Water For Life™ Concerts

Leaders of the G20 governments meet in London this week. Their common aspiration is to set the world on a pathway of sustainable and widespread economic growth. While the discussions will be complex, one thing is crystal clear: we must revive growth in the world economy.

"Energy for All" (E4ALL) aims to bring business, governments and non-governmental organizations together in a bid to increase access to energy in the Asia Pacific region. The WBCSD joins the Steering Committee, which will guide strategic input to operations and sustainability of the initiative.

At the closing plenary of the 2009 European Business Summit in Brussels, WBCSD President Bjorn Stigson said that Europe's lead in green technologies was being challenged by China and the US. “China and the US are picking up speed very substantially. Europe is probably not moving forward with the same speed as the US and China,” he said.

The huge amount of attention given to water issues at the 5th World Water Forum in Istanbul this past week highlights the importance of finding water solutions to the critical challenges ahead, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development said today.

24 March 2009 -- The total number of new TB cases remained stable in 2007 and the percentage of people becoming ill with TB continued to decline. But 25% of TB deaths were HIV-related, twice as many as previously estimated, according to a new WHO report released today.

Decision makers can make a huge influential difference by only taking responsibility for one of these actions below

• Political involvement – endorse and enforce products that are environmentally friendly. Companies, businesses could be fined for not using such products.

• Public involvement – make grants available for public, subsided benefits for environmentally friendly products in the home.

• Development of water resources.

• Health management in water supply, sanitation, and irrigated agricultural production.

• Livelihoods – sourcing the right products, aquatic ecosystems, and hydropower generation.

• Help against flooding and droughts.

• Cost-effective & sustainable products or development– Multipurpose river basins development. Water shed management in poor farm areas.  Aquifer management.

• Giving more responsibility & choice to communities – depending on ability how much to pay and invest in order to increase social  & economic development.

• Educational programmes in schools on hygiene and involve women in the training of hygiene and sanitation.

• Make decision makers aware of the minimal cost of investment to provide access water and sanitation facilities against the expensive economic and health costs.

• Provide sanitation – toilets and latrines in every home and school.

• Increase employment and engage villagers to become builders, masons, water pump operators and maintenance stewards.

• Agricultural – incentives to make productive use of water in rain-fed and irrigated agriculture.

• Flexible water services which are reliable along with sustainable water usage and farming.

• Improve disaster advance monitoring systems and introduce insurance programmes in developing countries.

• Freshwater ecosystems need to be conserved and restored to ensure sustainable water resources in the future.

• Understand the true value of environmental resources – the quality and quantity in order to protect natural resources and endangered species.

• Explain the benefits of conservation against costs of other development.

• Use of other financial incentives and carbon credits to promote conservation.

• To reduce deforestation effectively and benefit financially, forest nations will need to create legislation, regulate through government at a regional and local level, each with their clear responsibilities.

• International and private agreements to protect ecosystems such as buying rainforest arceage.

• Introduce more renewable energy sources such as wind, solar and biomass to fuel ground  pumps and small scale stand alone hydropower schemes for rural and remote areas. Energy created by force of water is more sustainable and non-polluting.

• Tropical rainforests are extremely rich ecosystems that play a fundamental role in the basic functioning of the planet and home to probably 50%t of the world’s species.  In addition, rainforests help maintain the climate by regulating atmospheric gases and stabilizing rainfall, protect against desertification.
• Tropical rainforests produce about 30% of our planets fresh water. Trees extract groundwater through their roots and release it into the atmosphere. The water cycle is affected by deforestation.  When part of a forest is removed, the region cannot hold as much water and can result in a much drier climate. Deforestation reduces the content of water in the soil and groundwater as well as atmospheric moisture. Deforestation also reduces soil cohesion, so that erosion, flooding and landslides ensue.
• Shrinking forest cover lessens the landscape’s capacity to intercept, retain and transport precipitation. Instead of trapping precipitation, which then percolates to groundwater systems, deforested areas become sources of surface water runoff, which moves much faster than subsurface flows. That quicker transport of surface water can translate into flash flooding and more localized floods than would occur with the forest cover.
• Aquifers are critically important in human habitation and agriculture as they provide sustainable fresh groundwater. Deep aquifers in arid areas have long been water sources for irrigation.  Many villages and even large cities draw their water supply from wells in aquifers.

