Luanda - Angola is committed to creating effective mechanisms to enable responsible water management, as its sustainability is considered fundamental, the Vice-President of the Republic, Esperança da Costa, said this Tuesday, in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.
Speaking at the Third High-Level International Conference on the International Decade of Action “Water for Sustainable Development” 2018-2028, she said that although access to water provides economic and health benefits, progress on objectives assossiated to this resource is still has a wide margin for improvement.
On the other hand, Esperança da Costa highlighted the Angolan Executive's commitment to the rehabilitation, modernization and construction of new wastewater supply and treatment infrastructure for the good of the population.
She also added that in addition to this, the country has invested in the construction and rehabilitation of hydroelectric dams, as well as knowing how to properly manage existing river basins.
The Vice-President also explained the long-term initiatives that are underway in the country, aimed at improving water governance and strengthening water and energy security.
World
She highlighted that the world is behind in achieving the objective of reducing by half the percentage of the population without access to basic sanitation services.
In her intervention, the Vice-President said that current times are of great challenges, with emphasis on Covid-19, of which we are still recovering from the effects, associated with the extreme events of the climate crisis and its vulnerabilities.
She went on to say that threats to ecosystems affect the lives of thousands of families by causing plagues, water and food shortages, migration and social instability, generating conflicts.
Thus emerges, she continued, a context of pollution crisis with clear health and socioeconomic repercussions that weaken fundamental rights.
“The contexts highlighted represent serious consequences for the health, dignity, environmental and economic status of societies, and call on us to act, to join efforts and more cooperation and coordination to accelerate progress, always taking into account that the socioeconomic development of many countries is conditioned by limited access to water and sanitation services”, she stated.
The Angolan Vice-President also defended the identification of the real reasons that prevent the achievement of the SDG6 objective and the actions contained in the 2030 Agenda and the actions of the water decade, as well as the creation of effective mechanisms that allow responsible water management, a fundamental step in building sustainability.
Summit
Open since Sunday, the third day is reserved for addressing the theme “Water for climate, resilience and the environment: source for the sea, biodiversity, climate, resilience and disaster risk reduction (DRR)” and “Water for cooperation: transboundary and international water cooperation, intersectoral cooperation, including scientific and water cooperation, across the 2030 Agenda”.
The theme on “Decade of action in the field of water: accelerating the implementation of the decade's objectives, mainly through the UN Secretary-General's Action Plan” closes the plenary, which Heads of State and Government, civil society and private sector are to attend.
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