About 2,500 leading water experts, government officials and business
“Bad water kills more people than HIV, malaria and wars together, affecting the lives of families and the economic development of many countries around the world,” Anders Berntell, executive director of Stockholm International Water Institute, told the opening session.
“We are also increasingly seeing that ecosystems and their services are being degraded by pollution, which will affect all functions of society.”
Berntell said three major areas will be discussed relating to water quality: water-borne diseases which directly affect people’s health in many developing countries; chemicals in water as more and more chemicals are used in water in both industrialized countries and developing countries; and the transfer of pollution from developed countries to developing countries and newly emerged economies.
More than 20 ministers, including the Swedish Minister for International Development Cooperation Gunilla Carlssons, are joined by leading water experts to address these issues.
“A great deal has happened since World Water Week was launched 20 years ago. For example, today, almost 2 billion more people have access to safe drinking water compared with 20 years ago, and around 1.5 billion more people have access to sanitation,” said Carlssons.
But she also stressed that people who are affected are often poor people who don’t have the opportunity to make their voices heard and excluded in dialogue and decision-making.
These problems have become more severe due to climate change as more droughts and floods are likely to happen.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of both the World Water Week and the Stockholm Water Prize. A majority of the previous Stockholm Water Prize laureates are present here in observance of the jubilee to share their solutions to future water challenges at a special laureates’ seminar.
Stockholm Junior Water Prize and the Industry Water Award will be presented during the week.
The World Water Week is designed to build capacity, promote partnerships, and review progress on the correlations between water quality, access and related Millennium Development Goals such as poverty reduction and public health.
Other issues raised during the week include climate change adaptation, urbanization, water governance, the human rights to water and sanitation, and the growing strategic water concerns for businesses.