As a result, the presence or absence of trees can change the quantity of water on the surface, in the soil or groundwater, or in the atmosphere. This in turn changes erosion rates and the availability of water for either ecosystem functions or human services.

• One third of the world’s population do not have access to safe drinking water.
• 80% of population without access to drinking water live in rural areas, and it is predicted that future growth will be in  urban areas.
• 2.6 billion (42% of the world population) do not have access to water pit and basic sanitation.
• 1.1 billion people (17% of the world population) have no choice but to use harmful sources of water, as a result Millions of children continue to die each year from preventable water-borne diseases.
• More than 50% of the world’s population relies on Freshwater which accumulates in mountain regions.  However deforestation, agriculture & tourism place unsustainable demands on water resources.
• Global food production will have to increase by 60% from 2000 – 2030 in order to meet population growth.  But 14% increase of water is needed for irrigated agriculture.  Irrigated land (20% of the world’s farmland) produces 40% of the world’s food supply & 60% of the world’s cereals.  Therefore shortage of supply and higher prices would have a worldwide effect on our economy.
• One fifth of the world’s diet is fish, which also accounts for 400 million livelihoods.  However 70% of the world’s fish stocks are either fully exploited or depleted.
• Energy consumption is expected to grow 2% per year.  87% of all energy produced in the world in 2001 was from burning fossil and nuclear fuels. Fossil fuels cause air pollution and emissions of greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change.
• Floods are the second most frequent natural disaster after windstorms.  So far 2 billion people have been affected.  Aftermaths of such disasters – means no home, no food, or clean water and increase in diseases. Droughts cause famine & malnutrition with no access to water supplies.
• Contamination of water supplies after flooding & Industrial waste and refuse dumps.

• The health impact of inadequate sanitation leads to a number of financial and economic costs including direct medical costs associated with treating sanitation-related illnesses and lost income through reduced or lost productivity and the government costs of providing health services.
• It leads to time and effort losses due to distant or inadequate sanitation facilities, lower product quality resulting from poor water quality, reduced income from tourism (due to high risk of contamination and disease) and clean up costs.
• Every dollar spent on improving sanitation generates economic benefits (about nine times) that far exceed the required sanitation investments. The cost of inaction is enormous. Achieving the MDG for sanitation would result in $66 billion gained through time, productivity, averted illness and death. It is estimated that a 10 year increase in average life expectancy at birth translates into a rise of 0.3-0.4% in economic growth per year.
• In regions where a large proportion of the population is not served with adequate water supply and sanitation, sewage flows directly into streams, rivers, lakes and wetlands, affecting coastal and marine ecosystems, fouling the environment and exposing millions of children to disease.
• Especially in urban areas, domestic wastewater, sewage and solid waste improperly discharged presents a variety of concerns from providing breeding grounds for communicable disease vectors to contributing to air, water and soil pollution.
• The results of poor waste management also contribute to a loss of valuable biodiversity. In the case of coral reefs, urban and industrial waste and sewage dumped directly into the ocean or carried by river systems from sources upstream, increase the level of nitrogen in seawater. Scientists estimate that between 70% and 80% of the oxygen in the atmosphere is produced by marine plants. By continuing polluting the oceans, we are also killing our vital lifeline – oxygen.

Improved sanitation reduces environmental burdens, increases sustainability of environmental resources and allows for a healthier, more secure future for the population and all living organisms.

Bite sized facts

• Improved water supply can reduce diseases by as much as 25%.
• Education and promotion on hygiene (e.g. hand washing) reduce diarrhoeal diseases by 45%.
• Chlorination at point of use for drinking water reduces as much as 39% in diseases.
• Improve access to water would reduce trachoma morbidity by 27%.
• 160 million are infected with schistosomiasis but with basic sanitation this would be reduced by 77%.

