The Importance of Water and Sustainable Development
World water day is an international event that is held to bring awareness on the importance of water. This year’s theme is Water and Sustainable Development; the focus is to highlight the many ways in which water can be managed. News Five’s Isani Cayetano headed to Memorial Park where an event was held to celebrate water.
Isani Cayetano, Reporting
World Water Day 2015 will be commemorated on Sunday. In Belize, activities were held this morning in observation of the day, the primary focus being on water and sustainable development. This year’s edition of the World Water Development Report demonstrates how water resources and services are essential to achieving global sustainability. Locally, more emphasis is being placed on the importance on the way water is being used.
Sharon Ramclam, CEO, Ministry of Natural Resources
Sharon Ramclam
“Belize’s, our national anthem reminds us of our wealth untold and included in that wealth untold is our abundant water resources. Belize boasts the largest annual per capita water in Central America and the Caribbean. That is everyday there is at least eight thousand, seven hundred and sixty buckets of water available to each Belizean. Comparing that per capita water availability with that of neighbors, Belize has fourteen times more per capita water than that of Mexico, a hundred times more than Guatemala. In the region, Belize has seventeen times more per capita water than Jamaica, twenty times more than Trinidad, two hundred times more than Barbados and a thousand times more than that of the Bahamas. We are truly blessed, many of us in our lifetime will never use our annual water endowment.”
Taking account of economic growth, social equity and environmental sustainability, the report’s forward-looking narrative describes how major challenges and change factors in the modern world will affect and can be affected by water resources.
Sharon Ramclam
“Once again this year’s theme is a reminder that we work together to ensure that our water resources are managed sustainably. After all, every single living organism on planet Earth requires water for survival. The United Nations General Assembly recognizes that cooperation is essential to strike a balance between the different needs and priorities and to share this precious resource equitably, using water as an instrument of peace.”
The importance of water is encapsulated in a poem that was presented during the ceremony. It is titled Life Without Water.
Sharon Ramclam
“Sustaining water means continual expansion of water. Sustaining water means improving quality for future generations. Sustaining water means enjoying Earth’s resources without jeopardizing our future. Sustaining water means nourishment and growth of our ecosystems. Now imagine life without water, no peace, no hope, no energy. No development, no trade, no revenue. No progress, no nourishment, no health. No opportunity, no history, no biodiversity. No prosperity, no happiness, no enjoyment.”
Isani Cayetano for News Five.
