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UN: 2.4 billion people will lack improved sanitation in 2015
press release
2.4 billion people will lack improved sanitation in 2015
World will miss MDG target
GENEVA/NEW YORK, 13 May 2013 – Some 2.4 billion people – one-third of the world’s population – will remain without access to improved sanitation in 2015, according to a joint WHO/UNICEF report issued today.
The report, entitled PRogress on Sanitation and Drinking-Water 2013 Update, warns that, at the current rate of progress, the 2015 Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target of halving the proportion of the 1990 population without sanitation will be missed by eight per cent – or half a billion people.
While UNICEF and WHO announced last year that the MDG drinking water target had been met and surpassed by 2010, the challenge to improve sanitation and reach those in need has led to a consolidated call for action to accelerate progress.
“There is an urgent need to ensure all the necessary pieces are in place – political commitment, funding, leadership – so the world can accelerate progress and reach the Millennium Development Goal sanitation target,” said Dr Maria Neira, WHO Director for Public Health and Environment. “The world can turn around and transform the lives of millions that still do not have access to basic sanitation. The rewards would be immense for health, ending poverty at its source, and well-being.”
The report echoes the urgent call to action by United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson for the world community to combine efforts and end open defecation by 2025. With less than three years to go to reach the MDG deadline WHO and UNICEF call for a final push to meet the sanitation target.
“This is an emergency no less horrifying than a massive earthquake or tsunami,” said Sanjay Wijesekera, global head of UNICEF’s water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) programme. “Every day hundreds of children are dying; every day thousands of parents mourn their sons and daughters. We can and must act in the face of this colossal daily human tragedy.”
Among the key findings from the latest 2011 data, the report highlights:
- Almost two-thirds (64 per cent) of the world’s population had access to improved sanitation facilities, an increase of almost 1.9 billion people since 1990.
- Approximately 2.5 billion people lacked access to an improved sanitation facility. Of these, 761 million use public or shared sanitation facilities and 693 million use facilities that do not meet minimum standards of hygiene.
- In 2011, 1 billion people still defecated in the open. Ninety per cent of all open defecation takes place in rural areas.
- By the end of 2011, 89 per cent of the world population used an improved drinking-water source, and 55 per cent had a piped supply on premises. This left an estimated 768 million people without improved sources for drinking water, of whom 185 million relied on surface water for their daily needs.
- There continues to be a striking disparity between those living in rural areas and those who live in cities. Urban dwellers make up three-quarters of those with access to piped water supplies at home. Rural communities comprise 83 per cent of the global population without access to improved drinking- water source and 71 per cent of those living without sanitation.
Faster progress on sanitation is possible, the two organizations say. The report summarizes the shared vision of the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector including academia, human rights and global monitoring communities for a post-2015 world where:
- No one should be defecating in the open
- Everyone should have safe water, sanitation and hygiene at home
- All schools and health centres should have water, sanitation and hygiene
- Water, sanitation and hygiene should be sustainable
- Inequalities in access should be eliminated
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Download the entire report and get more information at:
- http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/publications/2013/jmp_report/en/index.html
- http://www.unicef.org/media/media_69091.html
- http://www.wssinfo.org
- http://www.who.int/phe/en/
About the JMP
The WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) for Water Supply and Sanitation is the official United Nations mechanism tasked with monitoring global progress towards the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) relating to access to drinking water and sanitation. The JMP data helps draw connections between access to clean water and private sanitation facility and quality of life.
About WHO
The World Health Organization is the directing and coordinating authority for health within the United Nations system. It is responsible for providing leadership on global health matters, shaping the health research agenda, setting norms and standards, articulating evidence-based policy options, providing technical support to countries and monitoring and assessing health trends. From its inception, WHO has recognized the importance of water and sanitation. Visit www.who.int for more information.
About UNICEF
UNICEF works in more than 190 countries and territories to help children survive and thrive, from early childhood through adolescence. The world’s largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments.
Community Approaches to Total Sanitation (CATS), now being supported by UNICEF in 50 countries around the world, including crucial ones in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, have led to more than 39,000 communities, with a total population of over 24 million people, being declared free of open defecation within the last five years.
