UN policies on water must recognise the role of working animals
Senior External Affairs Advisor Anna Marry highlights the huge contribution working animals make to water provision and explains why UN policy needs to reflect this.
There is no life, human, animal or plant, without water. Yet for most of us this statement is just words on paper. Every morning we open the tap or flush the toilet without a second thought – water is simply there, fresh, clean and on demand.
However, for millions of people around the world accessing water is a daily challenge that takes up many hours and requires significant effort. Women and girls have to walk for miles in scorching heat to the water source and then walk back with heavy canisters. Those who are fortunate enough to have a working animal, such as a donkey, can accomplish this task in much less time and effort. Brooke’s research has shown that in Pakistan women who have a donkey can fetch water in around one hour, while those without need as much as four hours. Around Africa, Asia and Latin America working animals carry water enabling communities to drink, cook, wash, and irrigate crops.
Those who have the power, also have the responsibility to recognise working animals for what they are – vital assets that allow millions of people around the world to access water in an increasingly water insecure world.
Due to effects of climate change the world is rapidly becoming water scarce. When drought hits, crops perish, livestock die and the journey to the water source is even longer and more strenuous. Again, those who have a working animal can access water more easily, in larger volumes and over greater distances, making them more resilient in face of climate related disasters.
Yet this vital contribution that working animals make to water provision and drought resilience is practically absent from policy. Recently, Brooke attended the 6th session of the UN Environment Assembly, the world’s highest-level decision making body on environmental issues. Not surprisingly, water and drought were high on the agenda, with two resolutions focusing specifically on these topics. Brooke worked with a number of UNEP member states, including Malawi and Kenya, who immediately came on board because in their countries water access is practically impossible without working animals. Together we advocated for the inclusion of working animals in UNEA resolution on water, and on land degradation and drought. Unfortunately, the references to working animals were removed from the final drafts.
This example is a stark reminder of a persistent disconnect between the reality faced by poor rural communities and what reaches the corridors of power. Policymakers, from the national to the global level, must do a better job of listening to the voices of the world’s most marginalised and vulnerable citizens. To those people, the vital role of working horses, donkeys and mules in water provision is obvious. It is their daily life. Those fortunate enough to be able to take water for granted as it flows freely from the tap, those who have the power, also have the responsibility to recognise working animals for what they are – vital assets that allow millions of people around the world to access water in an increasingly water insecure world.