Through Water For Life concerts the above problems will be brought to the attention of decision makers and public worldwide by showing videos.  We will try to receive commitments from Local governments toenforce action and provide help. In addition during the concerts and live TV broadcasts a charity will be promoted to raise funds.  The public will be asked to donate via phone, text messaging and internet to help the ongoing problems worldwide.

Germany /ˈdʒɝːməni/, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (German:  Bundesrepublik Deutschland ), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands. The territory of Germany covers 357,021 square kilometers and is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. With 82 million inhabitants, it accounts for the largest population among the member states of the European Union and is home to the third-largest number of international migrants worldwide.

A region named Germania inhabited by several Germanic peoples has been known and documented before AD 100. Beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire that lasted until 1806. During the 16th century, northern Germany became the centre of the Protestant Reformation. As a modern nation-state, the country was first unified amidst the Franco-Prussian War in 1871. In 1949, after World War II, Germany was divided into two separate states—East Germany and West Germany—along the lines of Allied occupation. The two states were unified in 1990. West Germany was a founding member of the European Community (EC) in 1957, which became the European Union in 1993. It is part of the Schengen zone and adopted the European currency, the euro, in 1999.

Germany is a federal parliamentary republic of sixteen states (Länder). The capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, G8 and the OECD. It is a major economic power with the world’s fourth largest economy by nominal GDP and the fifth largest in purchasing power parity. It is the largest exporter and second largest importer of goods. In absolute terms, Germany allocates the second biggest annual budget of development aid in the world, while its military expenditure ranked sixth. The country has developed a high standard of living and established a comprehensive system of social security. It holds a key position in European affairs and maintains a multitude of close partnerships on a global level. Germany is recognised as a scientific and technological leader in several fields.

Business leaders from some of the world's biggest companies today called for water, energy and climate change to be linked in global negotiations, such as the international climate talks due to culminate in Copenhagen in December.

Italy /ˈɪtəli/ (Italian: Italia), officially the Italian Republic (Italian: Repubblica Italiana), is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia. The independent states of San Marino and the Vatican City are enclaves within the Italian Peninsula, and Campione d’Italia is an Italian exclave in Switzerland. Italy has been the home of many European cultures, such as the Etruscans and the Romans, and later was the birthplace of the University, the Renaissance that began in Tuscany and spread all over Europe, Vitruvian Man, modern science and astronomy, heliocentrism and Opera. Italy’s capital, Rome, was for centuries the center of Western civilization. Italy possessed a colonial empire from the second half of the nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth century. Today, Italy is a democratic republic and a developed country with the eighth-highest quality-of-life index rating in the world. It is a founding member of what is now the European Union, having signed the Treaty of Rome in 1957, and it is a founding member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). It is a member of the G8, having the world’s seventh-largest nominal GDP, and is also a member state of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Council of Europe, the Western European Union, and the Central European Initiative. Italy is a Schengen state. On 1 January 2007, Italy began a two-year term as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council.

13 March 2009 -- WHO considers equitable access to safe and affordable medicines as vital to the attainment of the highest possible standard of health by all. In this context, the recent events related to the handling of medicines in transit and the potential consequences for the supply of medicines in developing countries are of major concern to the organization.

The 5th World Water Forum to be held in Istanbul is an opportunity to raise significantly the political profile of water and highlight its interconnection with other global challenges including climate change, food, energy and the current financial crisis.

11 March 2009 -- The health impact of climate change is a critical issue that policy-makers should be aware of while setting priorities for action and investment to mitigate the impact of global climate change. This is the key message that WHO experts delivered at the Climate Change Global Risks, Challenges and Decisions conference in Copenhagen.

10 March 2009 -- More research is needed to better understand the barriers to implementation, effectiveness and optimization of the available interventions and programmes for preventing diarrhoea. WHO has identified these research priorities in consultation with global experts. Diarrhoea causes almost 20% of child deaths globally.

Energy, and our access to it, is at the core of the lives we live. Without it, we tend to do poorly; with it, societies prosper and grow, and become ever more reliant on an abundant energy supply. Energy is the single largest requirement for economic expansion, fuelling growth and social development.