On 28 July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly through Resolution A/RES/64/292, declared safe and clean drinking water a human right. The human right to water entitles everyone, without discrimination, to sufficient, safe, acceptable, physically accessible and affordable water for personal and domestic use.
World Water Day is held on 22 March every year, to underscore the importance of freshwater and promote the sustainable management of freshwater resources. The theme for the 2019 World Water Day is ‘Leaving no one behind,’ which is the core principle of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Sustainable Development Goal 6 aims to ‘ensure availability and sustainable management of water for all by 2030.’
People are ‘left behind’ without safe water for a variety of reasons, including:
- Sex and gender
- Race, ethnicity, religion, birth, caste, language, and nationality
- Disability, age and health status
- Property, tenure, residence, economic and social status
- Environmental degradation, climate change, population growth, conflict, forced displacement and migration flows
The United Nations notes that to ‘leave no one behind’, water services must meet the needs of marginalised groups and their voices must be heard in decision-making processes.
Regulatory and legal frameworks must recognise the right to water for all people, and sufficient funding must be fairly and effectively targeted at those who need it most.
Water-Agriculture-Food Nexus?
According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, 70 percent of fresh water is used for agriculture, while food consumption accounts for 90 percent of an individual’s water footprint.
For more on the World Water Day, see here. For more on the water-agriculture-food nexus, see here.
