Clean Drinking Water, Proper Sanitation Bedrock Of Dignity - UN Official

By Minggu Simon Lhasa BANGKOK, March 24 (Bernama) -- Clean drinking water and proper sanitation are the bedrock of dignity, and essential to all other human rights, says a United Nations (UN) official. Lack of access to clean water and sanitation was a silent crisis that continues to destroy livelihoods and claim more casualties through illness than any conflict, said Dr Shamshad Akhtar, the UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific. "Water is vital to human life and is at the core of sustainable development," she said in an event marking World Water Day here Monday. She said social, economic and environmental progress was often limited by finite and vulnerable water resources and their management. Dr Shamshad added a key priority for water and sustainable development was sustaining the ecological systems that provided water, and protected people against water-related disasters. "Asia and Pacific is one of the most disaster-prone regions in the world. This is magnified by the fact that more than 90 per cent of the impacts of climate change are water-related...more than half of the regional urban populations live in vulnerable coastal zones and flood plains. "Climate change is likely to increase the incidence and severity of extreme weather events," she noted. By this year, it was estimated that 2.7 billion people would live in urban areas, placing considerable stress on the resource base of the region's cities, including water, and undermining the sustainable development efforts of the cities, said Dr Shamshad. -- BERNAMA