The Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), José Manuel Salazar, stressed that in order to promote a «fair and sustainable» water transition, a public and private investment drive equivalent to 1.3% of regional GDP is required over the next ten years.
At the opening of the third edition of the Regional Water Dialogues, the head of the regional commission urged countries to promote investments in water services to improve the well-being and quality of life of the population and reactivate the region’s economy.
«Investments to increase water coverage and water sanitation would generate 3.6 million green jobs in the region and would constitute a transformative recovery axis of the countries’ economies, increasing their resilience to climate change. It is a major effort, but not impossible,» he said.
During the regional meeting, the countries will prepare, for the first time in history, a Regional Water Action Agenda, which will allow Latin America and the Caribbean to arrive «with a single voice» at the March meeting at UN headquarters.
HIGH ECONOMIC IMPACT Water-related meteorological disasters accounted for 88% of the events that occurred in the region in the last three decades, with a «very high» economic impact, reaching 77% of the reported economic cost and 89% of the total number of people affected by all adverse phenomena.
In this regard, Salazar recalled that the development of human and economic activity depends on the natural water cycle and its flows, so it is necessary to recognize that water is «key» and «transversal» for all sectors, and especially for the main sectors identified by ECLAC as «drivers and transformers», among which are the bioeconomy, renewable energy, biodiversity, circular economy and sustainable tourism.
Likewise, the head of ECLAC has stated that, although water is a human right «recognized» since 2010, in Latin America and the Caribbean a large part of the population still lacks water and sanitation services managed in a safe way.
In figures, 25% of the people living in the region do not have access to safe drinking water (161 million people), while 66% of the region’s population (431 million people) does not have access to safely managed sanitation services.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
