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United Nations, March 24 (PTI) India has pledged to invest more than $240 billion in the water sector and is implementing the world’s largest dam rehabilitation program as well as efforts to restore groundwater levels, Minister Jal Shakti Gajendra Singh Shekhawat told the United Nations.
Speaking at the UN Water Conference 2023 on Thursday, Shekhawat highlighted India’s ongoing ambitious plans and efforts to ensure water security and achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 of providing clean water for all and sanitary facilities.
“We have committed to invest more than $240 billion in the water sector through government resources, in partnership with private innovators, start-ups and water user associations. India is implementing two flagship missions to ensure universal access to sanitation and drinking water,” Shekhawat said in said in a national statement at the United Nations General Assembly.
India is implementing the world’s largest dam rehabilitation program to build critical water storage infrastructure for climate change resilience, he said. Moreover, India is one of the largest users of groundwater in the world due to the country’s unique geography.
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“Today, however, we are working to restore groundwater levels and create conscious communities by combining demand and supply-side interventions through village water safety programs, instilling behavioral change about water use and conservation at the grassroots level, and by incentivizing and funding these programs now Planned integration,” he added, leading to greater community ownership in equitable water management at the local level.
Speaking at the conference, Shekhawat said India’s ambitious national mission to clean the Ganges, or Namami Gange, was recently recognized by the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity COP15 in Montreal as one of the top 10 world restoration flagships to revitalize the natural world.
“This mission creates a paradigm shift in river revitalization, pollution abatement, ecosystem protection and holistic approaches to river basin management,” he said.
In this regard, Arth Ganga serves as a model for a circular economy, fully in line with SDGs 6.3 and 6.6 and 6(b), creating environmentally friendly sustainable resource management practices by local communities to ensure water security.
He highlighted that the government’s ‘Jal Jeevan Mission’ or Water Life Mission aims to achieve safe and affordable drinking water in rural households by 2024 and manage their own village water supply systems.
“We are committed to successfully implementing this ambitious $50 billion plan in mission mode as we prepare to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 6.1 by 2030,” he said, referring to achieving universal and equitable access to security and affordable Affordable drinking water target by 2030.
He further stated that India’s Swachh Bharat Mission or Clean India Mission milestone was reached in 2019 when the country was declared free of open defecation.
“As we work towards SDG 6.2, we have built more than 105 million toilets since 2014 and changed hygiene habits by changing the behavior of more than 600 million Indians at scale.”
The movement continues its efforts to ensure sustainable solid and liquid waste management solutions across all 600,000 villages and communities in India. The SGD 6.2 target aims to achieve adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all and end open defecation for all by 2030, with particular attention to the needs of women and girls and vulnerable groups.
He pointed out that at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Prime Minister Narendra Modi introduced the concept of LiFE or “Environmental Lifestyles”.
This concept was translated into an agenda for action as UN Secretary-General António Guterres and Prime Minister Modi launched “Mission Life” in October 2022.
“The initiative aims to encourage people to choose sustainable choices that benefit the planet in their daily lives, to live sustainably and reduce our environmental footprint, and is driven by the concept of ‘reduce, reuse and recycle’.”
Emphasizing that water is at the heart of Mission LiFE, Shekhawat called on all delegates to successfully adopt Mission LiFE in this International Decade of Action on Water.
The United Nations Water Conference 2023 – officially known as the Midterm Comprehensive Review of the Implementation of the United Nations Decade of Action on Water and Sanitation (2018-2028) in 2023 – is currently taking place at United Nations Headquarters.
The March 22-24 meeting, co-hosted by Tajikistan and the Netherlands, will produce a summary of the UN General Assembly president’s minutes, which will be presented to the 2023 meeting of the UN High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development.
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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