Bangkok (UN ESCAP Information Services) – Human activity is responsible for unprecedented contamination of water resources, leading to high levels of disease and infant mortality, with the poor paying the highest cost.
This was the focus of the United Nations observance of World Water Day, which took the theme of “Clean Water for a Healthy World”. The observance – which was hosted by the Economic & Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) – began with a message from UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon read by Shigeru Mochida, the Deputy Executive Secretary of ESCAP.
“Our growing population’s need for water for food, raw materials and energy is increasingly competing with nature’s own demands for water to sustain already imperiled ecosystems and the services on which we depend,” said Mr. Ban. “Day after day, we pour millions of tons of untreated sewage and industrial and agricultural wastes into the world’s water systems.”
In Asia-Pacific, 620 million people live without adequate water and at least 1.8 billion people do without adequate sanitation. Every day, 2 million tons of sewage and other effluents drain into the world’s waters, aggravating water quality.
Nearly nine out of every 10 diarrhea incidents – which kill approximately 2.2 million people a year – are attributed to poor sanitation and dirty water. In South and South-East Asia, diarrhea is responsible for up to 8.5 per cent of all deaths, which is the highest in the world.
“The human cost is real: 25 per cent of infant mortality – children below 5 years – traces back to untreated sewage,” said Mr. Mochida in his own remarks. “We all need water for survival, but more importantly, we need clean water for a healthy life.”
Young-Woo Park, the Regional Director of UNEP spoke about a recent meeting he attended where Ministers from small Pacific Islands spoke about receiving significant financial assistance without much actual change. He suggested it is time to stop asking the traditional questions and using traditional approaches, and look for new approaches to address the persisting environmental and development problems that are more in tune with the modern environment.
Thierry Facon, Senior Water Resources Expert at the UN Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO) said that agriculture contributes to more to water pollution then previously thought. Evidence from China presented by Mr. Facon indicated that efforts to reduce effluents from industry have been successful, but agricultural pesticides and fertilizers actually contribute much more contamination to river bodies.
In discussing community approaches, Somchai Chiracharoen, Mayor of the Muangklang Municipality, in the Rayong province of Thailand, presented the experience of his town, which cleaned up its river and kept it clean by involving people from the community to monitor pollution as part of a “river spy” programme.
Today’s event also included a team of students from the KIS International School, who presented the results of a bacteria count study of the Ampawa River in Thailand, which showed a high correlation between bacterial contamination and human settlements. The students’ message called for the “generation who contributed to the destruction of the environment” to see the “warning signs” and dare to change.
The keynote speech was delivered by Mr. Saksit Tridech, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment (MoNRE) of the Royal Thai Government, who spoke about the challenges of raising awareness on water quality in Thailand, but also of the great achievements made under the guidance and patronage of His Majesty the King of Thailand.
The celebration also involved an exhibition on water quality initiatives in Thailand and the region, highlighting that appropriate responses to water quality problems offer opportunities for development and for Green Growth.
Source: http://www.unescap.org
Press Release dated March 22, 2010
Headquartered in Bangkok, United Nations ESCAP is the largest of the UN’s five Regional Commissions in terms of its membership, population served and area covered. The only inter-governmental forum covering the entire Asia-Pacific region, ESCAP works to promote sustainable and inclusive economic and social progress. More information on ESCAP is available atwww.unescap.org
