Posts tagged world water day
Life is calling. How far will you go?
World Water Day: Did you know?
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85% of the world population lives in the driest half of the planet
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6 to 8 million people die annually from the consequences of disasters and water-related diseases
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About 66% of Africa is arid or semi-arid and more than 300 of the 800 million people in sub-Saharan Africa live in a water-scarce environment
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Water for irrigation and food production constitutes one of the greatest pressures on freshwater resources. Agriculture accounts for ~70% of global freshwater withdrawals (up to 90% in some fast-growing economies)
“Water holds the key to sustainable development, we must work together to protect and carefully manage this fragile, finite resource.” - United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon
Happy World Water Day!
World Water Day is held annually on March 22 focusing attention on the importance of freshwater and advocating for the sustainable management of freshwater resources.
Our Volunteers around the world work with local governments, clinics, nongovernmental organizations, and communities at the grassroots level, where the need is most urgent and the impact can be the greatest, focusing on outreach, social and behavior change in public health, hygiene and water sanitation.
(Source: peacecorps.gov)
World Water Day - Did you know?
Fetching water is part of the gender inequality. Check out these statistics from the United Nations Water for Life initiative:
- In rural Benin, girls ages 6-14 spend an average of one hour a day collecting water compared with 25 minutes for their brothers.
- In Malawi, there are large variations in the amount of time allocated for water collection based on seasonal factors, but women consistently spend four to five times longer than men on this task.
- In Tanzania, a survey found school attendance to be 12 per cent higher for girls in homes located 15 minutes or less from a water source than in homes one hour or more away. Attendance rates for boys appeared to be far less affected by distance from water sources.
- In 12% of households children carry the main responsibility for collecting water, with girls under 15 years of age being twice as likely to carry this responsibility as boys under the age of 15 years.
- Research in sub-Saharan Africa suggests that women and girls in low-income countries spend 40 billion hours a year collecting water—the equivalent of a year’s worth of labour by the entire Work force in France.
- In Africa, 90% of the work of gathering water and wood, for the household and for food preparation, is done by women. Providing access to clean water close to the home can dramatically reduce women’s workloads, and free up time for other economic activities. For their daughters, this time can be used to attend school.
(Source: un.org)
“Access to clean water is a human right and a necessity for good health.” - Peace Corps Volunteer Nicholas Karr
Happy World Water Day!
In this photo, Peace Corps Volunteer Caitrin Martin and children from her Senegalese village celebrate the construction of a well to provide clean drinking water to their community.
(Source: peacecorps.gov)
