Africa-Press – Kenya. The UN convened a major conference on water Wednesday as one in four people in the world does not have access to clean drinking water. A report released Tuesday ahead of the conference, the first in 46 years, revealed that around 2 billion people do not have access to safe drinking water and 3.6 billion lack access to basic sanitation.
Access to safe drinking water by 2030 is one of the UN’s 17 sustainable development goals adopted in 2015. The global urban population facing water scarcity is estimated to double from 930 million people in 2016 to between 1.7 and 2.4 billion in 2050, according to the report.
“Water is a human right — and a common development denominator to shape a better future.
But water is in deep trouble,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said at the opening ceremony of the three-day conference co-chaired by the Netherlands and Tajikistan.
“We are draining humanity’s lifeblood through vampiric overconsumption and unsustainable use, and evaporating it through global heating.
We have broken the water cycle, destroyed ecosystems and contaminated groundwater,” he said
He said nearly three out of four natural disasters are linked to water and urged countries to work across borders to manage water and “massively” invest in water and sanitation systems.
“Climate action and a sustainable water future are two sides of the same coin,” he said.
“We don’t have a moment to lose.”
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