Prospects of collaboration between UNICEF and Iran’s Energy Ministry are promising and the two sides will continue to implement joint projects in the key water sector.
Robin Nandy, the UNICEF representative to Iran, made the statement in a meeting with Mohammad Ali Farahnakian, the energy minister’s advisor for international affairs, in Tehran on Thursday, IRNA reported.
“Our cooperation will be mainly focused on implementation of plans to protect dwindling water resources, supplying water to border areas, purchasing high-tech water-saving equipment and fighting water scarcity in drought-stricken regions,” he added.
The UNICEF official expressed hope that ongoing projects can enter a new phase of development in the shortest possible time with the help of the Energy Ministry.
Nandy submitted his credentials to Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian last September. Prior to his appointment as the representative of UNICEF Iran, Nandy, a medical epidemiologist and public health physician, was the principal adviser and chief of immunization at UNICEF headquarters during Dec. 2015-July 2021 where he was responsible for providing strategic vision and oversight over all aspects of UNICEF’s engagement in the global immunization arena.
The two sides also exchanged views on ways to map out strategies to minimize consumption in water-intensive sectors, such as agriculture and industries, limit extraction of water from underground resources and curb the growing menace of land subsidence.
Farahnakian noted that in June 2020, UNICEF and the Energy Ministry signed a joint work plan on improving Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (Wash) infrastructure for Iranian children, especially during emergencies.
“This first-ever Wash partnership between the two sides was planned to enhance the capacity of the Energy Ministry in efficient management of demand and developing effective resource management techniques in certain districts, to best prepare for and respond to emergency situations with a focus on children’s needs,” he added.
UNICEF supported the ministry in 2019 by procuring water and sewage equipment to rehabilitate the damaged infrastructure in flood-affected provinces. It rehabilitated facilities in 132 schools in the flood affected and deprived areas of Lorestan, Golestan, Khuzestan and Ilam provinces and supported the government in responding to the 2020 flood in Sistan-Baluchestan Province by ensuring access to safe drinking water in 45 flood-hit zones in this underprivileged area.
World Water Council
As the world entered the 21st century, the World Water Council said in a report: “There is a water crisis today. But the crisis is not about having too little water to satisfy our needs. It is a crisis of managing water so badly that billions of people and the environment suffer badly."
Water demand management is a new frontier to achieving a long-term balance between available supply and its use for human development.
There are other effective measures to alleviate the water crisis, some of which are mass media campaign, timely detection of seepage and repairs, establishing efficient regional water markets, penalties for waste and excessive use and privatization.
According to Farahnakian, Iran’s central plateau, encompassing the provinces of Yazd, Isfahan, Kerman and Fars, is reaching a point where the quantity of renewable resources of freshwater cannot meet demand and is impeding economic development.
Access to water and sanitation are recognized by the United Nations as human rights, reflecting the fundamental nature of these basics in every person’s life.
Under international human rights laws, water is protected as a human right. However, in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, water is not explicitly mentioned as a human right.
It was, nevertheless, implied through other human rights, such as the right to life, right to an adequate standard of living and the right to health.
In a meeting with Martin Fisher, operations manager of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in Iran, last month in Tehran, Farahnakian noted that Tehran is keen on using international expertise and cooperating with global organizations to address its worsening water crisis.
“Water paucity has already taken a heavy toll on drought-stricken regions and a large number of farmers are facing serious problems in southern provinces like Khuzestan,” he said.
Expressing concern about the disturbing trends in global warming, the official called for sharing IFRC's experience in this regard.
“Both sides emphasized on expanding educational activities and raising public awareness regarding the challenge of water shortage,” he concluded.