For more information about UNICEF and its work visit: www.unicef.org.
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For further information, please contact:
Rita Ann Wallace, Communications Officer, UNICEF New York,
Tel: + 1 212 326 7586 / Mobile: + 917 213 4034, rwallace@unicef.org
Nada Osseiran, Communications Officer, WHO Geneva,
Tel: + 4122 791 4475 / Mobile: + 4179 445 1624, osseirann@who.int
source http://www.unicef.org/media/media_69091.html
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- When Sanitation Does Not Have Clear Institutional Home or Accountability, Progress Lags: UN Deputy Secretary-General (washlink.wordpress.com)
- Everyone needs a place to go (thehindu.com)
- Third World Problems (cameronkoizumi.wordpress.com)
- Global Health Plan Aims to End a Third of Childhood Deaths (ipsnews.net)
- Diarrhoea kills 10,000 under five children in Ghana annually – Minister (ghanabusinessnews.com)
- Post-2015 development agenda must reflect all dimensions of sustainability (guardian.co.uk)
Mapping Sanitation: a Tedx Talk by Faisal Chohan, a Senior TED Fellow
A quick 90 second video about an effort to map sanitation in Rawalpindi Pakistan
Faisal Chohan, a Senior TED Fellow and TEDxIslamabad organizer, will now continue his mapping work with a related mission: Improving sanitation in order to prevent the spread of cholera—a bacterial infection in the small intestine, primarily caused by drinking water or eating food that has been contaminated by feces of an infected person. The rapid dehydration and electrolyte imbalance that results from cholera can lead to death if left untreated. Read more on TEDx….
Releated links
- pakreport.org The Organization doing this and other work
- Saafpindi project Page for Mapping Project itself
- parkreport blog
- Fasil Chohan profile on wethedata.org
- Excelent source for more details by Faissal on GlobalGiving page
Other useful links
Scaling out Sanitation in Rawalpindi, Pakistan 2009 article by Pakistan Institute for Environment-Development Action Research (PIEDAR).
About TedxCity.2.0
In the tradition of our TEDxYouthDay, TEDxChange, and TEDxWomen initiatives, comes TEDxCity2.0: A day of urban inspiration. 28 TEDx communities around the world participated in TEDxCity2.0 day on October 13, 2012. We will host our next event in 2013 to share the powerful narratives of urban innovators and organizers, stewards and artists, builders and tastemakers. The TEDx platform will harness the power of people across the globe to encourage them to host a TEDx event, themed “City 2.0. source & more…
The Wello Water Wheel Story : Cynthia Koenig at TEDxGateway
Cynthia talks about the often underestimated problem of water weight and how this problem is preventing millions of women from educating and empowering themselves. She points about the fact that ‘water is heavy’ using real life examples in Rajasnthan, India. Not only is water heavy but also time consuming and limiting women of important opportunities. She talks about her invention “wello” where she & her team have reinvented the wheel. She brings the water wheel on stage, explaining the design and features in this product, allowing the audience to see this easy to use, yet immensely life changing water wheel.
Cynthia’s Profile on UnreasonableNetwork -(really, a good site)
Other drums solutions
- The Q Drum
- The hippo Roller
- Aquaport (status unknown after 2010) video
Related articles
- Wello’s WaterWheel – Rolling Towards Healthier Communities (learningaboutsocialenterprise.wordpress.com)
- Social Entrepreneurs That Innovate Around Women And Clean Water (siliconvalleywatcher.com)
- Q-Drum re-invents the wheel by adding water to solve a water transport crisis for the world’s poor.
Turning recycled wastewater into a commoditized resource : Valérie Issumo at TEDxLausanne
The talk is titled: Wastewater, a resource or a weapon of mass destruction?
Valérie shows us how to turn recycled wastewater into a commoditized resource, improve water sanitation, provide efficient water usage, and reduce price volatility.
….
