STOCKHOLM, Sweden, August 18, 2008 (ENS) – The world’s supplies of clean, fresh water cannot sustain today’s “profligate” use and inadequate management, which have brought shrinking food supplies and rising food costs to most countries, WWF Director General James Leape told the opening session of World Water Week in Stockholm today.

“Behind the world food crisis is a global freshwater crisis, expected to rapidly worsen as climate change impacts intensify,” Leape said. “Irrigation-fed agriculture provides 45 percent of the world’s food supplies, and without it, we could not feed our planet’s population of six billion people.”

Leape warns that many of the world’s irrigation areas are highly stressed and drawing more water than rivers and groundwater reserves can sustain, especially in view of climate change. At the same time, he said, freshwater food reserves are declining in the face of the quickening pace of dam construction and unsustainable water extractions from rivers.

The World Water Week fountain in
Stockholm (Photo by Alex de Sousa)

At a time when billions of people live without access to safe drinking water or suffer ill health due to poor sanitation, when food producers battle biofuel producers for land and water resources, and when global climate change is altering the overall water balance, 2,500 water experts are gathered this week at the Stockholm International Fairs and Congress Center to craft solutions to these problems.

World Water Week is an annual event co-ordinated by the Stockholm International Water Institute. This year’s conference has the overall theme of “Progress and Prospects on Water: For A Clean and Healthy World with Special Focus on Sanitation” in keeping with the UN declaration of 2008 as the International Year of Sanitation.

Prince Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands had good news for the delegates in his opening speech today.

The Prince of Orange, who chairs the UN Secretary General’s Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation during this special year, announced, “The number of people living without a supply of improved drinking water has now dropped well below one billion!”

“More than half the global population now have water piped to their homes and the number of people using unimproved water supplies continues to decline,” he said, praising the delegates for this accomplishment.

This year, the prince said, progress towards adequate sanitation has begun on international, regional, national and local levels. “The regional sanitation conferences for example, such as LatinoSan, AfricaSan, EaSan and SacoSan, produced unprecedented declarations that provide a strong foundation for developing the water and sanitation sector in these regions,” he said.

In June, the African Union Summit on Water and Sanitation in Sharm El Sheikh, attended by 52 heads of state and government, unanimously adopted a declaration on water and sanitation that shows that African leaders are giving top priority to water and sanitation, the prince said. “It also provides a solid basis for further developing the sector in Africa. I personally consider this result to be an enormous leap forward.”

Children in Sudan enjoy a clean
drink of water. (Photo courtesy UNICEF)

But Prince Willem said much more must be done to meet the UN’s Millenium Development Goal to halve the proportion of the population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation by 2015 from the year 2000 baseline.

Citing a report by the World Health Organization and UNICEF, he said, “The report’s worrying conclusion is that, at the current rate, the world will miss its MDG sanitation target by more than 700 million people. If we are to reach the target we now need to provide at least 173 million people per year with access to improved sanitation.”

A consistent supporter of World Water Week, the prince told the delegates he finds it “unthinkable” to let a year go by without visiting the conference, although he is supposed to be in Beijing observing the Olympic Games in his capacity as a member of the International Organizing Committee.

“I see similarities between these athletes and yourselves,” said the prince. “You show the same commitment and willpower. And the Olympic Dream is also your dream: to strive for a bright future of mankind. ‘One world, one dream.’ A world in which everyone can lead a healthy life in dignity. A world that offers the chance of personal development for all. This is our common dream.”

The delegates will need all the inspiration they can get to overcome the problems they face.

As developing countries confront the first global food crisis since the 1970s as well as unprecedented water scarcity, a new 53 city survey presented at the conference by the International Water Management Institute indicates that 80 percent of those studied are using untreated or partially treated wastewater for agriculture.

Latrine over a waterway in
Haiti (Photo by Remi Kaupp)

In over 70 percent of the cities studied, more than half of urban agricultural land is irrigated with wastewater that is either raw or diluted in streams.

“Irrigating with wastewater isn’t a rare practice limited to a few of the poorest countries,” said IWMI researcher Liqa Raschid-Sally and lead author of a report on the survey results. “It’s a widespread phenomenon, occurring on 20 million hectares across the developing world, especially in Asian countries, like China, India and Vietnam, but also around nearly every city of sub-Saharan Africa and in many Latin American cities as well.”

Wastewater is most commonly used to produce vegetables and cereals, especially rice, according to this and other IWMI reports, raising concerns about health risks for consumers, particularly when they eat uncooked vegetables.

In Accra, Ghana’s capital city, for instance, an estimated one-tenth of the city’s two million inhabitants daily purchase vegetables produced on just 100 hectares of urban agricultural land irrigated with wastewater, says the IWMI report. “That gives you an idea,” said Raschid-Sally, “of the large potential of wastewater agriculture for both helping and hurting great numbers of urban consumers.”

