Philippe Guéttier, Advisor to the French Water Partnership (FWP), in an interview with APA on the sidelines of the World Water Forum hosted by Senegal, believes that it is no longer time for speeches but for action.
The World Water Forum has been organised every three years since 1997 for better management of the resource. But is there a collective awareness?
There is always the same amount of water on earth. This is a fact. However, human activities have modified the capacity to capture this water for a whole host of reasons. With climate change, the changes are even more visible in certain regions of the world, including the Sahel.
Water is not high enough on the global political agenda. There is one example that shows this. In March 2023, there will be a UN conference on water and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in New York. The previous one was held in Mar del Plata, Argentina, in 1977.
Water treatment is a failure at the UN level. States have taken up the climate issue with the Paris Agreement. Now they must do so for water. In the World Water Forums, there are, among other things, knowledge exchanges and partnerships. However, they cannot replace the UN conferences where countries commit to action.
The reflections in Dakar could be useful in a year’s time at the United Nations Conference. At the local level, we can see that things are moving. This is a good signal, but we really need a global agreement on water issues.
In 2030, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will be assessed. What is the current status of the sixth goal on water and sanitation?
In the world today, there are 2.1 billion people who do not have access to drinking water. That’s one third of humanity. There are also 4.5 billion people who do not have access to sanitation. That’s half the world’s population.
Access to water and sanitation is an international right recognised in 2010. This is not enough. As the world stands, the SDGs will never be met by 2030. We need more investment and real political will. A big bang. This is what the World Water Forum in Dakar is all about.
We need to find the right balance between water for human consumption, industry and agriculture, etc. In countries where water is scarce, we need to find the right balance. In countries where there is a lack of water, we must not have crops that consume a lot of water. We can also use technologies that allow the rationalisation of the resource, such as drip irrigation.
The French Water Partnership (FWP) has designed an application to accelerate the implementation of projects related to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). How does it work?
The application is called Water for all SDGs. It was launched on Tuesday during the 9th World Water Forum. For the moment, the application is available in French and English. In a few weeks or months, it will be available in other languages.
Water for all SDGs allows an organisation, a person developing a project, a policy or a strategy to identify the impacts (positive and negative) in relation to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
It is very easy to use. You just have to answer specific questions and press the result option. The project data provided is immediately analysed to assess its impact on all the SDGs, which are ultimately little known and little used.
There are usually 17 goals, but in fact there are 169, most of them quantified. The idea behind the creation of this application is to help project owners and developers to know if they can contribute to the 2030 Agenda.
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