A Moral Failure: Billions of People with No Access to Clean Drinking Water

Credit: UNDPBy Volkan Bozkir *UNITED NATIONS, Mar 19 2021 (IPS) Water is integral to sustainable development, but we are well behind on the goals and targets that we have set ourselves. By current estimates: – Some 2.2 billion people – almost a third of the global population – continue to lack access to safely managed drinking water; – 4.2 billion people – more than half of the planet’s population – live without safely managed sanitation; – 2 billion people don’t have a decent toilet of their own; – and 3 billion lack basic handwashing facilities – even in the midst of a global pandemic. If I may be candid: it is a moral failure that we live in a world with such high levels of technical innovation and success, but we continue to allow billions of people to exist without clean drinking water or the basic tools to wash their hands. And make no mistake, this is a global failure that has far-reaching implications for all of us. We must remember: – Water is life. We simply cannot live on this planet – and certainly not in any healthy capacity – if we are deprived of this most basic human need. Our entire agricultural system – all of the food we consume – is dependent upon water supplies. The same extends to all other life on this planet. Every ecosystem, every species, depends upon water. – Water is sustainability. Safe drinking water systems and adequate sanitation is essential to ensure cities and towns grow sustainably. Without these core serv...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Tags: Aid Climate Change Development & Aid Environment Global Health Population Poverty & SDGs TerraViva United Nations Water & Sanitation Source Type: news