WORLD WATER DAY: CELEBRATION HELD IN NAY PYI TAW
Source: mitv
Date: 22 February 2018
World Water Day celebration took place at MICC-II in Nay Pyi Taw on Thursday.
Vice President U Henry Van Thio attended the ceremony and gave an opening speech. The Vice President said the World Water Day is a day that reminds the human being to prepare for future challenges for sustainability of precious water resources. He pointed out that nowadays, 2.1 billion people of the world population live without safe drinking water at home, affecting their health, education and livelihoods. Therefore, to ensure that every one can have safe water and sanitation by 2030 with long term planning is committed in Goal No.6 of Sustainable Development Goals.
Based on the SDG Goals, the Rural Development Department has laid down the strategy for clean water supply to rural areas targeting to 100% coverage by 2030.
Director General, Rural Development Department, Khant Zaw said "According to 2014 Census, 61% of rural areas have accessed to clean drinking water. Based on this, we target 100% access by 2030. There are 64000 villages, and we will continue to supply clean drinking water to about 20000 villages. So, we need to carry out at about 1500 to 2000 villages per year."
This year's theme "Nature for Water" intends to explore how people can use nature to overcome the challenges of the 21st Century. It is also meant to utilize nature-based solutions for too much water, too little water and pollution.
Assistant Director, Irrigation and Water Utilization Management Department (Construction-5), Aung Thura said "We build dams and reservoirs for maintaining the water resources. On the other hand, the engineers are taking responsibility to prevent flood in the townships and villages. We supply electricity from hydro power plant, and at the same time, we irrigate water for cultivation purpose."
Myanmar has hosted the 3rd Asia-pacific Water Forum in December last year, and adopted the Yangon Declaration. The outcomes of the Forum are scheduled to discuss at World Water Forum to be held in Brazil in March this year. UN General Assembly has also designated 2018 to 2028 as the International Decade for Action for Water for Sustainable Development.
Its objectives focus on the sustainable development and integrated management of water resources, the implementation and promotion of related projects, and the furtherance of cooperation and partnership at all levels to achieve the targets, including those in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