Valérie Issumo is the CEO of Prana Sustainable Water company (http://www.pranasustainablewater.ch) . An economist, she worked for 15 years as a soft commodities trader and as a trainer in Belgium, Uruguay, Cameroon and Switzerland. Throughout her career she has fought for sustainability and risk mitigation in the entire value chain of traded goods. She is a university lecturer and also a consultant for food security, socially responsible investments, pricing ecosystems and the assessment of water interdependencies. Valérie holds an MBA, has studied at various international water centres, and was a recipient of the Prize of the Belgian Minister of Foreign Trade.
Prana Sustainable Water is acting for the following challenges:
- Reducing the 80% untreated wastewater (UNEP) by matching offers and pre-paid demands of treated water allowing to finance sanitation and restore the public water quality as common good for not hindering growth and strategies.
- Water is the underlying commodity of every goods or services: please check www.cdproject.net/water and www.waterfootprint.org: : Prana Sustainable Water has designed Ethical Water Titles© – futures contracts – to commoditize treated wastewater as tradable resource on the Ethical Water Exchange platform or commodities exchange for water procurement and price security.
- Scaling-up clean technologies for wastewater:the members of Prana Sustainable Water Club active in wastewater can benefit organized markets through solvent demands of recycled water via Ethical Water Titles© allowing to leapfrog the leverage effects solving simultaneously water, health, economic, environmental and social issues.
- Offset water consumption : wastewater can be recycled on an infinite basis. Prana Sustainable Water boosts responsible productions or services prioritizing reuse water with the automatic respect of the Water Exploitation Index growingblue.com and storing part of recycled wastewater into green water bnks© for philanthropy, reforestation and production of green/rain water, energy, public services like fires..etc…
- Defense and food security Our motto is to incentivize responsible water use to produce:
- what makes sense (prioritizing commoditized recycled water from wastewater for Human Rights, for water footprints of functional food or with high nutritional value and ecosystems services),
- where it makes sense (according to the impact),
- how it makes sense (with treated wastewater and sludge energy).
More:
Prana Sustainable Water site pages
source of materials YouTube posting & Prana Sustainable Water
Catarina de Albuquerque addresses stigmatization of groups who lack water and sanitation.
UN Special Rapporteur on the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation Catarina de Albuquerque has called on states to address the issue of stigmatization of groups and communities because of lack to water and sanitation.
She presented a report to the UN Human Rights Council focusing on the links between stigma and the realization of the human rights to water and sanitation.
The 22 page PDF report “Report of the Special Rapporteur on the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation, Catarina de Albuquerque | Stigma and the realization of the human rights to water and sanitation“
is available in English French Spanish Arabic Chinese(Mandarin) Russian
Summary from Report:
“The Special Rapporteur on the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation submits the present report in accordance with Human Rights Council resolution 16/2. She focuses on the links between stigma and the human rights framework as it relates to water and sanitation. She has found that stigma, as a deeply entrenched social and cultural phenomenon, lies at the root of many human rights violations and results in entire population groups being disadvantaged and excluded.
The Special Rapporteur seeks to convey an understanding of stigma and to elucidate its drivers. She links stigma explicitly to water, sanitation and hygiene before examining different manifestations of stigma. She situates stigma in the human rights framework considering, in particular, human dignity, the human rights to water, sanitation, non-discrimination and equality, the prohibition of degrading treatment, and the right to privacy. Based on this analysis, the Special Rapporteur seeks to identify appropriate strategies for preventing and responding to stigma from a human rights perspective, before concluding with a set of recommendations. She emphasizes that States cannot fully realize the human rights to water and sanitation without addressing stigma as a root cause of discrimination and other human rights violations.”
- Introduction
- Understanding stigma and its drivers
- Stigma and its links to water, sanitation and hygiene
- Manifestations of stigma
- Situating stigma in the human rights framework
- Identifying appropriate strategies for prevention and response
- Conclusions and recommendations
Strategies for prevention and response detailed in the report include
- Participation and empowerment
- Awareness-raising to break taboos and challenge stereotypes
- Legislative, policy and institutional measures
- Adopting targeted interventions
- Adopting technical measures .