“And it isn’t just affluent consumers of exotic vegetables whose welfare is at stake,” she added. “Poor consumers of inexpensive street food also depend on urban agriculture.”

Consumers across the 53 cities said they would prefer to avoid wastewater produce. But most of the time, they have no way of knowing the origin of the products they buy. Farmers, too, are aware that irrigating with wastewater may pose health risks both for themselves and the consumers of their produce, but they have little choice, since safe groundwater is seldom an accessible alternative, according to the IWMI report.

Few developing countries have official, enforceable guidelines for the use of wastewater in agriculture. As a result, though the practice may be theoretically forbidden or controlled, it is in fact “unofficially tolerated,” the IWMI found.

The report highlights indigenous practices that can reduce the health risks from wastewater agriculture. In Indonesia, Nepal, Ghana and Vietnam, for example, farmers store wastewater in ponds to allow suspended solids to settle out.

The dried up bed of Kenya’s
Voi River (Photo credit unknown)

Countries lacking the means for adequate wastewater treatment can still reduce health risks through low-cost interventions, such as the use of drip irrigation and washing of fresh produce in clean water.

Of the world’s total water resources, 97.5 percent is salty and of the remaining but mainly frozen freshwater, only one percent is available for human use, said Leape, the WWF chief.

“Even this tiny proportion, however, would be enough for humans to live on Earth if the water cycle was properly functioning and if we managed our water use wisely,” he said.

But Leape warned the conference delegates that the world is a long way from being ready for a worsening water crisis in part because of climate change and lack of an ecosystem approach to freshwater management.

“Water management for human needs alone is damaging the natural systems we all depend on,” Leape said. “No management is even worse.”

“We are also concerned that the world continues to mainly discuss adaption to climate change rather than doing it,” Leape said. “We have been doing it, all over the world, and we have found that that improving the health of freshwater ecosystems now makes a great contribution to improving their resilience to climate impacts in the future.”

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KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of Congo, July 24, 2008 (ENS) – The Ngiri-Tumba-Maindombe area in the Democratic Republic of Congo has become the world’s largest Wetland of International Importance, officially recognized by the Ramsar Convention, a treaty protecting designated wetlands.

A ceremony to announce the recognition of Ngiri-Tumba-Maindombe as a Ramsar wetland is set for today at the Cercle de Kinshasa in the DRC capital. The announcement is to be made in the presence of high-level government politicians as well as representatives of Ramsar, the global conservation organization WWF and other partners.

Residents of the newly protected area
carry fish traps into shallow
Lake Tumba. (Photo courtesy
WWF Lac Tumba)

More than twice the size of Belgium, the 65,696 square kilometer site is situated around the Lake Tumba region in the Central Western Basin of the DRC and contains the largest freshwater body in Africa.

Its rivers and lakes constitute a major sink for the most prevalent greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide.

Until now the world’s largest Ramsar site was Queen Maud Gulf in Canada at 62,782 square kilometers, designated in 1982.

Support for the DRC government in its effort to win recognition for the Ngiri-Tumba-Maindombe site began in 2004 and was provided jointly by the Central African Regional Program for the Environment, a USAID initiative, as well as the Ramsar Convention, and WWF, which was responsible for the technical aspects of the project.

“WWF is delighted that Ramsar has recognized the importance of this extraordinary wetland and the efforts of the Democratic Republic of Congo to protect it,” said James Leape, director general of WWF International.

“This is a significant step forward for the welfare of communities who depend on this wetland for their livelihoods and for the wildlife that lives there,” said Leape.

Cassava, sweet potatoes, sugarcane and bananas are all grown in the Ngiri-Tumba-Maindombe site while oil palm plantations, groundnuts and rice are the principal commercial products.

Fish from the area also helps to stimulate the economies of big cities such as Kinshasa, Brazzaville and Mbandaka.

Vegetation cover at the flood basin acts as a buffer zone against floods for towns all along the Congo River and provides fish with breeding sites, while different forest types help filter water and maintain its quality.

“The Ngiri-Tumba-Maindombe area contributes to the regulation of flooding and regional climate and ensures that the quality of the water remains good enough for millions of people who depend upon it,” said WWF Project Manager Bila-Isia Inogwabini.

Lake Tumba (Photo by Judith Rose)

“Waters of this zone need to be managed appropriately and the classification of the site will help with a coherent planning process and mobilize all stakeholders to abide by the rules,” said Inogwabini.

The Lake Tumba landscape, encompassing some 80,000 square kilometers in total, has one of the highest concentrations of biodiversity anywhere in the world.

