UN Secretary-General launches the "Sustainable Sanitation: Five-Year Drive to 2015"
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, along with UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake, Ugandan Minister of Water & Environment the Hon. Maria Mutagamba, and His Royal Highness the Prince of Orange, on 21st June 2011 launched the "Sustainable Sanitation: Five-Year Drive to 2015", a push to speed up progress on the Millennium Development Goal target of improving global sanitation by 2015.

The Millennium Development Goals include a target of halving, by 2015, the proportion of the population without sustainable access to basic sanitation. With 2.6 billion people - half of the population in developing regions - still without access to improved sanitation, the target is lagging far behind, and without urgent and concerted action globally it will be out of reach. To read more, click here.

UN’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Report
Advances in sanitation has also often bypassed the poor and those living in rural areas, with more than 2.6 billion people still lacking access to toilets or other forms of improved sanitation. In Southern Asia, for example, sanitation coverage for the poorest 40 per cent of households hardly increased between 1995 and 2008. To read full report, click here.

NEWAH's Umesh Pandey elected to WSSCC’s Steering Committee
Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC) recently conducted an election for the vacant South Asia seat on the governing Steering Committee. The winner of the election was Umesh Pandey, Director of Nepal Water for Health (NEWAH). Mr. Pandey is one of the initiators to establish WASH resource centre network in Nepal. Water, Sanitation and Hygiene-Resource Centre Network Nepal (WASH-RCNN) would like to congratulate him for his election to this position. To learn more, click here.

LUMANTI joined WASH-RCNN
LUMANTI has joined WASH-RCNN team. LUMANTI - support group for shelter is a non-government organization dedicated to the alleviation of urban poverty in Nepal through the improvement of shelter conditions. LUMANTI was registered in 1993 as a non-profit making organization. To learn more about LUMANTI, click here.

1. Sustainable sanitation services and sustained behaviour change
2. Equity – reaching the poor and vulnerable
3. Effective monitoring for change and improved planning

Deadline for submission of abstracts: 14 Aug. 2011

Further information and submission of abstracts: dhaka2012@irc.nl

9th Annual Youth Assembly at the United Nations
August 3-5, 2011, New York, United States

The annual gathering of hundreds of young people from around the world who seek practical ways to contribute to the achievement of Millennium Development Goals by global networking and social entrepreneurship will be held in New York from August 3-5, 2011. For details, click here.

Depleting groundwater resource inside the valley!

Nature, that provides us unbound resources and shelter, sometimes resorts to unprecedented backlashes. This though, is only after we humans have harnessed the very resources to a degree where the natural cycle of using and replenishing is broken. In a prime example of such imbalance, the groundwater level in Kathmandu valley is decreasing in an alarming rate. The aquifers, that have been quenching the thirst of the valley dwellers for centuries are running dry. The problems are however multi faceted. Health hazards like groundwater contamination and environmental problems like land subsidence pose a serious threat to the valley population and its ecology in general. While our concerns are of paramount importance, our efforts to negate the threats look far less of a cry.

Article by: Navin Adhikari, Reporter, The Kathmandu Post.
E-mail: adhnavin@hotmail.com

Click here to read full article.

Singha Durbar declared polythene bags free area
On the occasion of World Environment Day celebrated every year on June 5, the government of Nepal declared Singha Durbar, the prime administrative centre of the government, a polythene bags free area. Prime Minister Jhala Nath Khanal made the announcement stating that the non-bio-degradable bags thinner than 20 micron and other plastic-made goods will be banned inside the Singha Durbar premise. For more details, please click here.

4th edition of the WASH Media Awards-2011-2012 announced
The Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC) and the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) has announced the fourth edition of the WASH Media Awards-2011-2012, opened to journalists who publish or broadcast original investigative stories and reports on water supply, sanitation or hygiene (WASH) related issues. Click here to apply and get more information.