- Ensuring access to justice
Related articles
- California law on human right to water sets example for others (bikyamasr.com)
- Water Makes Waves at UN General Assembly Debates (circleofblue.org)
Keeping informed about WASH : Water, Sanitation, Hygiene and Health Newsletter
The “Water, Sanitation, Hygiene and Health Newsletter ” from WHO is a nice newsletter to subscribe to. Its easy to skim but usually has a couple of great morsels of information with links that you will want to click through to.
If you would like to be added to their mailing list please email LISTSERV@who.int with the following:
To subscribe please include the text “subscribe WATERSANITATION” in the body of your email message.
Here is a sample of the latest newsletter. I can’t find a web page, it appears to be only be accessible in a email
Water, Sanitation, Hygiene and Health Newsletter N° 158 / 10 August 2012
Click on the links below to view abstracts of some of the papers included in the latest issue of the journal:
http://www.iwaponline.com/washdev/subscriptions.htm
For a sample copy: http://www.iwaponline.com/sample.htm
To register for Contents Alert: http://www.iwapublishing.com/template.cfm?name=mailings
Water, Sanitation, Hygiene and Health Newsletter Details:
TO SUBSCRIBE
To subscribe please include the text “subscribe WATERSANITATION” in the body of your email message.
Related articles
- Water and Sanitation in Schools: A Systematic Review of the Health and Educational Outcomes (sanitationupdates.wordpress.com)
- Drinking water and sanitation conference (thehimalayantimes.com)
- Rs35K crore toilet sop for BPL families (dailymail.co.uk)
- Help a local journalist examine the sustainability of a water and sanitation project in Benin (sanitationupdates.wordpress.com)
Water and Health Conference: 29 Oct – 2 Nov Details
Science, Policy and Innovation
Bringing together academic research with policy, practice and networking events
The 2012 Water and Health Conference: Science, Policy and Innovation, jointly organized by the Institute for the Environment and the Water Institute at UNC, will consider drinking water supply, sanitation, hygiene and water resources in both the developing and developed worlds with a strong public health emphasis.
The 2012 Water and Health Conference: Science, Policy and Innovation is accompanied by several exciting events before and after the conference. Don’t miss the opportunity to network with and learn from the unique array of national and international professionals!
Keynote Speakers
- Bai Mass Taal- Executive Secretary of the African Ministers Council on Water
- Tessie San Martin- CEO of Plan International USA
- William G. Ross- former North Carolina Secretary for the Department of Environmental and Natural Resources and Visiting Professor at the Nicholas Institute for the Environment
- Letitia Obeng – Chair of the Global Water Partnership
- Charles Fishman- author of The Big Thirst
- Tom Earnhardt – producer and host of Exploring North Carolina
2012 Main Conference Themes:
- Monitoring and Evaluation for Sustainability
- Ecosystem Protection and Drinking Water Safety
- WaSH and Child Health
- Southeastern US Water Challenges
- Beyond 2015: Realizing Universal Access and Human Rights
- Water, Energy and Climate
- Making Sanitation Benefits Achievable and Sustainable for All
- Household-centered WaSH
Conference Links
Course Announcement:Water and sanitation engineering from emergency towards development
The purpose of this course is to 
- Train qualified and motivated engineers and scientists who might in their professional life encounter water and sanitation problems in situations of emergency and especially in humanitarian contexts;
- Offer continuing education to professional staff from emergency and development organisations involved in water and sanitation;
- Facilitate the integration of engineers and scientists in humanitarian operations;
- Make the participants aware of public health issues and of the close links between public health, water and sanitation in disaster-striken populations;
- Provide information on technical skills and institutional solutions specific to emergency situations.
After the course the participants should be able to:
- Identify, formulate and analyse the complex relations and the problems posed by public health, water and sanitation;
- Pass on technical concepts and discuss them with health professionals as well as with industrial leaders, politicians, local and national administrators;
- Assess the situation and plan, implement and monitor a water and sanitation emergency programme in the context of a humanitarian operation.
- Better understand the institutional context of a humanitarian situation and design an emergency response, which involves long-term perspectives.
