Water is life
2013-United Nations International Year of Water
Cooperation :
Senali S. Perera
 Water. We hear about it everyday. We see it, we drink it and we use
it for our needs everyday. It is a part of our lives. A part that we
more often than not take for granted. Sometimes we let it go wasted
without giving it any importance. Why? Because there seem to be plenty
of it everywhere. But deep down we do know that now is the time we
realized the importance of a single drop of water and how it can affect
our lives. So let’s stop and think, shall we?
In December 2010, the United Nations General Assembly declared 2013
as the United Nations International Year of Water Cooperation. In
reflection of this declaration, the 2013 World Water Day, which will
take place on 22 March 2013, also will be dedicated to water
cooperation.
Therefore, United Nations called upon UNESCO to lead the 2013 United
Nations International Year on Water Cooperation, in particular because
of the Organization’s unique multidisciplinary approach which blends the
natural and social sciences, education, culture and communication.
Objective
The objective of this International Year is to raise awareness, both
on the potential for increased cooperation, and on the challenges facing
water management in light of the increase in demand for water access,
allocation and services. Sharing this invaluable resource, it seems have
become a considerable problem.
Some has it all, some has none. The UN suggests that each person
needs 20-50 liters of water a day to ensure their basic needs for
drinking, cooking and cleaning. And as statistics go, one in six people
-894 million- worldwide don’t have access to improved water resources.
What more, every 20 seconds, a child dies as a result of poor
sanitation. These aren’t promising. In fact, one can say that it’s
terrifying to see how scarce water has become.
 According to statistics, about 70% of fresh water is used for
irrigation of which it is estimated 15-35% are unsustainable irrigation
withdrawals. About 20-22% of fresh water goes for industrial purposes,
leaving just 8-10% for domestic use. The Millennium Development goal
which was established following the millennium summit of the United
Nations in 2000, targets to reduce by half the proportion of people
without access to basic sanitation by 2015. That is, the access to
sanitation to have increased up to 77% as a percentage of world
population by 2015. The United Nations International year of Water
Cooperation reaffirms this and highlights the importance of preserving
water.
As much as two-thirds of the wastewater generated in the world
receives no treatment at all. In Southeast Asia alone, 13 million tons
of untreated faeces are released to inland water sources each year,
along with 122 million m3 of urine and 11 billion m3 of grey water. We
must work to better manage waste water in a Post 2015 world.
In preparation for the Year of Water, The International Annual
UN-Water Zaragoza Conference 2012/2013 ‘Preparing for the 2013
International Year. Water Cooperation: Making it Happen!’ will take
place in Zaragoza, Spain, from 8 to 10 January 2013. The conference will
focus on how to make cooperation happen.To ensure that water security
and sustainability is achieved concerted efforts
must be made to promote water cooperation at river basin and local
scale, including in transboundary river basins, irrigation districts and
cities.
Cooperation is necessary to deal with some of major issues such as
water allocation decisions, upstream and downstream impacts of water
pollution and water abstraction, construction and management of new
infrastructures, dealing with illegal abstractions and overexploitation
of surface and groundwater, deciding on financing management of water
resources and water services,among others.
Best approaches
According to the United Nations, in order to make the efforts of the
upcoming Year of Water a success, it is important to identify the best
approaches to promote effective cooperation at different scales and how
can we do ‘better’ in water cooperation through sharing lessons from
experiences, and inspiring participants to do ‘better'. We hear it
everyday.
 Save water, save water and save water yet again. We learn
about it, hear about it, and know about it but how many of us have
really opened our eyes and ears to this subject and how many of us have cared to make a
change? What matters is not how much the mantra is repeated, what
matters is how is it received, what affect it makes. And of course, it
is on our hands to make this effective.
It is our job. Our duty,our responsibility.To raise our voice when we
see this precious resource being misused, to spreadwhat knowledge we
have about this current issue and preserving water, to protect trees. We
owe it to Mother Nature. We owe it to our future generations. We owe it
to ourselves. Let’s make a change in this upcoming Year of Water. Let’s
do it together. As an old African proverb says, “If you want to go fast,
go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”
If some of us are so dedicated to this, if they understand the
importance of this, then why not us? Ask yourself what you have done in
the past year for the betterment of fellow humans. If you have done
something, improve it this year. If you haven’t, change it. Get up,
raise your voice, spread aweareness, jump into action. Make a change. It
is important that we take action to reach the Millennium Development
goal, participate in the Year of Water with passion, to make a change
for a better world. |
