United Nations event on water

Havana, March 22 (RHC) In an event held at the United Nations on water, the Group of 77 plus China advocated this Wednesday in New York, for expanding international cooperation to developing countries in programs related to water, in an event held at the United Nations on that resource.

As part of the speech given by Inés María Chapman, Cuban Vice Prime Minister, the official stated that the Group observes with concern the lack of access to sources of drinking water, basic sanitation and adequate hygiene.

She also stressed how the disasters related to the vital liquid, its scarcity and contamination, will be aggravated by urbanization, population increase, desertification, drought and other extreme meteorological phenomena and climate change, as well as by the lack of capacities to guarantee an integrated management of hydraulic resources.

The Cuban Vice Prime Minister referred to the need for developing nations to have access to greater international financing, training, and transfer of environmentally sound technologies in order to achieve efficiency in the management of the resource, and reiterated that Official Development Assistance for development should be increased.

She said that more than 50 percent of the world's cities frequently suffer from water scarcity, and estimates suggest that 6.7 billion dollars (millions of millions) will be needed by 2030, for access to clean and drinkable water throughout the planet.

“The Group also expresses its concern that the shortage exceeds 70 percent, especially in some regions such as North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, Western Asia, Central and South Asia and South America, as well as in the region of Lake Chad," she stated.

The United Nations Conference on water began this day and will end next Friday the 24th. (Source: Prensa Latina)