Towards Sustainable Water Security in Southeast Asia: Directions, Strategies, Solutions
Water has been dubbed ‘the oil of the twenty first century’ as its scarcity is increasingly felt globally. Over the fifty years, the world’s population has increased more than two-and-half times to about 6.4 billion. At the same time, the demand for fresh water went up four times. According to the prediction of the Nations Environment Programme Report, at this rate, up to 7 billion people in sixty countries may suffer from water scarcity by year 2050. Without access to clean water, not only would public health being affected due to poor hygiene and sanitation, agricultural and industrial activities could get disrupted too.
Water resources in Southeast Asia are under strain from rapid urbanisation and industrialisation. The situation is made worse by water-related disasters, climate change and poor governance. In order to increase access to clean and safe water, implementation of a comprehensive water catchments management policy, backed by strong anti-pollution enforcement measures, sound management of water infrastructure, reinforcement on public education and engagement, programmes in reducing NRW, appropriate pricing of water, and last but not least development of new technologies are among importance measures.
The 2nd edition of Global Water Conference 2017 in Yangon held in conjunction with the Myanmar Sustainable Energy and Water Resources Management Week is set to provides an interactive platform for broad range of country and technical experts to converge and exchange ideas and yield useful lessons for policy-makers, business people, practitioners, NGOs and academia from the water and sanitation sectors; discuss on strategies and most applicable solutions in lifting the water and sanitation sectors in the region with specific focus on Myanmar. This summit is also designed to bridge collaboration and facilitate investment in the water and sanitation sectors in Southeast Asia.
