UN Special Session: Hasina places 5-point proposal for water security

GBNEWS24 DESK//

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Friday put forward a five-point proposal to the international community to raise global awareness for a resilient and sustainable post Covid-19 world by combating water and disaster challenges, reports UNB.

The Prime Minister made the proposals in her pre-recorded speech in the Fifth UN Special Thematic Session on Water and Disasters in “Building Back Better towards More Resilient and Sustainable Post-COVID-19 World.”

“We need to take a comprehensive, result-oriented, focused and adaptive global approach for water security; and it’s important to raise political awareness, and share good practices, knowledge, and experiences,” she said.

Three other proposals are: Synergies on water management and water policies and its use by nations of the upper and lower basins; focus by the world community on implementation of the Sendai Framework, the SDGs and the Paris Agreement; and mobilizing financial resources for vulnerable countries to ensure their adequate access to water.

Hasina said the world is confronting the gravest global health crisis of its times due to the Covid-19 pandemic as enormous economic and social disruption caused by the pandemic has slowed down the progress for sustainable development.

She mentioned that the growing scarcity of clean drinking water, outbreak of diseases like cholera and typhoid reminds of the crucial need of water for peace and development.

“To mitigate the water-related disasters, we’ve a shared responsibility to create stronger and inclusive international cooperation,” the Prime Minister pointed out.

She said Bangladesh is the lower-most riparian country in South Asia, standing on the confluence of three mighty rivers — the Ganges, the Brahmaputra and the Meghna.

At present, she said, Bangladesh faces two-pronged water-related problems – its surplus and shortage.