Topic:
Country: Estonia
Delegate Name: Aaron Purrenhage
DATE: 11/20/2021
SUBMITTED TO: United Nations Developmental Programme
FROM: the Republic of Estonia
TOPIC: Access to Water and Sanitation.
Access to usable water is without a doubt one of the most vital utilities that has helped humanity develop and prosper over our existence. Coupled with access to water, Proper sanitation has allowed us to save more lives. Despite all the advances in these technologies, in the world today we still see millions of people across the globe who lack this basic human need, which in turn causes over 800,000 deaths per year according to the world health organization. In less-developed countries it is all to common to see the discharge of harmful chemicals and other materials into water ways and water systems. This causes diseases to spread throughout afflicted communities. Roughly 2 billion people do not have access to proper, clean and safe drinking water, and according to the CDC there are about 3 million cases of cholera annually, which causes an estimated 95,000 deals per year. This is a problem that has, and still needs to be tackled by the global community. Thankfully we know that great strides have been made by both governments and non-governmental organization to improve access to water and proper sanitation, such bodies like Water.org and H20 for life. Estonia believes that we must work diligently to bring these areas the basic needs they need, and to ensure the global community reaches the Sustainable Development Goal 6 established by the United Nations.
The nation of Estonia is privileged to have a good track record on access to clean water and proper sanitation for our citizens. As of 2017 93.33% of Estonians had access to clean drinking water. In Estonia our ministry of Social and ministry of the Environment work in tangent to ensure drinking water gets to our citizens that is both readily available and safe for drinking.
Our public waterworks operate tirelessly to remove over 200 harmful materials from water we draw in from local water impoundments. Our industries are highly regulated to ensure that our citizen receive water they can use for either drinking, bathing or cooking safely. Our nation believes that ensuring the proper treatment of water and access to sanitation is a top priority for establishment in communities needed proper water and sanitation. Setting our proper guidelines for establishing and improving water access is a must if we want to meeting our sustainable development goals. Our Nation hopes to work with NGOs, as well our neighbors in the European union to improve Water Access and sanitation not only in Europe but in far-flung destinations.
Setting out guidelines and the proper investment has helped our nation increase our access to clean water and sanitation, a policy we hope that can be applied to regions who need it the most. Our nation understands that above simple regulations and investment, there are broader issues when it comes to Water access and Sanitation. There are lots of people in the world who live in areas where there is a severe lack of bodies of water to draw upon for usage. In many counties there are either rivers or lakes or freshwater that can be harnessed to provide municipal water for their citizens. But for nations like Mali for example, their land area is comprised by a lot of desert, that leaves their options for water access rather limited. Options are still available to provide water, for nations with access to a saltwater source can utilize desalinization to produce fresh water, with water division also being an option. However both these techniques have their drawbacks. The UNEP should take action to help these nations to gain better access to water and sanitation, using help from NGO’s and local government to make a better world we can all live in.
Sources Cited:
CDC: https://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/global/wash_statistics.html
https://donorbox.org/nonprofit-blog/nonprofits-fighting-global-water-crisis/
https://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/global/wash_statistics.html
