Words must be matched with action
Stockholm World Water Week - August 2007
The world is facing a sanitation crisis
2,300 people from 130 countries gathered in Stockholm for World Water Week, End Water Poverty coalition members attended alongside UN agencies, government representatives, NGOs and academic institutions from the water and sanitation sector.
In the opening ceremony Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt encouraged delegates to keep fighting and raising awareness for water and sanitation issues.
2007 marks the midway point for reaching the Millennium Development Goals. Prime Minister Reinfeldt took the opportunity to remind participants that international commitments to the world's poor must be honoured with concerted action, now more than ever.
The International Year of Sanitation in 2008 was a hot topic in Stockholm, everyone is gearing up for a year of activity around this often overlooked issue. There was a consensus amongst participants and several key messages emerged:
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The world is facing a sanitation crisis with over 40% lacking access to basic sanitation (toilets)
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We know what to do - scaling-up of policies and projects that work
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Inaction is not an option - sanitation is integral to human development
The End Water Poverty coalition will be keeping up the pressure on the international community, represented at Stockholm, to turn their bold words into real action. What is needed is an extraordinary and immediate effort at all levels; political will matched with the necessary financing, to reach 2.6 billion people who are still denied the basic human right of a clean, safe place to go to the toilet.
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