One in ten people have no access to clean water

UAE – “Water and sustainable development” is this year´s theme on the World Water Day, which is celebrated every March 22 after being created by the United Nations in 1993. The We Are Water Foundation carries out different actions to raise awareness in many countries, with the aim of achieving a new water culture. Nowadays, 750 million people live with a major lack of access to clean water and 2500 million people do not have basic sanitation.

The UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, has declared in his message on World Water Day that “We depend on water for public health and equitable progress, and water is essential for food and energy security, and it supports the performance of industries.”

He has added “To eliminate the various problems related to water, we need to work in a spirit of urgent cooperation, with an open mind to new ideas and innovation, and being able to share the solutions that we all need for a sustainable future”.

Water resources play a key role in the reduction of poverty, in economic growth and also in the sustainability of the environment. Xavier Torras, Director of the We Are Water Foundation, has declared: “It is our responsibility to improve such a complicated situation and through cooperation it is possible to turn the figures around”.

For all these reasons, the We Are Water Foundation has organised the Workshop Social Perceptions of Water and Climate, at the Roca Barcelona Gallery, with meteorologists from around the world gathering to discuss the difficulties encountered to communicate the climate change in their own countries, as well as to search for joint solutions. Organised in two days, talks and discussion sessions have highlighted the importance of water in many areas and how sustainable development and climate change affect areas as diverse as displaced persons, economic activities such as agriculture or the management of water resources in cities.

The aim is to cover the surface of the planet to defend the right to water which is still unattainable for millions of people.

 

Visit www.wearewater.org for more information