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Published 17:20 IST, October 24th 2019

Measures by the United Nations for global water security

Water is an essential element for life on earth and the United Nations has equitable access to clean water as one of their major sustainable development goals.

Reported by: Debolina Datta
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The United Nations Organization celebrates the UN Day on 24th of October every year to mark the foundation of the organization and the implementation of the UN charter. The United Nations Organization has recently announced the Sustainable Development Goals, that is a call for action by all citizens of the world, to promote prosperity while causing no harm to the planet. The initiative has been taken keeping in mind that there is a need to build economic growth and social growth in terms of education, health, social protection and employment, hitherto being mindful of the climate change and environment.

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The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) also include water and sanitation. The global scarcity of safe clean water is something that is affecting humanity at large and has also led to a major environmental degradation. According to a report by the UN, water scarcity affects more than 40% of the global population and it could continue to rise in the next few years. The problems related to water are not just related to the lack of clean drinking water. Every 3 in 10 people lack access to safely managed drinking water. It also gives rise to a lot of sanitation related problems. Every day, almost 3000 children across the world die due to preventable water borne and sanitation related diseases. The reports also state that around 24 billion people, globally have absolutely no access to basic sanitation facilities like toilets and at least 892 million people continue to practice open defecation.

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Water and Sanitation stands as the 6th major goal among the SDGs. There are many targets that are announced by the UN that are mostly to be reached by 2030. It targets not only focus on the ‘universal and equitable’ access to safe drinking water but also aims to improve the quality of water by reducing pollution, restricting the release of hazardous and chemical material in the water bodies and promoting reuse and recycling of water on a global level. The UN also aims to provide better sanitation to the global population with special focus on girls and women, who are in a much worse condition. The goals for the near future include the protection and restoration of water related ecosystem. The UN, however, also aims to support and strengthen community participation in improving all water and sanitation management issues. The support is extended to promote more and more contributions from people all around the world. The United Nations declared 2018 – 2028 to be the Water Action Decade to make more people aware of the immediate action that should be taken for water securityNumerous organizations have contributed to promote simple water conservation methods and many governments have taken steps to ensure better water quality and sanitation facilities to the citizens.

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Updated 17:54 IST, October 24th 2019