WORLD WATER WEEK: UN DEPUTY CHIEF URGES GREATER INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION ON SANITATION

From: UNNews <UNNews@un.org>
Date: 2 Sep 2013 18:00:00 -0400
Subject: WORLD WATER WEEK: UN DEPUTY CHIEF URGES GREATER INTERNATIONAL
COOPERATION ON SANITATION
To: news11@ny-mail-p-lb-028.ptc.un.org

WORLD WATER WEEK: UN DEPUTY CHIEF URGES GREATER INTERNATIONAL
COOPERATION ON SANITATION
New York, Sep 2 2013 6:00PM
Now is the time for accelerated, energized and concerted action on
water and sanitation, Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson today
urged, calling for renewed cooperation on water management and access
to adequate sanitation for the more than 2.5 billion people around the
world without it.

In a keynote address to the World Water Week plenary session in
Stockholm, Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson
<"http://www.un.org/sg/dsg/statements/index.asp?nid=426">said:"Dealing
effectively with the water and sanitation crisis is fundamental to
fighting disease and poverty."

"In a world of population growth and pressures on water resources
within and among nations, sound and fair water management is a huge
task and a clear imperative for all of us," Mr. Eliasson added.

He urged the hundreds of delegates gathered for the session entitled
"Building partnerships for Sanitation and Water for All" to work
towards sustainable solutions and measures among actors, including
national governments, local administrations, development partners,
international organizations, the private sector, the research and
science community and civil society.

Water and sanitation are included in the eight anti-poverty targets
known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which world leaders
agreed to meet by the end of 2015.

The deputy noted last year's announcement that the world had reached
the target for access to improved sources of water, but water quality
to a large degree still fails to meet basic UN World Health
Organization (WHO) standards.

Roughly 80 per cent of global wastewater from human settlements or
industrial sources is discharged untreated, contaminating oceans,
lakes and rivers.

Inadequate water supply and sanitation around the world lead to an
economic loss of $260 billion in health costs and diminished work
productivity, WHO reported. Meanwhile, meeting the MDG target on water
and sanitation amount to $60 billion annually, according to studies
Mr. Eliasson cited.

Sanitation is the most lagging of the MDGs. Meeting the target would
involve reducing the proportion of people without access to sanitation
from more than half to 25 per cent by 2015.

"We must continue to break taboos. As was the case for the word
'toilets' a few years ago, it is time to incorporate 'open defecation'
in the diplomatic discourse today," Mr. Eliasson urged.

Currently, one out of every four people in the least developed
countries defecates in the open. Ending the practice could, for
instance, lead to a 36 per cent reduction in diarrhoea, the deputy UN
chief noted, and enhance the personal safety of women and girls who
risk sexual assaults when venturing from their homes to isolated
places for basic needs.

Open defecation is part of the "Call to Action" that Mr. Eliasson
launched in March on behalf of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. It aims
to improve hygiene, change social norms, better managing human waste
and waste-water, and completely eliminate the practice of open
defecation by 2025. The General Assembly furthered that aim last
month, declaring 19 November as World Toilet Day.

Noting examples of international cooperation on these issues, Mr.
Eliasson noted the Sanitation and Water for All (SWA) initiative
comprised of governments, donors, civil society organizations,
development partners and several UN agencies.

In its latest report, the SWA partnership said that political
leadership and concrete action have led to good progress on creating
universal and sustainable access to decent sanitation and drinking
water, but additional efforts are needed.

High-level members of the group are due to meet again next April, in a
meeting led by the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Bank.

Turning to his experiences in Darfur, Sudan, where Mr. Eliasson had
been a Special Envoy of the Secretary-General, the UN deputy chief
cautioned that water scarcity is an increasing reason for conflict.

"I have seen it in Darfur where poisoning of water wells was a way for
forcing people to leave their villages for the overcrowded camps," he
noted, as well as in strained relations between States related to
cross-border river and waterways management, agriculture and energy.

"If competition for resources turns into open conflict, invariably all
sides, all involved, will suffer," Mr. Eliasson said. "Our aim must be
to make scarce resources, in particular water, a reason for
cooperation rather than conflict."
Sep 2 2013 6:00PM
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