Governments have been urged to show strong political will to provide access to water and sanitation for all by the World Water Council.
The council’s president Loic Fauchon said politicians need to make water security a top priority during an interview with reporters to commemorate this year’s World Water Day that fell on Mar 22.
“We know the solutions – the technical, digital solutions. We know what good governance could be. But we need political will. I mean, a strong political will from politicians at all levels to make water as the first priority,” Mr Fauchon told reporters in Indonesian capital Jakarta ahead of the kick-off meeting for the 10th World Water Forum.
“You cannot build, and you cannot produce any water. You may today produce air, not water. And we say to the politicians, stop ignoring water. Stop ignoring water and make it a political priority,” he added.
The theme for this year’s World Water Day was accelerating change to solve the water and sanitation crisis.
He explained that while water security can be established by providing more water resources, for instance, through the desalination or reuse of water, the target is to also convince the public and other stakeholders to consume less and said countries should act ahead of the 2030 target that the United Nations (UN) has for governments and other stakeholders to provide access to water and sanitation for all.
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“We (don’t) have to wait (for) the UN … We have to take (on) our future by ourselves,” he said.
However, he was pessimistic about governments hitting the UN’s targets outrightly but said progress would be made.
This is dependent on world governments allocating more budget, and in some cases, coming up with laws, he said.
The UN said on its website that the world is “seriously off-track” from the goals that the global community committed to achieving by 2030 when it held its first water conference in decades to mark World Water Day.
These include improving water quality by reducing pollution, eliminating dumping and minimising release of hazardous chemicals and materials.
“You have to make choices. Water, air and soil are the three main elements which can provide prosperity. And that’s the responsibility of the politicians to do that,” Mr Fauchon said regarding concerns that governments and other stakeholders could cut funding on access to water and sanitation amid fears of a recession.
Story was adapted from CNA.