It contains species of conservation concern such as forest elephants, forest buffalo and leopards. There are an estimated 150 species of fish, a wide variety of birds, and three types of crocodile as well as hippopotamus.

Near the center of the site is Mbandaka, the capital of Equateur province with a population of some 750,000 people, and there are several smaller towns within the site populated by tribes of the Mongo people.

Threats to the area’s natural resources include illegal logging, fishing and poaching. WWF says an observed decline in Lake Tumba water levels is most probably linked to climate change.

Recognition of the site by the Ramsar Convention and the proper management that is expected to result from the area’s new status will offer protection from unsustainable activities in future and should ensure the longevity of the water supply.

The Convention on Wetlands, signed in Ramsar, Iran in 1971, provides the framework for national action and international cooperation for the conservation and wise use of wetlands. There are presently 158 governments that are Parties to the Convention, with 1,757 wetland sites, totaling 161 million hectares, designated for inclusion in the Ramsar List of Wetlands of International Importance.

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SYDNEY, Australia, March 21, 2008 (ENS) – On Saturday, March 29, from 8 to 9 in the evening local time, hundreds of thousands of lights around the world will go dark for Earth Hour. The one hour event is intended to send a powerful message around the world about how important it is to reduce global warming and how many people care enough to take action.

Earth Hour is all about the simple changes everyone can make. Run by WWF, the global conservation organization, Earth Hour was initiated in Australia on March 31, 2007. Earth Hour moved 2.2 million people and 2,100 businesses in Sydney to turn off their lights for one hour.

This collective effort reduced the city’s energy consumption by 10.2 percent for one hour, which is the equivalent effect of taking 48,000 cars off the road for an hour.

With Sydney icons like the Harbour Bridge and Opera House turning their lights off and unique events such as weddings by candlelight, the world took notice.

This year Earth Hour is going global.

Andy Ridley, executive director for Earth Hour said, “Powering down a city’s skyline and some of the world’s most iconic structures and premier properties is a highly calculated and intricate process, and allowances need to be made to account for safety.”

The Smith Family enjoys Earth
Hour 2007 under the Sydney
Harbour Bridge at Milson’s
Point. (Photo by Jamie Williams)

“What makes Earth Hour a unique event is that it brings together governments, business and householders who all play a part in switching off the lights. Working together, individual households alongside the world’s most magnificent iconic landmarks can make an impact in the fight against climate change,” Ridley said.

“On behalf of the WWF International network, I want to commend and thank the mayors and officials in our flagship cities for playing a leadership role in supporting this unique global event and demonstrating their commitment to fighting climate change,” says WWF Director General James Leape, praising mayors in the all the cities that have signed up to go dark for Earth Hour.

Some of the Earth Hour flagship cities are – Atlanta, San Francisco, Phoenix, Bangkok, Ottawa, Vancouver, Montreal, Dublin, Sydney, Perth, Melbourne, Canberra, Brisbane, Adelaide, Copenhagen, Aarhus, Aalborg, Odense, Manila, Suva, Chicago, Tel Aviv, Toronto and Christchurch. They all will switch off for Earth Hour on Saturday March 29, at 8 pm local time.

From Sydney’s Harbour Bridge and Opera House to San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge, world famous skylines will disappear for one hour – Earth Hour. Among those switching off will be the tallest building in North America, the 110 story high Sears Tower in Chicago, and the CN Tower in Toronto.

In the Philippines, Pasay City Mayor Wenceslao Trinidad agreed to turn off all lights along Manila’s historic Roxas Boulevard seaside strip to show support.

Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore told a breakfast of corporate leaders March 11, “Earth Hour started in Sydney, it’s now gone global, and it has firmly established Sydney’s credentials as a green leader.”

“Earth Hour resonated strongly with our sustainability agenda,” said Mayor Moore. “The Stern Report and Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth helped thrust the issue of climate change very much to the forefront of public consciousness, and we saw Earth Hour as an event which could really galvanize action right across the community.”

“We saw it as much more than a one off event, and much more than mere symbolism,” the mayor said. “We thought it offered a real opportunity to change people’s thinking and generate long term behavior changes.”

The mayor is encouraging all City of Sydney tenants and residents to take action and make every hour Earth Hour by reducing energy consumption in their day-to-day activities.

In support of Earth Hour, more than 3,500 businesses across Australia and internationally have so far signed up and will be doing their part and turning off their lights. McDonald’s Australia has committed to turning off its Golden Arches nationally. David Jones will turn off the lights in its 36 department stores.

Says Leape, “Earth Hour will send a strong signal that people all around the world are deeply concerned and expect their leaders to take action before it’s too late. Climate change is a global challenge that requires global solutions and it’s clear that the people of this planet are ready to get involved and find the answers.”

Sign up for Earth Hour at: www.earthhour.org

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