DUSHANBE. June 8. “Asia-Plus” — Nearly 1 billion people worldwide do not have access to clear drinking water, while other 2.6 billion have no access to basic sanitary conditions and more than 80 countries feel lack of water resources, 42.000 people die every day of diseases caused by poor quality of drinking water and poor level of sanitary conditions, in more than 90% of cases we talk about children under 5 years of age, draught and desertification pose threat to the lives of more than 1.2 billion people worldwide, Tajikistan President Emomali Rahmon spoke today in his opening speech at the high-level International conference on medium-term overview of the implementation of the International Decade for Action “Water for Life” 2005-2015.
“According to the UN, two thirds of the Earth’s population will face shortage of water resources by the year of 2025. That’s why water related issues take specific place in all international documents on sustainable development,” Rahmon said, stressing that the goal of the International Decade for Action “Water for Life” is to contribute to efforts aimed at implementation of international obligations by 2015 regarding water and water related resources.
Tajik President also paid attention to the fact that global processes which take place in the past five years – the global financial crisis and climate change – negatively affected the implementation of the goals, objectives and projects on water and water resources.
He noted that despite the fact that Tajikistan, on the territory of which more than 64 billion cubic meters of water are formed, which is more than 60% of the overall flow of rivers of basin of the Aral sea, and is reach with water resources, it uses nearly 10% of these resources for internal purposes while the rest flow goes to the lower countries which use water for irrigation purposes.
“Despite the availability of these resources, more than 40% of the population of Tajikistan have no access to clear drinking water, while people from rural area face serious problems with having access to water,” Rahmon said, adding that apart from water deficit Tajikistan also suffers from energy deficit, natural disasters and lack of funds in water sector that seriously affects the development of the republic.
Tajik leader stressed that resolution of water issues is an integral part of the National Development Strategy and Poverty Reduction Strategy. “At that Tajikistan never created any problems for any other nations and countries of the region and is not planning to do so. In terms of specific indexes of irrigated lands and water use, Tajikistan ranks last among Central Asian countries,” Rahmon said.