Coordination
Dr. Ellen Milnes
Centre d’hydrogéologie et de géothermie (CHYN)
Université de Neuchâtel
Rue Emile-Argand 11
2000 Neuchâtel
Tél: 032 718 25 94
ellen.milnes@unine.ch
Date
August 25th to September 1st 2012
More details
-
- Objectifs
- Participants
- Programme
- Language
- Registration fees
- Certification
- Duration
- Place
- Registration and organisation
Université de Neuchâtel – Avenue du 1er-Mars 26 – 2000 Neuchâtel – tél. +41 32 718 1000 – contact@unine.ch
sources: web site & ” email press release”
The Butterfly Effect, a coalition of international NGOs, which advocates effective local solutions that have a sustainable impact on water & sanitation, launched their messages.
PRESS RELEASE – 12 March 2012
Session 2: Occupy the 6th World Water Forum: Building inclusive human rights-based water and sanitation governance and management from the bottom-up!
Thursday, 15 March, 11-13 pm, Venue: PC 8 – Callelongue, Palais des Congrès
“…The draft ministerial declaration of the 6th World Water Forum: Time for Solutions still does not recognize the human right to water and sanitation that has been explicitly recognized at the UN”
press release:(source)
GENEVA (9 March 2012) – United Nations Special Rapporteur Catarina de Albuquerque today warned that the right to safe drinking water and sanitation will be sidelined at the 6th World Water Forum, a key global gathering of delegates from 140 governments, international organisations, civil society and the scientific community, representing more than 180 countries.
“It comes as an unwelcome surprise that the draft ministerial declaration of the 6th World Water Forum: Time for Solutions still does not recognize the human right to water and sanitation that has been explicitly recognized at the UN,” said the expert charged by the Human Rights Council with promoting, monitoring and reporting on the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation. “Governments are being inconsistent with their prior decisions on the recognition of the right to water and sanitation taken at the UN General Assembly.”
“If Governments spend one week discussing ‘solutions’ for water issues while failing to base them on the human right to water and sanitation, how could such solutions be for people who need water and sanitation most and are systematically neglected?,” asked Ms. de Albuquerque. “The outcome of the World Water Forum may become ‘solutions’ built on faulty foundations.”
In the final draft Ministerial Declaration of the 6th World Water Forum scheduled to take place in Marseille from 12 to 17 March 2012, governments – under a strong push by a very small minority of countries – have for the time being failed to explicitly affirm that the right to water and sanitation should be the basis for any solutions aimed at bringing sanitation and water for those still deprived of these essential services.
“The World Water Forum is not a gathering seen as a source for the creation of international law, but it is still unfortunate that this Forum’s Declaration does not respect the outcomes of long-standing thorough and comprehensive discussions at the UN,” Ms. de Albuquerque said. “I call upon the Governments participating at the World Water Forum to amend the text of the draft declaration. We still have time to do that.”
The independent expert further stressed that the international human rights standard on water and sanitation agreed at the UN must also guide the negotiations for upcoming Rio+20 and post-2015 development goals. “I am confident that UN Member States will integrate the human right to water and sanitation into future global agreements,” she said.
Catarina de Albuquerque is the first UN Special Rapporteur on the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation. She was appointed by the Human Rights Council in 2008. Ms. de Albuquerque is a Professor at the Law Faculties of the Universities of Braga and Coimbra and a Senior Legal Adviser at the Office for Documentation and Comparative Law, an independent institution under the Prosecutor General’s Office.
Learn more about the mandate and work of the Special Rapporteur: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/WaterAndSanitation/SRWater/Pages/SRWaterIndex.aspx
For additional information and requests, please contact Madoka Saji (+41 22 917 9107 / email: msaji@ohchr.org) or write to srwatsan@ohchr.org
For media inquiries related to other UN independent experts:
Xabier Celaya (+ 41 22 917 9383 / xcelaya@ohchr.org)
UN Human Rights, follow us on social media:
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Check the Universal Human Rights Index: http://uhri.ohchr.org/en
Related articles
- World Has Met Development Target on Water, U.N. Claims – But, has it? (climate-connections.org)
- A Beginner’s Guide to the Sixth World Water Forum (aquadoc.typepad.com)
water sanitation new
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