Don’t take soil and water for granted! This is the message that the United Nations tries to convey to the world every year on the occasion of the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought whose slogan for this year is “Enhancing Soils Anywhere Enhances Life Everywhere,” and which is in line with the theme of the 2010 International Year of Biodiversity.

Beirut, 22 March 2019 (ESCWA)--While 51 million people from the Arab region still lacked basic water drinking services, 73% of whom lived in rural areas. This is among the conclusions of the new version of ‘2019 United Nations World Water Development Report” (WWDR 2019) launched today at the regional level by the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) as it marked World Water Day in its Beirut headquarters.
 

The five regional commissions were created by the United Nations in order to fulfil the economic and social goals set out in the Charter by promoting cooperation and integration between countries in each region of the world. Those commissions are: the Economic Commission for Europe (ECE, established in 1947); the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP, 1947); the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC, 1948); the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA, 1958); and the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA, 1973).

ESCWA Executive Secretary yesterday discussed bilateral relations with Syrian Prime Minister Muhammad Naji Otri, examining ways to strengthen and develop them, namely in areas of rehabilitation and training, and also touching on development and service fields. The meeting was an occasion to give an overview for work ESCWA undertakes, in addition to its contribution to building national technological capacities and using them to the best interest of Arab social and economic development.