DUSHANBE, March 25, 2016, Asia-Plus — The United Nations urged the governments of Asia and the Pacific to address the critical gaps in access to water and sanitation, by increasing water efficiency for more balanced and sustainable growth and development, at the regional observance of World Water Day 2016, in Bangkok on March 22.
Launched at the joint event by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), UNESCO and ILO, the World Water Development Report 2016 (WWDR) on the theme ‘Water and Jobs’ reportedly focuses on the relationship between decent work and water, both in terms of how greater access to clean and affordable water can support health, livelihoods and the economy, and also how meeting water needs can create employment.
The United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of ESCAP, Dr. Shamshad Akhtar, highlighted that more than 1.7 billion people in Asia and the Pacific still live without access to improved sanitation, which costs economies in the region the equivalent of between 0.5 per cent and 7.2 per cent of their annual GDPs.
The observance, held at the United Nations Conference Center in Bangkok, featured an interactive dialogue that reflected on generating sustainable employment and green growth in the Asia Pacific region, along with of formulating water policies through participatory processes, and how to ensure economic development proceeds in an inclusive manner with attention to human development.
International World Water Day has been held annually since 1993 as a means of focusing global attention on the importance of freshwater and advocating sustainable management of freshwater resources.
The Asian and Pacific region generates one-third of the world’s GDP and is home to 4.3 billion people, representing 60 percent of the world’s population. Most of the industries driving economic growth depend on a reliable quantity and quality of freshwater supply for large parts of their production process. Expanding economies and growing cities will need increasing supplies of energy, which will in turn require access to additional water resources. As a result of rapid urbanization, industrialization and policy gaps, up to 90 percent of household and industrial wastewaters are currently discharged untreated into the ecosystem.
The United Nations World Water Development Report, or WWDR, is a UN-Water Report produced by the UN World Water Assessment Program of UNESCO. The report is the result of the collaboration between the 31 entities of the United Nations System and the 38 international partners that comprise UN-Water. The report presents an exhaustive review of the state of global water resources and, up until 2012, was published every three years. Since 2014, the WWDR is published annually, with each edition focused on a given theme. It is launched every year on World Water Day, 22 March, which shares the same theme as the report.
