Green Economy Journal Issue 41

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WATER WASH on, WASH off The provision of safe water, sanitation and hygienic (WASH) conditions are imperative in human health protection during all infectious disease outbreaks, including Covid-19. Ensuring steadily applied WASH practices in all avenues of life will further prevent the transmission of the coronavirus. Understanding how governments are addressing hygiene is critical during the pandemic. 20 greeneconomy.media
WATER Less than 1% of the world’s freshwater (or about 0.007% of all water on earth) is readily accessible for direct human use. More than 40% (783-million people) in sub-Saharan Africa do not have access to an improved source of drinking water. More than one-third of the world’s population – roughly 2.4-billion people – lives in water-stressed regions and this number is expected to rise. 3.6-million people die each year from water-related diseases and 98% of water-related deaths occur in the developing world. 884-million people lack access to safe water supplies – approximately one in eight people. In July, Minister Lindiwe Sisulu participated on the virtual 2020 High- Level Political Forum (HLPF) special event of the official launch of the SDG 6 global acceleration framework. The forum was themed: “Showcasing of stakeholder commitments on accelerating progress on SDG 6”. Minister Sisulu joined several other ministers from across the globe in a forum that was co-chaired by Gilbert F. Houngbo, Chairperson of the UN-Water and Liu Zhenmin, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs. During the online engagement, Minister Sisulu outlined South Africa’s country planning, implementation and knowledge sharing for SDG 6 while supporting country response to the Covid-19 pandemic. She expressed that when the SDGs were developed, the world did not foresee a crisis of the magnitude presented by Covid-19. She further highlighted the strides South Africa has made in achieving the SDGs. “Like many countries, South Africa has made great strides since 1994 when only 50.4% of all households had access to an acceptable form of sanitation service and 55.1% had a reliable water supply service, to 2019 when sanitation services increased to 79% of households and 88%,” said Minister Sisulu. She maintained that in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, her Ministry established a water-specific, national command centre based at Rand Water Board, one of the entities reporting to the Ministry. The command centre is where all water supply initiatives across the country are coordinated to ensure that the basic service of supplying water is achieved. Minister Sisulu said that to date, over 740-million litres of water has been transported to fill water tanks distributed across the country, at an average of 10.31-million litres per day. She added that R1.4 billion was set aside for sustainable water services. The funds are meant to address the backlog mainly created by the unforeseen growth in population and the unintended consequence of economic growth which saw a parallel increase in urbanisation. 884-million people lack access to safe water supplies – approximately one in eight people. greeneconomy.media 21
Page 1 and 2: Economy G r e e n journal Issue 41
Page 3 and 4: Issue 41 | 2020 G r e e n Economy j
Page 5 and 6: YOU SEE USED BOTTLES. COLLECTORS SE
Page 7 and 8: News & Snippets SUSTAINABLE DEVELOP
Page 9 and 10: SPECIAL REPORT Georgina Smit Head o
Page 11 and 12: SPECIAL REPORT Yovka Raytcheva-Scha
Page 13: INFRASTRUCTURE GBCSA and the Green
Page 16 and 17: GROWTH REFORMS Government plans to
Page 18 and 19: ENERGY Bringing all your resources
Page 20 and 21: PROFILE Continuity of essential ser
Page 24 and 25: WATER Effective water resources man
Page 26 and 27: MINING Lessons learned Creating an
Page 28 and 29: PRODUCER RESPONSIBILITY ORGANISATIO
Page 30 and 31: AIR REDUCE CARBON EMISSIONS NOW NMI
Page 32 and 33: ENERGY Load-shedding sheds light on
Page 34: SECURE SAVE SUSTAIN STYLE environme

Green Economy Journal Issue 41

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