Latin America should encourage investment in hydraulic infrastructure and water-related sanitation services to improve the well-being and quality of life of the population and reactivate the region’s economy, the executive secretary of the Economic Commission for America recommended this Wednesday. Latin and the Caribbean (ECLAC).
José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs made this observation during the inauguration of the third edition of the Regional Water Dialogues, which will be held until Friday, February 3, at the headquarters of the United Nations organization in Santiago, Chile.
According to ECLAC estimates, to promote the just and sustainable water transition, universalizing safely managed water and sanitation coverage, a public and private investment drive equivalent to 1.3% of regional GDP is required for 10 years.
“This would generate 3.6 million green jobs and the corresponding new family income, thus constituting an axis of transformative recovery of the countries’ economies, reducing pollutants and increasing resilience to climate change and health threats such as the pandemic. It is an important effort, but not impossible”, asserted Salazar. Xirinachs.
The ministerial meeting in Santiago de Chile is in preparation for the 2023 United Nations Water Conference, which will take place in March in New York, and its purpose is to evaluate progress related to Sustainable Development Goal number 6: guarantee the availability of water and its sustainable management and sanitation for all.
In Latin America, the Andes span seven countries and play a crucial role in providing water to more than 95 million people.
A breached human right
During the meeting, the countries will elaborate, for the first time in history, a Regional Agenda for Water Action, which will allow Latin America and the Caribbean to arrive with a single voice at the March meeting at the UN headquarters.
During his speech, the Executive Secretary of ECLAC warned that, although water has been recognized as a human right since 2010, In Latin America and the Caribbean, a large part of the population still lacks water and sanitation services safely handled.
He specified that 25% of people do not have access to drinking water (161 million people), while 66% of the region’s population (431 million people) do not have access to safely managed sanitation services. .
grave inequality
“The most vulnerable quintile suffers the most from this situation, with 25% less access to these services. In addition, and due to the regressiveness of the water tariff systems, this quintile with the greatest needs can pay up to twice, proportionally, than the richest quintile”, he alerted.
Salazar-Xirinachs specified that, in the last three decades, disasters associated with water represented 88% of all events that occurred in the region, with a very high impact.
He stressed that human life depends on the natural cycle of water, its flows in sufficient quantity and quality, as well as the dynamics and ecosystem integrity that feed a large part of the fundamental economic activities for sustainable development.
Thus, “it is necessary to recognize that water is key and transversal for practically all economic activitiesagriculture, industry and mining, and in a very special way for the main transformative sectors, among which the bioeconomy, renewable energies, biodiversity, the circular economy and sustainable tourism stand out”, he said.
Wastewater in Brazil.
Strengthen water governance
The Minister of the Environment of Chile, Maisa Rojas, meanwhile, recalled the megadrought that has affected the country for more than a decade and stressed the urgency of strengthening water governance through the establishment of a policy for water security, the creation of a national water authority and the institutionalization of governance bodies at the basin level.
For his part, Manuel Otero, general director of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculturefor his part, pointed out the urgency of set up a joint action at the continental level to ensure greater effectiveness in the use of water.
Mario Lubetkin, regional representative of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), specified that, according to estimates by the agency, by 2050 world food production will have an increase of 50% compared to 2012 in order to meet the growing demand for food. If current conditions hold, this will require at least 35% more fresh waterhe warned, and urged sustainable management of the earth’s scarce water resources.
