World Water Week: water and sanitation goals need 'major push'

29.8.2017 - Freshwater is under threat because of pollution, natural disasters, climate change, increasing food and energy production and resource extraction, to name but a few.

As World Water Week kicked off in Stockholm on 28 August under the theme “Water and waste: reduce and reuse",  General Assembly President Peter Thomson underscored that when it comes to the environment, everything is connected. By 2030, water demand is expected to increase by 50%, making wastewater management crucial. Today, over 80 % of waste water is released untreated back into nature.

“None should imagine that the state of sanitation and coral reefs are anything but directly connected,” Mr. Thomson said, delivering the keynote address . “It makes no sense to consider terrestrial environmental issues, fresh water challenges or climate change in isolation.”

Water and sanitation are among the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which were adopted by the 193 Member States of the UN in September 2015, and which are guiding the work of the development efforts of the international community until 2030. HRH Crown Princess Victoria, UN SDG Advocate, was also present at the event

Combined with the Paris Agreement on lowering the impact of climate change, the SDGs represent “the best chance our species has to achieve a sustainable way of life on planet earth before it is too late,” Mr. Thomson said.

He commended World Water Week for bringing together more than 3,000 participants from nearly the entire world. Experts, practitioners, decision-makers, business innovators and young professionals from a range of sectors and countries come to Stockholm to network, exchange ideas, foster new thinking and develop solutions to the most pressing water-related challenges of today.

Each year, thousands of students from all over the globe enter national competitions in the hope of making it to the international final in Stockholm to win the Stockholm Junior Water Prize, SJWP, that will be announced on 29 August. All country finalists gather during this dinner and award ceremony during which the winning project is announced and awarded by the patron of the prize H.R.H. Crown Princess Victoria, who is also one of the Sustainable Development Goals Advocates.

World Water Week culminates with the Stockholm Water Prize, presented by patron H.M. King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden to the Laureate during the Royal Banquet on 30th August in Stockholm City Hall.

You can follow World Water Week digitally! Here you can find all livestreams during the week, presented day by day: http://www.worldwaterweek.org/pressroom/live/ | #WWWeek