G-8 Summit to Discuss Water, Sanitation Issues
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Tokyo, Dec. 26 (Jiji Press)–Japan will propose talks on steps to ensure water supplies and basic sanitation in developing countries at the upcoming Group of Eight summit to be hosted by the country, government officials said Wednesday.
At the Hokkaido Toyako summit, to be held in July, G-8 leaders are expected to discuss what measures they can take to help the world achieve a U.N. goal of halving the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water or basic sanitation by 2015, the officials said.
A recent report compiled by University of Tokyo Prof. Taikan Oki and other experts predicts that rises in the world’s population and the advance of global warming will have an increasingly negative impact on water resources around the world.
The report stresses the importance of an integrated approach to managing water resources, further transfers of technologies to developing nations, and human resources development.
Based on the report, the Japanese government will start informal exchanges of views with its G-8 partners. The G-8 leaders last discussed water issues at the Evian summit in France in 2003.
Filed by Catherine Tsalikis under Development