Nitin Paranjpe
(From previous issue)
Starting in Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana and Ivory Coast, the programs will promote handwashing in schools and improve water management. The aim is to provide access to safe water and drive behavior change in how people use and conserve water, in a way that is sustainable and scalable across the continent.
5 calls to action for the global development community
1. As Paul Dickinson, executive chairman of CDP, said: “If climate change is the shark, then water is its teeth.” We all need to recognize the importance of this issue and work together to solve it.
2. Acknowledge the shared interests of governments, private sector and civil society and utilize that to motivate combined action.
3. Use SDG 6 as a focal point for water-related initiatives and support national implementation plans through specific projects and wider capacity building.
4. Recognize the relationships between water and other development areas. Sustainable solutions necessitate a holistic approach from source to waste water.
5. Collaborate around multisector platforms to increase engagement in this space, such as Sanitation and Water for All and WASH4Work.
Our motivation for partnering with Rhodes University and UNICEF is as much a question of survival as it is of social responsibility. We know our business can’t succeed without water. We need water to grow our agricultural materials, keep our factories running and even for customers to use our products when they cook, clean and wash.
We’re working hard to use water more efficiently within our own supply chain and to innovate products that help our consumers use less water. Since 1995, we’ve cut the water abstracted by our factories per unit of production by 74 percent. But there’s still much more for us to do – within our operations and with others.
The stakes could not be higher. As World Bank President Jim Yong Kim recently noted: “Achieving the water global goal would have multiple benefits, including laying the foundations for food and energy security, sustainable urbanization, and ultimately climate security.”
This year’s U.N.-Water theme, “Water and Jobs,” is a stark reminder of how many people depend on water for their livelihood and employment.
Communities, businesses and governments all have an interest in ensuring that we manage this scarce resource sustainability and equitably. It is critical for those who lack access to water today, but it is also essential if we want our communities and economy to thrive in the future.
(Nitin Paranjpe is the president of the Home Care Business of Unilever).
(Concluded)
