IN MESSAGE FOR WORLD DAY FOR WATER, SECRETARY-GENERAL STRESSES NEED TO LEARN TRUE VALUE OF 'THIS MOST PRECIOUS RESOURCE'
Press Release
SG/SM/6926
OBV/88
IN MESSAGE FOR WORLD DAY FOR WATER, SECRETARY-GENERAL STRESSES NEED TO LEARN TRUE VALUE OF 'THIS MOST PRECIOUS RESOURCE'
19990316 Following is the text of Secretary-General Kofi Annan's message for the occasion of World Day for Water, observed on 22 March:Access to a secure, safe and sufficient source of fresh water is a fundamental requirement for the survival, well-being and socio-economic development of all humanity. Yet, we continue to act as if fresh water were a perpetually abundant resource. It is not. Fresh water is precious: we cannot live without it. It is irreplaceable: there are no substitutes for it. And it is sensitive: human activity has a profound impact on the quantity and quality of fresh water available. It depends on us how much is used in a particular region, and what kind of uses it is put to.
Human activities on the land are the major causes of both water shortages and water pollution. Agricultural development, urbanization, and industrialization cause the most harm, and must be the primary focus of freshwater management efforts. Water is literally and figuratively a fluid resource: actions within one part of a watershed can have a profound effect on human water use in other parts. We must learn that "everybody lives downstream".
Effective water management becomes even more difficult when the resource is shared between nations. It is not always easy for nations to agree on the share of a watershed which each of them is entitled to. But all of them share an interest in avoiding conflict, and in preserving a resource on which all depend. Equity and sustainability must be their watchword.
Strains on the global supply of fresh water will only increase in the future, especially in developing countries, where water shortage is usually only one strand in a nexus of socio-economic problems.
Today, we take water too much for granted. Those of us who are still lucky enough to be able to turn on the tap, or pump the well, as if the supply were unlimited, need to learn the true value of this most precious resource. Otherwise, scarcity will teach us -- by turning it, like so many natural resources, into a commodity with a price.
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