The talk with present the key results of the IPCC Working Group III 5th assessment report. Concluding four years of intense scientific collaboration by hundreds of authors from around the world, the report responds to the request of the world's governments for a comprehensive, objective and policy neutral assessment of the current scientific knowledge on mitigating climate change. The report has been extensively reviewed by experts and governments to ensure quality and comprehensiveness.

Climate change 2014 - Mitigation of climate change

Climate change 2014 - Synthesis Report

4. UNHCR notes with concern that although the country acceded to the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol in 1999, incorporation of the 1951 Convention obligations into national legislation and normative acts has been slow and to date Kazakhstan has failed to comply with its obligation to give full effect to the Covenant in the domestic legal order, inter alia providing for effective judicial and other remedies for violations of these rights

United Nations High Commission for Refugees

The United Nations Children's Fund, or UNICEF, was originally created to provide relief for children in countries devastated by the destruction of World War II. After 1950, UNICEF turned to focus on general programs for the improvement of children's welfare worldwide, and in 1965, it was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace for its humanitarian efforts. The organization concentrates on areas in which relatively small expenditures can have a significant impact on the lives of the most disadvantaged children in developing countries, such as the prevention and treatment of disease, child healthcare, malnutrition, illiteracy, and other welfare services.

The United Nations Children's Fund

‘Water is life,’ so central to human life, yet over one billion people across the world have no access to safe drinking water. Of late, there has been increasing global attention focused on resolving water quality problems especially in developing countries, as the lack of access to clean water denies the most essential of all rights, the right to life. The latest estimates suggest that around 200 million people, from among 25 nations the world over, are under the dreadful fate of fluorosis. India and China, the two most populous countries of the world, are the worst affected. India is plagued with numerous water quality problems due to prolific contaminants mainly of geogenic origin and fluoride stands first among them. The weathering of primary rocks and leaching of fluoride-containing minerals in soils yield fluoride rich groundwater in India which is generally associated with low calcium content and high bicarbonate ions. The unfettered ground water tapping exacerbates the failure of drinking water so...

Fluoride in Drinking Water: A Review on the Status and Stress Effects

Sufficient quantities of water for household use, including for drinking, food preparation and hygiene, are needed to protect public health and for well-being and prosperity.



This second edition reviews the evidence about the relationships between water quantity, water accessibility and health. The effects of water reliability, continuity and price on water use, are also covered. Updated guidance, including recommended targets, is provided on domestic water supply to ensure beneficial health outcomes.

/pdf/domestic-water-quantity-service-level-and-health-57uzgl6aqs.pdf

Domestic water quantity, service level and health

The most effective means of consistently ensuring the safety of a drinking-water supply is through the use of a comprehensive risk assessment and risk management approach that encompasses all steps in water supply from catchment to consumer. In these Guidelines such approaches are called water safety plans (WSPs). The aim of this Manual is to provide that practical guidance to facilitate WSP development focusing particularly on organized water supplies managed by a water utility or similar entity. (Excerpts)

Water safety plan manual: Step-by-step risk management for drinking-water suppliers.

Risk factors contributing to microbiological contamination of shallow groundwater in Kampala, Uganda.

Annette Davison, Water Futures, Dundas Valley, Australia, Guy Howard, DFID Bangladesh, United House, 10 Gulshan Avenue, Gulshan 1, Dhaka 1212, Bangladesh Melita Stevens, Melbourne Water, Melbourne, Australia Phil Callan, National Health and Medical Research Council, Woden, Australia Lorna Fewtrell, Centre for Research into Environment and Health, Aberystwyth, Wales Dan Deere, Water Futures, Dundas Valley, Australia Jamie Bartram, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland

Water safety plans: managing drinking-water quality from catchment to consumer

Protecting drinking-water resources is the first barrier against pathogens and substances hazardous to health. Practitioners in drinking-water supply or surveillance - from the local and technical level up to senior management - have a key role in initiating collaboration with other sectors, such as environment, land-use planning, or agriculture towards safeguarding drinking-water sources. Protecting Groundwater for Health provides a structured approach to analysing hazards to groundwater quality, assessing the risk they may cause for a specific supply, setting priorities in addressing these, and developing management strategies for their control. For health professionals, it thus is a tool for access to environmental information needed for such a process, and for professionals from other sectors, it gives a point of entry for understanding health aspects of groundwater management. This book presents tools for developing strategies to protect groundwater for health by managing the quality of drinking-water sources. Section I covers the natural science background needed to understand which pathogens and chemicals are relevant to human health, how they are transported in the sub-surface and how they may be reduced, removed or retarded. Section II provides guidance for compiling information needed to characterise the drinking-water catchment area in order to assess health hazards potentially reaching groundwater. Section III provides conceptional guidance on prioritising both hazards and management responses. Section IV provides an overview of the potential management actions that may be taken to protect drinking-water sources. These begin with their integration into a comprehensive Water Safety Plan that covers all supply steps from catchment to consumer. Section V provides an overview of measures to prevent pollution from human activities in the catchment, beginning with the overarching issues of policy, land-use planning and implementation for protecting groundwater. Overviews are presented of the specific management approaches that help avoid groundwater pollution from the range of human activities in the catchment, i.e. agriculture, sanitation practices, industry, mining, military sites, waste disposal and traffic.

Guy Howard

Papers

Domestic water quantity, service level and health

Water safety plan manual: Step-by-step risk management for drinking-water suppliers.

Risk factors contributing to microbiological contamination of shallow groundwater in Kampala, Uganda.

Water safety plans: managing drinking-water quality from catchment to consumer

Protecting Groundwater for Health: Managing the Quality of Drinking-water Sources