By Gabriel Agbeja
Abuja – The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), has affirmed its readiness to advance its activities to increase available quality water in West Africa.
Mr Benoit Sossou, the Director, UNESCO Regional Office, Abuja, made the assertion on Monday in Abuja during his opening address at a two-day experts meeting on ambient water quality in West Africa.
Sosou described water as a finite resource that “is essential for human existence, agriculture, industry, energy production and for the environment.’’
“Without any doubt, inadequate quantity and quality of water have serious impact on water security and sustainable development.
“For this reason, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in recognition of crucial role of this precious resource include a dedicated goal on water and sanitation, SDG6.
“SDG6 sets out to ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all and expands the MDG focus on drinking water and sanitation.
“To now cover the entire water cycle, including management of water, wastewater and ecosystem resources with water at the very core of sustainable developments, “ he said.
The director said that SDGs 6 had strong linkages to all of the other SDGs, adding that the meeting of SDGs 6 would go a long way toward achieving much of the 2030 Agenda.
According to him, the focus of the meeting, which is organised in cooperation with the UNESCO Category 11 Regional Centre on Integrated River Basin Management (RC-IRBM), is mostly on Target 6.3.
He said SDG6.3 focused on improve water quality by reducing pollution, eliminating, dumping and minimising release of hazardous chemicals and materials, halving the proportion of untreated wastewater and increasing recycling and safe re-use globally.
He said that UNESCO was a major player in the international water with the International Hydrological Programme (IHP), with its Category11 Centres with the water related chairs and with its International Initiative on Water Quality (IIWQ).
He said that UNESCO was already committed to assisting member states in acquiring requisite scientific information and data for measuring indicators with specific reference to target 6.3.
“Part of such commitment is expressed in the UNESCO IHP project, merging pollutants in wastewater reuse in developing countries, “ he said.
Dr Emmanuel Adanu, the Executive Director, National Water Resources Institute, Kaduna, said that the meeting was aimed at developing appropriate and workable framework for the strategic implementation of SDG6.3, which was directly related to wastewater quality management.
He urged UNESCO to continue collaborating with RC-IRBM for capacity development and research in critical water-related areas for the sustainable development of the sub-region.
“I am highly impressed by the quality of experts and participants here present and therefore convinced that the objectives of this meeting will be achieved.
“I urged you all to apply the outcome of this meeting in your various water quality programmed to promote water co-operation and security for peaceful co-existence and sustainable development in the region,’’ he said.
NAN reports that countries that took part in the meetings are Benin, Togo, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Ivory Coast.