Whoever you are, wherever you are, water is your human right.
The theme for this year's World Water Day 2019 is ‘Leaving no one behind’. This is an adaptation of the central promise of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: as sustainable development progresses, everyone must benefit.
How does it relate to water?
Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6) includes a target to ensure availability and sustainable management of water for all by 2030. By definition, this means leaving no one behind.
What is the problem?
Today, billions of people are still living without safe water – their households, schools, workplaces, farms and factories struggling to survive and thrive.
Marginalized groups – women, children, refugees, indigenous peoples, disabled people and many others – are often overlooked, and sometimes face discrimination, as they try to access and manage the safe water they need.
Find out more at the world water day website
The United Nations World Water Development Report, Leaving no one behind, launched 19 March 2019 during the 40th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), and in conjunction to the World Water Day, demonstrates how improvements in water resources management and access to water supply and sanitation services are essential to addressing various social and economic inequities, such that ‘no one is left behind’ when it comes to enjoying the multiple benefits and opportunities that water provides.
Read the report here
Speech by Sir James Bevan, Chief Executive of the Environment Agency at the Waterwise Conference, 19 March 2019
Hats off to Waterwise and Sir James Bevan for bringing water efficiency to the top of the headlines with this ringing challenge on what needs to be done urgently to kerb our consumption and prevent water scarcity in the UK in the future.
Read a transcript of Sir James' speech here