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	Today's top news: Occupied Palestinian Territory, Ukraine, Democratic Republic of the Congo by UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)   9 Feb. 2024   Occupied Palestinian Territory   Philippe Lazzarini, the Commissioner General of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), said today that after four months of a brutal war in Gaza, the toll on children is tragic and their future is at stake.   He said that more than half a million girls and boys are out of primary and secondary school in Gaza. Every day of war deepens the scars, risking a lost generation vulnerable to exploitation. Children are being robbed of childhood.   This needs to be reversed, he said, starting with a humanitarian ceasefire.   And Martin Griffiths, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, said that with the Gaza hostilities entering their fifth month, hope is dwindling for the millions of people affected and the humanitarians striving to assist them.   He said that more than half of Gaza’s population is now crammed in Rafah, a town of originally 250,000 people right on Egypt’s doorstep. Their living conditions are abysmal — they lack the basic necessities to survive, stalked by hunger, disease and death. He said he is increasingly concerned about their safety as the war encroaches further into Gaza.   The unprecedented density of Rafah's population makes it nearly impossible to protect civilians in the event of ground attacks.   OCHA says the congestion in Rafah has reached a point where normal routes are blocked by tents set up by families seeking any flat, clean space available. In the last three months, the city has produced the equivalent of a year’s worth of garbage, according to municipal authorities.   OCHA says the scarcity of food, clean water, health services and sanitation facilities have led to preventable diseases and deaths.   The Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Jamie McGoldrick, says that fuel, generators and spare parts are urgently needed to improve people’s access to clean water, noting that the southern Gaza desalination plant is only working at up to 15 per cent of its capacity. Our humanitarian partners estimate that about 100,000 families in Gaza need shelter support, including tents for winter weather and other supplies.   * 1.1 million people in Gaza are projected to face catastrophic levels of food insecurity between March and July 2024, up from 378,000 in December 2023, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification analysis released on 18 March:   http://www.ipcinfo.org/ipcinfo-website/alerts-archive/issue-97/en/ http://news.un.org/en/story/2024/03/1147656 http://www.who.int/news/item/18-03-2024-famine-in-gaza-is-imminent--with-immediate-and-long-term-health-consequences http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/03/gaza-halt-war-now-save-children-dying-imminent-famine-un-committee-warns http://www.unicef.org/emergencies/children-gaza-need-lifesaving-support http://www.unicef.org/press-releases/acute-malnutrition-has-doubled-one-month-north-gaza-strip-unicef http://www.unocha.org/publications/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/mr-ramesh-rajasingham-director-ocha-coordination-division-behalf-under-secretary-general-humanitarian-affairs-and-emergency-relief-coordinator-mr-martin-griffiths-update-food-security-risks-gaza-27-february-2024 http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-briefing-notes/2024/03/fears-over-gaza-catastrophe-brutal-conflict-enters-sixth-month http://interagencystandingcommittee.org/inter-agency-standing-committee/statement-principals-inter-agency-standing-committee-civilians-gaza-extreme-peril-while-world http://www.icrc.org/en/document/statement-gaza-and-israel-president-icrc   Ukraine   Hostilities in the east and south of the country continue to damage civilian infrastructure.   According to national authorities, more than 120 houses and civilian infrastructure facilities, including education institutions and a health facility, were damaged between today and yesterday.   Since February 2022, the World Health Organization has documented 1,555 attacks on health services, impacting healthcare providers, supplies, facilities, warehouses and transport, including ambulances. These attacks also killed 112 civilians, including healthcare workers and patients, and injured many more.   Schools have also been affected, with more than 3,800 schools reportedly damaged or destroyed across the country during the same period. That’s according to the Government.   