11 Feb 2013

UN / YEAR OF WATER COOPERATION

Launching the International Year of Water Cooperation, Hungarian Ambassador Csaba Kőrösi today said “we are inching towards a water crisis”. He pointed out that the amount of water available today is the same as ten thousand years ago, but the number of users today is eight thousand times greater. UNTV

Posted at: February 11, 2013 6:39 pm

Duration: 02:57

Available in: SD

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STORY: UN / YEAR OF WATER COOPERATION
TRT: 2.57
SOURCE: UNTV / UNICEF / MINUSTAH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 11 FEBRUARY 2013, NEW YORK CITY / FILE

SHOTLIST:

FILE – UNTV – NEW YORK CITY

1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations Headquarters

11 FEBRUARY 2013, NEW YORK CITY

2. Wide shot, Paul Egerton, Ana Persic and Ambassador Csaba Kõrösi  take their seats
3. Cutaway, journalists
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Ambassador Csaba Kõrösi, Permanent Representative of Hungary to the United Nations:
"We are inching towards a water crisis. The same amount of water is available today as ten thousand years ago but the number of users today is eight thousand time more than then. By 2013 the food production on this globe is probably going to increase by 20 percent and mind you 75 percent of the water consumption is going to agriculture today."
5. Cutaway, cameramen
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Ambassador Csaba Kõrösi, Permanent Representative of Hungary to the United Nations:
"So what do we need to do. First of all we need more equitable access to water, we need a much higher degree of waste water treatment and recycling, we need to increase the water efficiency which we are relying on now, we need improvement of technology, we need improved water governance all over the world, we need rapid capacity building and we need coordination and cooperation."
7. Cutaway, journalists
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Ana Persic, Science Specialist, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Office in New York:
"When we talk about water cooperation we are talking about cooperation which relates to water allocation decisions, to upstream and downstream impacts, of water pollution, infrastructure, wherever you build something in one country, upstream you will absolutely have an impact on the countries downstream. Overexploitation, management, financing of water resources, all of these aspects are incredibly important and cooperation at different levels is therefore critical."
9. Cutaway, journalists
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Paul Egerton, World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Representative to the United Nations
"The urgency of the problem is clear, the critical lack of water resources in some areas results in desertification and drought or impacts like extreme cyclonic weather events as we've seen for example in New York recently resulting in the abundance of floods, flooding both which could significantly impede the development of countries who are in the development track. Efforts to achieve the targets of the MDGs relating to water should be made in the context of the post 2015 development agenda."

FILE – MINUSTAH - 25 OCTOBER 2012, FOURGY, HAITI

11. Wide shot, flooded field
12. Wide shot, men walking through flooded field
13. Close up, branch with flooded field in the back
14. Wide shot, boy walking in the flooded field

FILE – UNICEF - 25-27   JANUARY 2013 GAZA PROVINCE, MOZAMBIQUE

15. Wide shot, flooding
16. Wide shot, people wading through water
17. Wide shot, business under water
18. Wide shot, healthcare centre under water

STORYLINE:

The United Nations today (11 February) launched the International Year of Water Cooperation, which seeks to provide a platform for countries to collaborate in the management of this precious resource in the interest of peace and development.

Launching the event in New York Hungarian Ambassador Csaba Kõrösi, said that "we are inching towards a water crisis".

Kõrösi said that although the amount of water available today was the same as ten thousand years ago today the number of users was eight thousand times greater.

He also said that by 2013 the food production on the globe was probably going to increase by "20 percent", while today 75 percent of the water consumption was being utilized for agriculture only.

Pointing out that 2.5 billion people will very soon inhabit areas of water scarcity, Kõrösi said that what was needed first of all was more equitable access to water, as well as a much higher degree of waste water treatment and recycling.

Kõrösi also said that water efficiency needed to increase as well as the technological improvements.  He added to the list, improved water governance all over the world, and rapid capacity building, coordination and cooperation.

Also attending the launch, Science Specialist Ana Persic of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) explained that when talking about water cooperation, "we are talking about cooperation which relates to water allocation decisions, to upstream and downstream impacts of water, pollution, infrastructure, wherever you build something in one country, upstream you will absolutely have an impact on the countries downstream".

The UN representative of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), Paul Egerton, underlined the link between climate change and water, stressing that extreme weather events result in desertification or extreme flooding in different areas and hinder development and access to safe water.

Egerton stressed that "efforts to achieve the targets of the MDGs relating to water should be made in the context of the post 2015 development agenda.

The General Assembly proclaimed 2013 International Year for Water Cooperation in 2010, following a proposal from Tajikistan. The Year will serve to raise awareness and prompt action on the multiple dimensions of water cooperation, such as sustainable and economic development, climate change and food security.

The official launch of the Year took place today at the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO) Headquarters in Paris, France.

Cooperation on water issues will also be the theme for World Water Day, observed on 22 March.