Accra (Greater Accra) 19 March '99

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has observed that human activities on the land are the major causes of water shortages and water pollution. Agricultural development, urbanisation and industrialisation, he said, cause the most harm and must be the primary focus of freshwater management efforts. This is contained in Mr Annan's statement for World day for Water which falls on March 22. Access to a secure, safe and sufficient source of fresh water is a fundamental requirement for survival, well-being and socio economic development, he said. "Yet, we continue to act as if fresh water were a perpetually abundant resource. It is not. Fresh water is precious: we cannot live without it." Mr Annan said fresh water is irreplaceable and there are no substitutes for it, adding that human activity has a profound impact on the quantity and quality of fresh water. The UN Secretary-General said actions within one part of a watershed can have a profound effect on human water use on other parts and urged everybody to lead that "everybody leaves downstream." Mr Annan said effective water management becomes even more difficult when the resource is shared between nations. "It is not always easy for nations to agree on the share of a watershed which each is entitled to. But all of them share an interest in avoiding conflict and in preserving a resource on which all depend." Mr Annan said strains on the global supply of fresh water will only increase in the future, "especially in developing countries, where water shortage is usually only one strand in a nexus of socio-economic problems."