 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Asian, African Water Issues Seen As Key To Growth At Stockholm Conference
Stockholm (AFP) Aug 21, 2005 Water management, seen as the key to fighting poverty and promoting economic growth in Asia and Africa, will take centre stage at the World Water Week, which gathers experts from 100 countries in Stockholm starting Monday, officials and participants said. "Water is the key to dealing with the twin challenges of poverty and growth," said Sunita Narain, whose Indian environmental organization The Center for Science and Environment (CSE) won this year's 150,000-dollar (114,000-euro) Stockholm Water Prize for its work to improve water management. "Water will make or break India," she told AFP. Narain, an ardent promoter of rainwater harvesting in her native country, said she would remind the conference that Western models of water management had only limited relevance to countries like India and China. "When today's industrialized countries developed, they had a higher per-capita income, lower energy costs and not such huge populations," she said. There was a direct link between access to clean water and wealth, she said. Polluted water was the top factor in the death of babies and the second-biggest factor of premature adult deaths after starvation, which in itself was linked to a water shortage. "Water is the key driver of socio-economic development," David Trouba, a spokesman for conference organizer, the Stockholm International Water Institute, told AFP. "Better water and sanitation save lives and saves money," said the institute's director, Anders Berntell. "Once the realization sinks in, change will follow." The water week hopes to become "the annual meeting place for people working with water", said Trouba, and its programme is as diversified as the water needs of the world's regions. Questions of infrastructure, coping with climate issues, water in agriculture, land degradation and water pollution are on the programme. Seminars range from one about cities and water use - "The political economy of defecation" - to how to improve the marketing of better toilets, and whether mass installation of dams has been beneficial or harmful. Fighting corruption in water management will also be a topic, still being "one of the least addressed challenges", the institute said. "Historically, bilateral and multilaterial organizations and their clients more or less tacitly accepted corruption in public service delivery," it said. The Swedish hosts will award a number of prizes and offer educational tours, including on local drainage management or how urine can be used for the cultivation of flowers and vegetables. Most of the experts at the conference are from developed economies, but water prize laureate Narain said water advice and experience would no longer be a one-way street. "The focus has always been on water technology developed in the North, but now it's time we listened to each other's wisdom," she said. The Stockholm water week runs until Friday. Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links SpaceDaily Search SpaceDaily Subscribe To SpaceDaily Express Water News - Science, Technology and Politics
Dam Projects Still Cause 'Excessive' Damage Worldwide: WWF
London (AFP) Nov 14, 2005Dam projects around the world continue to cause social and environmental damage, campaigners said Monday, despite guidelines for better practice having been in place for five years. |
|
|
| The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2006 - SpaceDaily.AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA PortalReports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additionalcopyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement |
