Co-operation is the key to properly managing the world’s water resources, particularly when watercourses cross national boundaries. Access to clean, safe water is essential to the health and wellbeing of children, wherever they may live.
“Inaction on water issues is not an option,” said Clarissa Brocklehurst, UNICEF Chief of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene. “Access to clean water and sanitation is fundamental to every aspect of a child’s life – from health to survival and dignity. Water, which is a limited natural resource that can unite or divide communities, is also essential to ensuring children’s rights.”
The good news is that 87 per cent of the global population, or approximately 5.7 billion people world-wide, are now using safe drinking water. However, it is a sobering fact that globally more than 125 million children under five years of age live in households without access to a safe drinking-water source. Even more people – a total of 2.5 billion people – are without sanitation, and this further threatens their health and jeopardises the quality of water they rely on.
Increasingly, UNICEF is recognising the impact of climate change on water, sanitation and hygiene issues. Protecting the world’s most vulnerable children will not be possible without specific measures to shield them from the consequences of climate change.