Initiative launched to improve worldwide fresh water supplies

Children wash their hands at a community well in Guatemala. Nearly a quarter of the world's people have no access to safe drinking water

October 5, 2000
Web posted at: 10:24 AM EDT (1424 GMT)

AMMAN, Jordan (Reuters) -- The world's biggest environmental network launched a $30 million initiative on Thursday to provide fresh water for communities around the world that are facing shortages.

The World Conservation Union (IUCN), an umbrella group of environmental agencies and institutions, said the project would fund 24 projects that would focus on protecting and managing ecosystems to provide clean water in countries ranging from El Salvador to Vietnam.

"This initiative fills the missing link in the water discussions, which usually focused on the distribution of water, not on where that water comes from," Dr Maritta Koch-Weser, the director general of the Swiss-based IUCN, told the group's congress in the Jordanian capital Amman.

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"Healthy ecosystems renew our water and provide clean water to support all life on earth, human as well as species," she added.

The Water and Nature Initiative aims to help communities develop and maintain sustainable water resources. Ger Bergkamp, the IUCN's freshwater management adviser, said the initiative would bridge the gap between global policy and practices in the field.

"The projects come from people in the field, with direct experience of the difficulty involved," he said. "It will show that development, protecting water resources and nature conservation can go hand in hand."

Water is a major focus of the IUCN's eight-day congress from October 4-11. Delegates are expected to hammer out a four-year global agenda that will include policies on protecting endangered species and fragile ecosystems.

Scarcity of water is one of the world's most serious environmental threats. Nearly a quarter of the world's six billion people have no access to safe drinking water and water-related diseases kill up to four million people a year.

In the Middle East, where water is a scarce natural resource, access to water has been a key point in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

El Salvador and Vietnam will be two of the first countries to benefit from the initiative. In the western areas of El Salvador, one of the driest areas of the Central American nation, a four-year project will focus on improving the management of natural resources.

In Vietnam, the initiative will fund efforts to control the damage from flooding in the Perfume River basin, which has the highest rainfall in country.

The IUCN congress is the biggest meeting of its kind ever held in the Middle East. About 2,500 delegates from 140 countries are attending the meeting.

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The World Conservation Union

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