Water security is the capacity of a population to safeguard sustainable access to adequate quantities of acceptable quality water for sustaining livelihoods, human well-being, and socio-economic development, for ensuring protection against water-borne pollution and water-related disasters, and for preserving ecosystems in a climate of peace and political stability.

THE PROBLEM

Every year more than one million people die due to a lack of access to clean water and inadequate sanitation. Most of the world’s rivers are not suitable for direct human use. 

This imposes large costs on animals and plants, and also on the millions of people that depend on streams and rivers for their water needs.

THE GENEVA ACTIONS ON HUMAN WATER SECURITY

The world needs coordinated, prioritised and funded actions to provide basic water needs, respond to the deterioration of watersheds and aquifers, and correct failures in water governance.  

The time for a dedicated allocation of money and resources, the Global Human Water Security Fund, is now.