River basins ‘vital for growth’
The world’s top river basin regions have a vital role in the future
in terms of sustaining economic growth in the future, a report has
suggested. However, current projections show that seven of the top 10
areas are currently using unsustainable volumes of water.
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Campaigners hope that the Rio Summit
deliver policies that improves global water management.
Picture Courtesy: BBC NEWS |
A UN report said the global target of halving the number of people in
the world without access to safe drinking water was achieved in March
2012. The report was commissioned by HSBC, WWF, Earthwatch and WaterAid.
The document, Exploring the Links between Water and Economic Growth,
produced by Frontier Economics, recorded that almost 800 million
remained without access to safe drinking water, while 2.5 bn were
without basic access to sanitation.
The report’s authors estimate that nations would see their GDP
improve by up to 15 percent if the global Millennium Development Targets
were achieved.
A report published by the UN in March said the international
community had achieved the goal of halving the number of people without
access to safe drinking water.
In the past 20 years, two billion people have gained access to
improved drinking water.
However, it acknowledged that global targets to improve sanitation
were unlikely to be met by the 2015 deadline. The Millennium Development
Goal (MDG) lists 75 percent of the world’s population benefiting from
improved sanitation, yet figures suggest that only 63 percent of the
world’s population currently have improved sanitation access, a figure
projected to increase only to 67 percent by 2015.
This means that 2.5 bn people are still without the level of
sanitation outlined in the MDGs.
The report by Frontier Economics listed a number of avenues that need
to be addressed in order for the ‘water challenge’ to be addressed.
As well as improving the access to drinking water and sanitation, it
also listed the need for great efficiency in the way water is consumed
within agriculture, industry and domestic sectors.
Courtesy: BBC NEWS
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