..................................................................................................................................................................
The first line
of defense is surprisingly very simple, washing your hands thoroughly with soap
and water - unfortunately, in a number of countries handwashing with soap and
clean water is a luxury that households and
families simply cannot afford
CONTRIBUTOR: PALLAVI BHARADWAJ
World Water Day
and the theme this year is water and climate change.
Dr. John
Matthews, E.D.-AGWA, is a veteran of the United Nations Climate Change Conference,
COP.
He noted
recently in a webinar that when he attended COP-15 in Copenhagen in 2009, he was
only one of a handful of experts talking about water and climate change.
Later this year
in Glasgow at COP-26, water shall be front and center
for most of the climate-change related talks and discussions.
Water is the
connecting link to most everything when it comes to climate change.
If we have
water in access, we experience floods, not enough causes droughts.
There is also
the issue of quantity and quality of water and how it
contributes to climate change either directly or indirectly.
According to
Henk Ovink, Special Envoy for International Water Affairs for the Kingdom of
the Netherlands, humans need water to survive, as do all the systems we rely
on: sanitation, healthcare, education, business and industry.
Action plans to
tackle climate change need to be integrated across different sectors and
coordinated across borders.
And they must
have one thing in common: safe and sustainable water management.
Financial
institutions also need to do their bit by considering the holistic systems
based approaches while considering to finance a new project or venture.
There have been
some breakthroughs in the form of Climate Bonds in China and the new Green Deal in
the US but the banks and investments institutions need to do more, according to
Mr. Ovink.
SOLUTIONS TO COMBAT
CLIMATE CHANGE AND PROVIDE SAFE WASH
The E4C Solutions Library is a
living database of products and services that are intended to be accessible and
appropriate for those living in poverty.
In addition to
the Solutions Library, E4C has recently partnered with Siemens USA to offer
the Innovate for Impact
Design Challenge.
Under the
challenge you can identify a problem, or opportunity, within SDG2 (zero hunger)
and SDG6 (clean water and sanitation).
All the
products and services in E4C’s SL, the design challenge with Siemens and all
other offerings in the form of webinars and resources aim towards addressing
climate change, water and ultimately achieving the UN-SDGs for all by 2030.
WWD AND COVID-19
Countries
across the world are trying to do their best to cope with this invisible enemy
right now.
The first line
of defense is surprisingly very simple, washing your hands thoroughly with soap
and water.
Unfortunately,
in a number of countries handwashing with soap and clean water is a luxury that households and families simply cannot afford.
In such cases
also E4C’s SL has solutions for setting up convenient community handwashing
stations and managing their limited water resources better.
WE MUST BE AS
PREPARED FOR CLIMATE CHANGE AS WE ARE FOR COVID-19
Fighting
climate change will open up vast opportunities for the economy in many areas.
We need to
embrace circular production systems and use water much more efficiently.
Dr. Matthews
also used the analogy of COVID-19 for addressing climate change. “We must be
as prepared and careful for climate change as we are now doing for COVID-19,” he
said.
“With the
climate events becoming extreme and water becoming scarce or unfit for human
consumption, we need to prepare like we are doing for this pandemic.”
Pallavi
Bharadwaj
Pallavi
is Engineering for Change's WASH Correspondent. When not writing for E4C,
Pallavi is a program and project manager, consultant, and global development
professional living in New York City. Her interests range from environmental
causes to education, and her personal pursuits include entrepreneurship, food,
travel and yoga.
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