Our humanitarian colleagues warn that these attacks are also disrupting access to critical health services and education, often in areas heavily affected by the war, where people are already vulnerable, including older persons, children and people with disabilities who rely on assistance.   http://reliefweb.int/report/ukraine/ukraine-42-civilian-casualties-every-day-two-years-war-enuk http://www.ohchr.org/en/statements/2024/02/un-experts-urge-international-community-step-efforts-forge-peace-between-russia http://news.un.org/en/story/2024/02/1146887 http://news.un.org/en/interview/2024/02/1146752 http://www.nrc.no/news/2024/february/ukraine-two-years-on-destruction-and-displacement-the-devastating-impacts-of-the-escalation-of-war-revealed-in-new-nrc-report/ http://www.unhcr.org/news/briefing-notes/full-scale-ukraine-war-enters-third-year-prolonging-uncertainty-and-exile http://www.unicef.org/press-releases/escalation-attacks-infrastructure-leaves-ukraines-children-without-sustained-access http://www.unicef.org/press-releases/ukraine-frontline-children-battling-mental-trauma-underground http://www.unocha.org/news/remember-ukraine-un-relief-chief-urges-attention-country-faces-3rd-year-war-and-occupation http://reliefweb.int/topics/ukraine-humanitarian-crisis   Democratic Republic of the Congo   OCHA is concerned about escalating violence in the Masisi territory in North Kivu province, which is in the east of the country.   Heavy clashes in the town of Sake on 7 February led to the deaths of at least seven people and the displacement of some 17,000 people to Goma, the capital of North Kivu province. That’s according to our humanitarian partners.   In recent months, the fighting has pushed many people from their homes towards Goma, putting additional constraints on humanitarian resources and the city’s ability to accommodate new arrivals with shelter and basic services. Goma is already hosting 500,000 displaced people. Although some have started returning to their homes, the volatile security situation means there is a risk of further displacement.   South Kivu is also impacted by the current crisis in Masisi territory. Since 2 February and according to humanitarian workers on the ground, some 100,000 people fled the region to seek refuge in Minova and Bunyakiri, both in South Kivu.   Despite the security situation and challenges, humanitarian workers are providing aid, including clean water, healthcare, and basic necessities, to displaced people in North Kivu and South Kivu.   http://www.wfp.org/news/drcs-hunger-crisis-deepens-families-once-again-flee-fighting http://www.unhcr.org/news/briefing-notes/unhcr-urges-immediate-action-amid-heightened-risks-displaced-eastern-dr-congo http://www.wfp.org/news/unicef-and-wfp-demand-action-protect-children-and-unfettered-humanitarian-access-eastern-drc http://www.nrc.no/perspectives/2024/hundreds-of-thousands-face-desperate-conditions-as-fighting-surges-in-eastern-dr-congo/ http://www.unhcr.org/africa/news/press-releases/unhcr-urges-protection-civilians-and-aid-access-amid-surging-violence-eastern http://www.icrc.org/en/document/dr-congo-civilians-firing-line-use-heavy-weapons-signals-alarming-new-phase-armed-conflict http://www.icrc.org/en/document/democratic-republic-congo-forgotten-people-north-kivu http://www.wfp.org/stories/eastern-drc-women-and-girls-pay-high-price-ongoing-conflict http://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/conflict-drc-over-hundred-thousand-people-without-clean-water-live-disastrous Visit the related web page
	Unite to protect and conserve our most precious resource - water by UN Water, IFRC, Oxfam, agencies   Mar. 2024   Water can create peace or spark conflict. When water is scarce or polluted, or when people have unequal, or no access, tensions can rise between communities and countries.   More than 3 billion people worldwide depend on water that crosses national borders. Yet, only 24 countries have cooperation agreements for all their shared water.   As climate change impacts increase, and populations grow, there is an urgent need, within and between countries, to unite around protecting and conserving our most precious resource.   Public health and prosperity, food and energy systems, economic productivity and environmental integrity all rely on a well-functioning and equitably managed water cycle.   The theme of World Water Day 2024 is ‘Water for Peace’. When we cooperate on water, we create a positive ripple effect – fostering harmony, generating prosperity and building resilience to shared challenges.   We must act upon the realization that water is not only a resource to be used and competed over – it is a human right, intrinsic to every aspect of life. This World Water Day, we all need to unite around water and use water for peace, laying the foundations of a more stable and prosperous tomorrow.   UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres message for World Water Day:   Action for water is action for peace. And today it is needed more than ever. Our world is in turbulent waters. Conflicts are raging, inequality is rife, pollution and biodiversity loss are rampant, and, as humanity continues to burn fossil fuels, the climate crisis is accelerating with a deadly force – further threatening peace.   Our planet is heating up – seas are rising, rains patterns are changing, and river flows are shrinking. That is resulting in droughts in some regions, and floods and coastal erosion in others. Meanwhile, pollution and overconsumption are imperiling the availability of fresh, clean, accessible water on which all life depends.   Dwindling supplies can increase competition and inflame tensions between people, communities, and countries. That is increasing the risk of conflict.   Water for peace is the theme of this year’s World Water Day. Achieving it relies on far greater cooperation. Today, 153 countries share water resources. Yet only twenty-four have reported cooperation agreements for all their shared water. We must accelerate efforts to work together across borders, and I urge all countries to join and implement the United Nations Water Convention – which promotes managing shared water resources sustainably.   Cooperating to safeguard water can power and sustain peace. Water stewardship can strengthen multilateralism and ties between communities, and build resilience to climate disasters.   It can also drive progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals – which are the foundation of peaceful societies – including by improving health, reducing poverty and inequality, and boosting food and water security. Let’s commit to work together, to make water a force for cooperation, harmony and stability, and so help to create a world of peace and prosperity for all.   Alvaro Lario, UN-Water Chair:   Today, we face a crisis that threatens global wellbeing and stability: 2.2 billion people still live without access to safe water and even more – 3.5 billion people – without safe toilets.   This World Water Day, we must unite around water to make it a tool for peace and a catalyst for progress.   We have just six years left to meet Sustainable Development Goal 6 – water and sanitation for all by 2030. We are dramatically off track.   We must urgently fix the water cycle. Our health and livelihoods, our food and energy, and the very ecosystem we exist within, all depend on it.   Our human rights to water and sanitation are the first line of defence against disease, disaster and destitution. As climate change impacts and populations grow, our cooperation on water will make or break us.   By working together on water, across borders and sectors, we can provide a model for solving all our shared challenges. Water has sustained us since the dawn of life. Now, it can lead us out of crisis. Let us work together to seize the opportunity. We have no time to lose.   http://www.un.org/en/observances/water-day http://www.unwater.org/publications/un-world-water-development-report http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/03/world-water-day http://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/thematic-reports/ahrc5432-fulfilling-human-rights-those-living-poverty-and-restoring http://www.wateraid.org/media/World-1.5c-breach-marks-cataclysmic-failure-in-protecting-the-most-vulnerable http://interconnectedrisks.org/tipping-points/groundwater-depletion http://washmatters.wateraid.org/blog http://www.ids.ac.uk/opinions/the-sanitation-circular-economy-rhetoric-vs-reality/ http://www.wri.org/insights/highest-water-stressed-countries http://www.pik-potsdam.de/en/news/latest-news/increasing-nitrogen-input-could-pollute-water-supply-and-worsen-water-scarcity   Mar. 2024   Water for Peace. International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)   Water is a basic human right and an essential element in maintaining our health and well-being. Still, hundreds of millions of people around the world lack access to safe water. On World Water Day, we join the call of those around the world working to ensure that all people have easy access to this essential ingredient to a safe, healthy and peaceful life.   Calamities such as earthquakes, floods, drought, conflict — even extreme cold weather — often put water out of reach for people, and the livestock and crops they rely on to survive.   Meanwhile, lack of access to clean water and proper sanitation too often results in the spread of infectious diseases such as cholera, diarrhea and E. Coli, among many others.   Water scarcity and insecurity, meanwhile, is increasing worldwide, and so is the recognition of its role as a potential multiplier of instability and conflict.   These are some of the reasons the theme of World Water Day 2024 is ‘Water for Peace.’ Access to wafe water is a game changer for community health, resilience and prosperity. It opens the door to healthier people, more secure food sources and more stable communities. We invite you to join us in working to ensure all people around the world have access to safe water and a healthy, peaceful future.   The IFRC works to ensure that people around the world have equitable, sustainable and affordable access to water, sanitation and hygiene services and knowledge (WASH).   We do so by supporting our 191 National Societies to deliver effective emergency, recovery and long-term WASH programmes. Collectively, we reach over 100 million people with quality water, sanitation and hygiene activities every year.   http://www.ifrc.org/get-involved/campaign-us/world-water-day http://www.ifrc.org/article/joint-statement-millions-risk-cholera-due-lack-clean-water-soap-and-toilets-and-shortage http://www.actionagainsthunger.org/press-releases/cholera-on-rise-new-analysis-finds-only-36-of-2023-world-water-needs-met/ http://www.unicef.org/stories/water-and-climate-change-10-things-you-should-know http://www.unicef.org/topics/water-sanitation-and-hygiene   Mar. 2024   Global water crisis looms yet only one in four of the biggest food and agriculture corporations say they’re reducing water use and pollution. (Oxfam International)   Only 28 percent of the world’s most influential food and agriculture corporations report they are reducing their water withdrawals and just 23 percent say they are taking action to reduce water pollution. Oxfam’s new analysis of 350 corporations using World Benchmarking Alliance data comes ahead of World Water Day (March 22).   The UN, which last year convened the first major conference on water in over 45 years, estimates that 2 billion people do not have safe drinking water, and up to 3 billion people experience water shortages for at least one month each year.   The 350 corporations analyzed, including Carrefour and Avril Group, together account for more than half of the world’s food and agriculture revenue. 70 percent of all freshwater withdrawals are used for agriculture, which is by far the largest water-using sector worldwide. Industrial farming plays a major role in water pollution.   Oxfam’s analysis also found that only 108 of these 350 corporations are disclosing the proportion of withdrawals from water-stressed areas.   “When big corporations pollute or consume huge amounts of water, communities pay the price in empty wells, more costly water bills, and contaminated and undrinkable water sources. Less water means more hunger, more disease and more people forced to leave their homes,” said Oxfam France Executive Director Cecile Duflot.   “We clearly can’t rely on corporations’ goodwill to change their practices —governments must force them to clean up their act, and protect shared public goods over thirst for profit,” said Duflot.   Water and wealth are inextricably linked. Rich people have better access to safe public drinking water —and money to buy expensive private water— while people living in poverty, who often don’t have access to a government-backed water source, spend significant portions of their income to purchase water.   The fast-growing bottled water industry is an example of how corporate giants commodify and exploit water, intensifying inequality, pollution and harm. According to the UN, the multi-billion-dollar bottled water industry is undermining progress toward the key Sustainable Development Goal (SDG6) of providing universal access to safe drinking water.   For two months starting in May 2023, French authorities imposed water use restrictions on thousands of people living in the drought-hit department of Puy-de-Dome, including the commune of Volvic. The restrictions did not apply to Societe des Eaux de Volvic, a subsidiary of French multinational Danone, who during this time continued to extract groundwater to supply its Volvic bottling plant. Danone raked in €881 million in profits in 2023 and paid out €1,238 million to its shareholders.   Rises in global temperatures will further reduce water availability in many water-scarce countries, including across East Africa and the Middle East, because of the increased frequency of droughts, and changes in rainfall patterns and run-off.   Oxfam has seen first-hand how people are facing the daily challenge of accessing safe water sources, spending countless hours queuing or trekking long distances, and suffering the health impacts of using contaminated water.   