By Catherine Ageno
The United Nations has asked countries to ensure groundwater has its rightful place in all of their action plans.
According to the United Nations World Water Development Report 2022, groundwater accounts for 99 percent of all liquid freshwater on Earth.
However, this natural resource is poorly understood and consequently undervalued and mismanaged.
In a video message to an online session titled “Groundwater: Making the invisible visible,” Gilbert Houngbo, the Chair of UN-Water, underscores the need for policymakers to understand groundwater’s critical role and better manage the competing demands of water and sanitation systems, agriculture, industry, ecosystems and climate change adaptation
Houngbo, who is also President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), warns that ground water which sustains drinking water supplies, sanitation systems, farms, industries and ecosystems is being overused, polluted and neglected.
World Water Week 2022 – taking place in Stockholm, Sweden, from 23 August to 1 September – features many discussions, both online and in person, under the theme: “Seeing the Unseen: The Value of Water”.
The primary aim of the Conference is to raise awareness of the global water crisis and decide on a concerted action to achieve the internationally agreed water-related goals and targets, including those contained in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
