Today marks World Water Day, a door to a decade of work dedicated to the improvement of the world's water supplies and people's access to clean, safe water, a 10-year period with the theme "Water for Life."
Water is a linchpin of sustainable development, which is not possible without environmental integrity and the alleviation of poverty and hunger. Water is also crucial to human health and well-being.
As a result, the United Nations General Assembly at its 58th session in December 2003 agreed to proclaim the years 2005 to 2015 the International Decade for Action.
And it begins with World Water Day today.
The Water for Life decade bases the world's goals on "a greater focus on water-related issues, while striving to ensure the participation of women in water-related development efforts, and further co-operation at all levels to achieve the water-related goals of the Millennium Declaration, Johannesburg Plan of Implementation of the World Summit for Sustainable Development and Agenda 21."
The assembly called upon relevant UN bodies, specialized agencies, regional commissions and other organizations of the United Nations to deliver a co-ordinated response, utilizing existing resources and voluntary funds, to make the coming decade one that changes the way the world looks at water.
The first water decade from 1981 to 1990 brought water to over a billion people and sanitation to almost 770 million. Much more still needs to be done.
Safe water supplies and adequate sanitation to protect health are among the most fundamental of all human rights. Today, there remains almost 1.1 billion people who have inadequate access to water and 2.4 billion without appropriate sanitation.
About World Water Day
The international observance of World Water Day is an initiative that grew out of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro.
The United Nations General Assembly designated March 22 of each year as the world day for water by adopting a resolution.
The day was observed as of 1993, conforming with the timeframe laid down by the United Nations.
States were invited to use the day as an opportunity to implement the UN recommendations according to each country's conditions.
(China Daily March 22, 2005)