ID :
233686
Sat, 03/24/2012 - 09:55
Auther :

Water Vital For Food Security

By Zuhafizah Ahmad Zaki IPOH (Perak, Malaysia), March 24 (Bernama) -- Did you know that a single drop of water from a tap can lead to the waste of 20 gallons of water per day? Did you also know that thawing food using running water from a tap can result in the waste of between 50 and 150 gallons of water per month? In cognisance of the importance of water to human life, Malaysia is committed to celebrating World Water Day 2012 with programmes and campaigns to increase awareness of effective water management. This year, the national World Water Day celebration will extend for five days in the northern state of Perak with the theme of ‘Water and Food Security’ to raise awareness of the importance of water in producing food. JOINT EFFORT Director-General of Drainage and Irrigation Department Ahmad Husaini Sulaiman said the programme was the main objective of the Unesco–International Hydrological Programme (IHP) Malaysia, which promotes and coordinates educational, scientific and capability-development programmes in hydrology and water resources. "The programme will be implemented through a partnership commitment between Unesco and IHP Malaysia to create long-term integration between 40 Unesco–IHP Malaysia partners in several aspects of sustainable water management in Malaysia," he said. He said capability-development and awareness programmes are important for promoting and implementing integrated water management holistically and efficiently. Meanwhile, Juhaimi Jusoh, Perak Drainage and Irrigation Department Deputy Director said the World Water Day celebration jointly organised by the department, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and Unesco-IHP Malaysia is hosted in Sungai Kerian, Parit Buntar, some 150 kilometres from here. NATIONAL CELEBRATION Juhaimi said many events have been scheduled for the celebration, which began on March 20, culminating in the launch today. The events include a colouring and drawing contest, the sewage treatment plant Open Day, a national-level colloquium and the Best Hydrology Thesis Award. The sewage treatment plant Open Day will give the public a chance to learn about the process of water treatment at selected plants across the country from March 24 to 31. The ‘river cruise’ activities get school students involved in a boat decoration contest and also include a fireworks show, fishing and rowing contests, shows by the Royal Malaysian Navy’s Special Forces and the Water and Food Security Explorace. The World Water Day celebration aims to renew the resolve to implement Agenda 21 of the United Nation’s Conference on Environment and Development, which is a global agenda for transition to sustainability in the 21st century. Among other things, the agenda states that integrated action is needed for the development and management of water facilities and the use of water to gain control over the quality and source of fresh water. WORLD AGENDA The water agenda is a Global Plan of Action with goals, principles, a commitment and a strategy towards achieving sustainable water management. World Water Day 2012, organised by UN-Water with the cooperation of the UN Human Settlement Programme and the UN Environmental Programme with the support of Unesco, is to beef up the programme ‘Water for Life Decade 2005–2015,’ which aims to encourage efforts to achieve international commitment on water issues. This year’s celebration focuses on attracting international attention to water security for producing food in a world with a steadily increasing population. According to the website http://www.unwater.org, the food security issue exists because everyone, at all times, should have physical, social and economical access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to live a healthy and active life. "Each of us needs to drink two to four litres of water every day. But it takes 2,000 to 5,000 litres of water to produce one person’s daily food,” the website states. The world’s population is currently seven billion, and this number is expected to increase to nine billion by 2050. "To be able to feed everybody, we first need to secure water in sufficient quantity and of adequate quality. We will also need to produce more food using less water, reduce food wastage and losses and move towards more sustainable diets," adds the website. The official date of the annual World Water Day celebration is March 22. -- BERNAMA

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