World Water Day: Water is Life (March 20, 2010)

Water is arguably one of the most precious resources of our planet. From 50 to 90 percent of the weight of living organisms, including human being is water. Without water life would be impossible on Earth.

It is important to know that even though about 70% of the earth is covered by water, only about 2.5 percent of the total water volume is freshwater and only less than 1 percent of this is actually usable for ecosystems and humans.

Yet, despite the fact that water is so important and scarce, people tend to take it for granted. Human activities are causing the decline in quality of water worldwide. Increasing population growth, rapid urbanization, discharge of new pathogens and new chemicals from industries and invasive species are key factors that contribute to the deterioration of water quality. Every day, 2 million tons of human waste is disposed of in water courses.


Water scarcity is a major global challenge. According to WHO and UNICEF, more than one in six people worldwide - 894 million - don't have access to this amount of safe freshwater.FAO predicted that by 2025, 1 800 million people will be living in countries or regions with absolute water scarcity, and two-thirds ofthe world population could be under stress conditions.

As a means of focusing attention on the importance of freshwater and advocating for the sustainable management of freshwater resources,the International World Water Day was recommended at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED). The United Nations General Assembly responded by designating 22 March 1993 as the first World Water Day. Each year, World Water Day highlights a specific aspect of freshwater. This year theme is "Clean Water for a Healthy World"

To celebrate this event to help raise awareness about the importance of water at local level, Enrich is proud to organize the first youth conference on the theme “Water and Life”. The objectives of the conferences are: 
-          To raise awareness among youths on the importance of water
-          To encourage youth to save water as much as possible in their daily activities

The project activities include:
-          Presentations from officers working in water and climate change field
-          Video screen on the scarcity of water
-          Role play performed by youth to educate on the importance of water saving
-          Questions and Quiz
-          Announcement of essay competition winners

The event was participated by 500 youths from more than ten universities in Phnom Penh, University lecturers, Representations from NGOs and private company and the Media.