22 Mar 2013

UN / WORLD WATER DAY WRAP

Greater cooperation is urgently needed for more equitable use and division of water, senior United Nations officials stressed today, marking the twentieth anniversary of World Water Day.

Posted at: March 22, 2013 5:11 pm

Duration: 03:05

Available in: SD

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STORY: UN / WORLD WATER DAY WRAP
TRT: 3.05
SOURCE: UNTV 
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 22 MARCH 2013, NEW YORK CITY / FILE

SHOTLIST:

FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY

1.	Pan left, from Queensboro Bridge to United Nations Headquarters

22 MARCH 2013, NEW YORK CITY

2.	Med shot, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and General Assembly President Vuk Jeremić at the dais
3.	Wide shot, audience
4.	SOUNDBITE (English) Ban Ki-moon, United Nations Secretary-General:
"By 2030 nearly half the global population could be facing water scarcity, with the demand outstripping supply by 40 percent. Competition is growing among farmers and herders; industry and agriculture; town and country; upstream and downstream; and across borders. Climate change and the needs of populations that are growing in size and prosperity mean we must work together to protect and manage this fragile, finite resource."
5.	Wide shot, audience
6.	SOUNDBITE (English) Ban Ki-moon, United Nations Secretary-General:
"Agriculture is by far the largest user of freshwater; and there is growing urgency to reconcile its demands with the needs of domestic and industrial uses, especially energy production. Climate change also presents a growing threat to productivity and food security. My Zero Hunger Challenge promotes sustainable agriculture by sharing best practices and harnessing the most appropriate technologies so small farmers and industrial giants alike can get more crop per drop."
7.	Wide shot, audience applause
8.	Wide shot, press conference dais
9.	Med shot, journalists
SOUNDBITE (English) Jeremy Bird, Director-General of the CGIAR's International Water Management Institute:
"It's important to look at more innovative ways to, not just treat that waste but to reuse it, to recycle and to reuse it in safe forms; safe forms such as urine for fertilizer, waste water as a resource for irrigation, or indeed using the solid faecal sludge waste as a fertilizer."
10.	Med shot, journalist
SOUNDBITE (English) Zafar Adeel, Director of the United Nations University's Canadian-based Institute for Water, Environment and Health:
"We see that the Security Council in the last two or three years has taken up climate change as an agenda item, and we think that a similar dialogue should take place on water security, and as an aside, even climate change when it expresses itself as a security concern, really is through the impacts on water cycles, through floods, through droughts, or through other extreme events. So then, if we are successful in convincing the Security Council to take this up, that again provides you some proactive tools and mechanisms to avoid any future conflicts or disagreements that take place around water."
11.	Med shot, journalists
12.	Zoom out, end of press conference

STORYLINE:

Greater cooperation is urgently needed for more equitable use and division of water, senior United Nations officials stressed  today (22 March), marking the twentieth anniversary of World Water Day.

In remarks at the high-level dialogue on water cooperation in New York, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said competition for water "is growing among farmers and herders, industry and agriculture, town and country, upstream and downstream, and across borders."

One out of every three people lives in a country with moderate to high water stress, he said, and by 2030 "nearly half the global population could be facing water scarcity, with demand outstripping supply by 40 percent" due in part to climate change and the needs of populations that are growing in size and prosperity.

He noted that agriculture is the largest user of freshwater, and there is a growing urgency to reconcile demands from farming with those of domestic and industrial uses, "especially energy production."

Discussions at today's meeting, he said, will help deliberations on the post-2015 development agenda, as world leaders, experts and civil society representatives seek to set sustainable development goals for after the deadline set to reach the anti-poverty targets known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

At a later press conference, Jeremy Bird who is the Director-General of the CGIAR's International Water Management Institute addressed the issue of sanitation and the need "to look at more innovative ways to, not just treat that waste but to reuse it, to recycle and to reuse it in safe forms."

Zafar Adeel, who heads the United Nations University's Canadian-based Institute for Water, Environment and Health expressed hope that the Security Council would take up spoke about water security as an agenda item.

He said "if we are successful in convincing the Security Council to take this up, that again provides you some proactive tools and mechanisms to avoid any future conflicts or disagreements that take place around water."
 
The UN has declared 2013 as the International Year of Water Cooperation, recognizing that cooperation is essential to strike a balance between the different needs and priorities and share this precious resource equitably, using water as an instrument of peace.

Filed under 03.05.00 - WATER Climate change.