July 25, 2002 -- The Office of Water is helping the U.S. government prepare for the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) which will be held in Johannesburg, South Africa from August 24 to September 5, 2002.
The World Summit on Sustainable Development will be the largest United Nations-sponsored meeting on environment and development ever held, with more than 60,000 delegates, and representation at the head-of-state or cabinet minister level from over 100 countries expected. Senior EPA officials and staff will attend as delegation members and advisors.
The World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) will lead to a political declaration, and commitments on actions in several key areas. Water is expected to be one of the highest profile issues addressed at WSSD. Partnerships among government, business and non-governmental groups to address regional and country-specific problems will be solidified.
The world recognizes that sustainable development cannot advance when more than 1.1 billion people lack access to safe drinking water and more than 2.4 billion people lack access to adequate sanitation facilities. The tragedy of over 2.2 million deaths annually from diarrheal diseases, mostly among children, has been recognized by all the world's leaders.
There is also broad agreement on the need to address problems from a watershed-perspective. The Office of Water is helping develop candidate FY03-06 initiatives for the U.S., in cooperation with the Department of State, U.S. Agency for International Development and other Federal agencies.
Options being examined on water and sanitation range from critical infrastructure investments in drinking water disinfection, to longer term capacity-building and training for professionals and community-based organizations. High priority regions include Africa and South/Southeast Asia.
Office of Water (OW) is also helping advance a "White Water to Blue Water" effort, with a particular focus on the Caribbean Basin. These initiatives are being closely coordinated with other countries and international financial institutions such as the World Bank.
OW has prepared a new exhibit on Clean Water/Safe Water which will be displayed along with other program office and U.S. government agency displays. In addition, OW will be delivering an international training course on "Fundamentals of Safe Drinking Water Programs" as part of the Summit Institute for Sustainable Development.
Following the World Summit the Office of Water will help develop and implement U.S. initiatives and partnerships. Further information on World Summit on Sustainable Development is available at the official web site: http://www.joburgsummit2002.com.
EPA's web site on World Summit Sustainable Development is: http://www.epa.gov/oia/WSSD/index.html.
