TURKU, Finland - China and the European Union (EU) vowed on Thursday to continue working together to fight global water crises, as hundreds of high-level decision makers and experts on water management from the two sides met in Turku, southwestern Finland.
China, the European Commission and several EU member states signed a declaration at the annual China Europe Water Platform (CEWP) in Turku to strengthen cooperation to promote sustainable and improve water security.
Resolving water problems has a key role in the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that should be achieved by 2030. One of the 17 goals is securing access to clean water and sanitation for all.
It is natural for China and the EU to work together to solve "one of the most crucial problems in the future for mankind," Kimmo Tiilikainen, Finnish Minister for Housing, Energy and the Environment, said.
The minister told Xinhua ensuring adequate drinking water supplies and managing wastewater so that the environment was not polluted are key issues.
A GLOBAL OBJECTIVE
Today, more than 1 billion people have difficulty in accessing safe drinking water. A quarter of the world's population faces a dearth of fresh water, and over 14 percent of the global runoff is contaminated. Also, 90 percent of the natural disaster deaths are caused by floods, draughts and typhoons, Chinese Minister of Water Resources Chen Lei said.
Chen said the cooperation on water management is significant to prevent potential water crises from affecting the economy and society. It is necessary to secure the supply of water and food, and the ecology, as well as mitigate the effects of climate change. (Xinhua)