For example in Renk, a transit camp in South Sudan, more than 300 people are now sharing a single water tap, increasing the risk of cholera and other diseases. Oxfam warned last year that up to 90 percent of water boreholes in parts of Somalia, Northern Kenya and Southern Ethiopia had entirely dried up.   Oxfam is calling on governments to:   Recognize water as a human right and a public good. Profits should not be the priority when it comes to providing water services to people. Hold corporations accountable for abusing and violating human and environmental rights and laws, including water pollution.   Invest in water security, subsidized public water provision, sustainable water management and climate-resilient water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services. National planning and policy around WASH must commit to women’s leadership, participation, and decision-making at all stages.   http://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/global-water-crisis-looms-yet-only-one-four-biggest-food-and-agriculture http://undocs.org/en/A/HRC/55/43 http://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Issues/Water/annual-reports/a-76-159-friendly-version.pdf http://thepeopleswaterforum.org/2023/02/28/water-justice-manifesto/ http://unu.edu/article/how-bottled-water-industry-masking-global-water-crisis http://inweh.unu.edu/un-water-experts-the-world-is-off-track-to-meet-its-sustainable-water-goal-by-2030/ http://theconversation.com/ipcc-report-half-the-world-is-facing-water-scarcity-floods-and-dirty-water-large-investments-are-needed-for-effective-solutions-175578   http://peasantjournal.org/news/working-paper-series-international-conference-on-global-land-grabbing-bogota-colombia/ http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03066150.2024.2317961 http://www.nature.com/articles/s44221-024-00206-9 http://www.water-alternatives.org/index.php/blog/UN2023 http://gi-escr.org/en/our-work/on-the-ground/un-special-rapporteur-on-the-human-rights-to-safe-drinking-water http://gi-escr.org/en/our-work/on-the-ground/water-is-a-public-good-and-a-human-right http://tinyurl.com/52z8kxey http://rightlivelihood.org/news/maude-barlow-tackling-the-water-crisis-is-the-only-way-to-safeguard-people-and-the-planet/   http://waterwitness.org/news-events/2023/3/24/water-witness-comment-on-outcomes-of-un-water-conference http://waterwitness.org/news-events/2023/3/20/new-data-reveals-extent-of-global-north-reliance-on-unsustainable-water-sources http://grain.org/en/article/7039-squeezing-communities-dry-water-grabbing-by-the-global-food-industry http://www.fairplanet.org/story/the-plague-of-water-grabbing-and-its-consequences/ http://www.fian.org/en/publication/article/rights-to-water-and-sanitation-2735 http://www.ids.ac.uk/opinions/covid-19-reveals-and-further-increases-inequalities-in-water-and-sanitation/   * IPCC Sixth Assessment Report: Chapter 4: Water. (2022)   Increases in physical water scarcity are projected, with estimates between 800 million and 3 billion for 2°C global warming and up to approximately 4 billion for 4°C global warming. Projected increases in hydrological extremes pose increasing risks to societal systems globally, with a potential doubling of flood risk between 1.5°C and 3°C of warming and an estimated 120–400% increase in population at risk of river flooding at 2°C and 4°C, respectively. Also projected are increasing risks of fatalities and socioeconomic impacts. Similarly, a near doubling of drought duration and an increasing share of the population affected by various types, durations and severity levels of drought are projected. Increasing return periods of high-end hydrological extremes pose significant challenges to adaptation..   Globally, agriculture is the largest user of water. Risks to agricultural yields due to combined effects of water and temperature changes, for example, could be three times higher at 3°C compared to 2°C, with additional risks as a consequence of increasing climate extremes. In addition, climate-driven water scarcity and increasing crop water demands, including for irrigation, pose additional challenges for agricultural production in many regions. Climate-induced changes in the global hydrological cycle are already impacting agriculture through floods, droughts and increased rainfall variability. Climate change will lead to populations becoming more vulnerable to floods and droughts due to an increase in the frequency, magnitude and total area affected by water-related disasters: http://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/chapter/chapter-4/   http://wmo.int/news/media-centre/climate-change-indicators-reached-record-levels-2023-wmo Visit the related web page
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