August 12, 2009

NEW YORK – As participants converge on Stockholm in hopes of finding ways to solve the problem of the world's dwindling supply of water, experts from global humanitarian agency Church World Service will attend the meeting to promote the simple but often overlooked connection between water and hunger.

"Relieving hunger often has to begin with access to clean water," said Rajyashri S. Waghray, CWS's New York-based director of Education and Advocacy. "It may seem like a simple idea, but we forget that without water, food is impossible to grow and difficult to preserve and prepare."

Waghray will be joined by CWS colleagues from East Africa and Indonesia in attending the World Water Week meeting in Stockholm, Aug. 16-22. The annual meeting, organized by the Stockholm International Water Institute, has as its theme "Responding to Global Changes: Accessing Water for the Common Good." The event brings together practitioners, scientific experts, decision makers and leaders from numerous countries to exchange ideas and develop solutions in the wake of the ongoing international water crisis.

One of the themes CWS will raise at presentations is the link between climate change and the global water crisis.

According to Waghray, "Climate changes are most immediately experienced globally through adverse, long-term impacts on the availability of and use and access to water. This affects the most vulnerable and the marginalized people, including women and children, many of them in Sub-Saharan Africa and south and Southeast Asia.

"Droughts and floods, which create acute food shortages, are becoming chronic in the global south, thereby threatening hunger and deprivation to at least two-thirds of the world's population."

Maurice Bloem, CWS's deputy director and head of programs, and a participant in the Stockholm event, adds: "Climate change is changing the conditions for cultivation of food, and that along with rising population needs to be considered in the fight for food and water security. The challenge is to turn these problems into opportunities."

As one of hundreds of non-governmental organizations participating in the international event, CWS will draw on its work as a global relief and development agency with more than half a century of grass-roots experience in alleviating hunger and poverty.

Among the points CWS will address at the Swedish conference: 1) Raising the visibility of poor communities and increasing public and political commitment to serving their water needs. 2) Emphasizing the importance of practical knowledge in restoring and regenerating water sources after disasters. 3) Recognizing that after disasters, a community's engagement in and capacity for water development becomes the backbone of effective response and recovery efforts.

"This is a key learning from post-tsunami Indonesia," said Waghray. "Where the environment is irrevocably altered and the impact is grave, it is the community on the ground that holds the key to its own recovery."

Waghray will give a presentation, "Water for All – Reducing Vulnerability and Restoring Resilience," at an Aug. 19 workshop entitled "Safe Water Services in Post-Conflict and Post-Disaster Contexts."

Globally, it is believed that more than 1 billion people worldwide lack clean water, and more than 2.1 million people – most of them children – die annually from waterborne disease. Some experts predict that by the middle of this century people in more than 60 countries could face water shortages.

As part of an agency-wide effort dubbed Water for All, CWS supports community efforts to obtain and manage water sources and supplies. As Waghray explains, "We regard water as a responsibility of public service, not as a resource for the few who can afford to pay."

As one example of CWS's water-related work, the agency has provided more than 2,120 bi o-sand water filters in 56 villages in Cambodia's Svay Rieng province. The simple filters have proven a lifeline in a country where three-quarters of deaths are believed to be caused by water-borne diseases.

The effort, part of a multiple-solution Water and Sanitation Cooperation Project by Church World Service Cambodia, has benefitted thousands of the poorest and most vulnerable people in remote rural areas.

Church World Service is an international humanitarian agency funded by public donations, grants and through the support of 35 Protestant, Orthodox and Anglican denominations and communions in the U.S.

How to help: Contributions to help bring clean water and other self-help assistance to families and communities around the world can be made online at http://www.churchworldservice.org/, by phone (800.297.1516) or by mailing to Church World Service, P.O. Box 968, Elkhart, IN 46515.

Church World Service