Uzbekistan has taken a significant step towards safeguarding its water resources and protecting public health by becoming the first Central Asian nation to join the UN Protocol on Water and Health, UN News reports.
This initiative demonstrates the country’s commitment to tackling critical water and sanitation challenges amidst a growing population and the harsh realities of climate change.
With 35 million population, Uzbekistan faces acute water shortages. Only 71% of the rural population and 89% of the urban population have access to safe drinking water, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF.
Climate change with its impact of droughts, floods, and extreme temperatures, further exacerbates these water and sanitation issues.
The Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), Tatiana Molchan, welcomed Uzbekistan’s accession and urged other Central Asian nations and the wider region to follow this example.
The Protocol on Water and Health, jointly serviced by UNECE and WHO-Europe, adopted in 1999 is a unique legally binding instrument aiming to protect human health by better water management and by reducing water-related diseases. The Protocol provides a practical framework to translate into practice the human rights to water and sanitation and to implement SDG 6. 29 countries are the parties to the Protocol. ///nCa, 17 January 2024