2002 Stockholm Statement: Urgent action needed for water security: Recommendations from the Stockholm Water Symposia, 1998-2002

Water on our planet. The Development Target set by the UN Millennium Assembly is to halve by 2015 the proportion of people living in extreme poverty, suffering from hunger or unable to reach or afford safe drinking water. It will not be possible to achieve these goals unless governments realize that water is fundamental for almost any kind of development and human activity. Something must be fundamentally wrong when enormous interests and financial resources are engaged in finding water on other planets while we pay insufficient attention to water on our planet on which humanity's survival and quality of life genuinely depend. While part of the explanation may be the commonplace character of water in most industrialized countries, it should be stressed that the majority of the low income countries with large undernutrition are located in the dry climate tropics where daily access to water is every-one's number one priority.