Editorial
World Water Day 2023 is about accelerating change to solve the water and sanitation crisis.
Dysfunction throughout the water cycle undermines progress on all major global issues, from health to hunger, gender equality to jobs, industry education, disasters to peace.
In 2015, the world committed to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 as part of the 2030 Agenda – the promise that everyone would have safely managed water and sanitation by 2030.
Right now, we are seriously off-track.
Billions of people and countless schools, businesses, healthcare centres, farms, and factories are being held back because their human rights to water and sanitation still need to be fulfilled.
There is an urgent need to accelerate change – to go beyond ‘business as usual.’
The latest data show that governments must work four times faster to meet SDG 6 on time, but this is not a situation that any single actor or group can solve.
Water affects everyone, so we need everyone to take action.
- Four million people die annually, and 74 million will have their lives shortened by poor water, sanitation and hygiene diseases. (WHO 2022)
- Today, 1 in 4 people – 2 billion people worldwide – lack safe drinking water. (WHO/UNICEF 2021)
- Almost half the global population – 3.6 billion people – lacks safe sanitation. (WHO/UNICEF 2021)
- Globally, 44 per cent of household wastewater is not safely treated. (UN-Water 2021)
- Global water demand (in water withdrawals) is projected to increase by 55 per cent by 2050. (OECD 2012)
Pakistan is facing an extreme water crisis. According to different reports, eighty per cent of Pakistan’s population faces a water shortage at least one month a year. Then, population explosion is the fundamental cause of meeting the water demand. Climate change and the non-availability of water reservoirs also create a water shortage in Pakistan. Critics attribute that Indus Basin Treaty has been the fundamental political reason for the water scarcity in Pakistan. However, despite the political decisions, water management could have been better. Therefore, there is a dire need to improve the state’s administrative structures.
The role of governmental organizations in providing clean and healthy water is essential for the people in Pakistan. Local government is also crucial. The planning and execution of engineering work need to enhance capacity. Infrastructural development with the application of modern technology in executing water schemes is also significant. Then, there is also a need to transform the social behavior of the people not to waste water more than their requirement. Hence, international water day reminds the significance of water and subsequent management for the needs of humans.https://republicpolicy.com/un-2023-water-conference-our-watershed-moment-uniting-the-world-for-water-a-case-study-for-pakistan/
