number of positive outcomes. "Fresh water is a finite resource. There was a strong feeling that it is everybody's responsibility, at every level, to conserve it, to use it more efficiently - that indeed it is a human right - all the people of the world should have access to safe and adequate water." "Stakeholders need to agree on common goals, activities and funding strategies to reverse negative trends. By forging new partnerships, increasing cooperation and pooling know-how, we might stand a better chance of achieving the Millennium Development Goals," Jaspers added. Among the development goals set at the UN's Millennium Assembly in September 2000 was a commitment to halving the proportion of people in the world without sustainable access to safe water. Related links: Third World Water Forum More on: ensuring safe water and sanitation Special page: International Year of Fresh Water Make a donation |
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