JOINT STATEMENT
The challenge of providing safe water. and adequate sanitation will be aggravated. by unchecked climate change and. rising urban populations..
Africa’s urban population is projected to triple to over 1.2 billion by 2050 in cities already challenged in many places and in many ways by shortages of safe drinking water and inadequate sanitation services.
Access to clean drinking water and sanitation is perhaps one of the most important Millennium Development Goals because of its links to human health and the ability of people to carry out productive employment. It is also linked to gender and the nutrition of women and as well as their role in collecting water for families and communities.
Child mortality is also inextricably linked to water. Globally, at least 1.8 million children under the age of five years, or one every 20 seconds, die every year from water-related diseases. On the overall more people die from water-related diseases than are killed by all forms of violence including wars. Thus access to clean water is in many ways a pre-requisite for sustainable development.
The challenge of providing safe water and adequate sanitation will be aggravated by unchecked climate change and rising urban populations. As the world prepares for the UN Conference on Sustainable Development in 2012, 20 years after the Rio Earth Summit of 1992, water and urbanisation need to be key issues on the sustainability radar.
There is strong and growing evidence that a Green Economy, within the context of poverty eradication and sustainable development, can accelerate and scale-up delivery of these services
if countries and communities commit themselves to managing the use and the sources of water such as forests, wetlands and other ecosystems central to this sustainability equation.
Creative and forward-looking policies, alongside partnerships across all sectors including agriculture, will also be key to sustainability.
This report, jointly produced by UNEP and UN-HABITAT in collaboration with the Africa Ministers’ Council on Water (AMCOW) and funded by Tongji University, the Ministry of Science and Technology of China and Bayer Foundation, shows that there is a way forward for a more sustainable future where restoration of ecosystems, often in the green hills and watersheds surrounding cities, can provide cheaper, efficient and resilient water supply systems in a changing world.
Launched in Cape Town, a South African city surrounded by green hills that support water supplies to that city, it is our hope that World Water Day 2011 can provide a fresh vision for cities across Africa and beyond.
Achim Steiner Executive Director, UNEP
Joan Clos
Executive Director, UN-HABITAT 5
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72