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Water – a shared responsibility
Ambassador Gil Haskel, Head of MASHAV, Israel’s Agency for International Development Cooperation
M
uch effort has been devoted to identifying a
predominant factor for achieving sustainable
development. In this context, water is the single
most important component of human development. A thirsty
child cannot study properly regardless of the quality of his
school. A thirsty mother cannot care properly for her chil-
dren regardless of the quality of the clinics that are built
around her. A thirsty cow cannot produce sufficient milk and
a thirsty farmer will use his water to quench his children’s
thirst and not to irrigate his crops. Where there is water, all
other development factors follow.
One of the major challenges facing mankind today is
undoubtedly water scarcity and water insecurity. Water
serves as the critical link between adaptation to climate
change, people and the environment, taking into consid-
eration issues such as availability, proximity, quantity and
quality, thus becoming a key factor to attaining food secu-
rity and poverty reduction, and acting as a building block of
socio-economic growth and for creating healthy ecosystems
for all life on earth.
This multidimensional challenge requires taking into
consideration not only access to fresh drinking water and
Improving sustainable livelihoods of communities in arid and semi-arid lands through the introduction of adaptable Israeli water saving and modern irrigation technologies
Image: MASHAV