World Water Day: Water for Peace
ORANJESTAD - On March 22, we celebrate World Water Day worldwide to raise awareness about the importance of water.
The theme for 2024 is "Water for Peace". This theme focuses on the crucial role of water in promoting and establishing peace and sustainable development.
Water can both bring peace and be a reason for conflicts in areas where this resource is scarce. Even when people do not have equal access to water, tensions can arise between communities and countries. Water and peace go hand in hand, which is why the Department of Nature and Environment (DNM) promotes and emphasizes this theme, highlighting that we cannot survive without water. Water is essential for human health, agriculture, food production, and a healthy environment.
In Aruba, we do not experience conflicts due to water, and there is no shortage of drinking water. Conscious use and water conservation guarantee the quality of this resource for future generations.
The celebration of World Water Day is also a call to action:
- Invest in water management to ensure access to clean water for everyone.
- Work on solutions for water management and waste to reduce the likelihood of pollution.
- Promote cooperation to fairly and sustainably share water resources to prevent conflicts.
What are the benefits of engaging with the water theme? Water can help us out of crises. Collaboration on water opens the door to cooperation on other challenges countries face. Therefore, we encourage the vital connections between water and peace. Collaboration on water transcends borders, and different sectors show that there are benefits that accelerate progress towards sustainable development goals (SDGs). These include providing drinking water to those in need, ensuring sanitation facilities, securing food production, supporting well-being and healthy ecosystems, and contributing to resilience against climate change. Contributing to resilience reduces the risk of disasters, and water contributes to renewable energy and supports cities and industries. In this way, it promotes peace.
We need to realize that water consumption creates wastewater. Therefore, treated waste water is a crucial way to reuse it elsewhere. We must consider water circularity, thus wastewater treatment at a quality level that enables reuse. With this water, we can flush toilets or water plants.
For more information about World Water Day, you can visit the official UN website World Water Day - Resources | United Nations www.un.org/en/observances/water-day/resources
