BEIJING, March 20 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- Students from Sichuan and Xinjiang's remote rural areas will soon be able to wash their hands after using newly installed sanitary toilets in their local schools. This is an example of what a joint initiative titled "Water Resources Management and Drinking Water Safety in Rural Regions of China" wishes to achieve.
     
The announcement was made today launching the first public-private partnership to improve water access and sanitation between the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Ministry of Water Resources (MWR), China International Center for Economic and Technical Exchange (CICETE) under the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) and The Coca-Cola Company.

    Today, the partners, representing different pillars of society, jointly announced a collaborative project to address pressing water issues in four water stressed provinces: Sichuan, Heilongjiang, Xinjiang and Liaoning.

    This four-year, 6.792 million US$ joint project aims to improve policy mechanisms by demonstrating a series of sound water resource management approaches on water rights management, water resources allocation as well as drinking water safety technologies, such as rebuilding of drainage pipelines and ecologically sustainable agricultural technologies for water conservation.

    "We hope to achieve these improvements for the poor and the children.  We hope we can achieve a heightened awareness at national, provincial, country and community levels of utilizing the technologies and practices and we hope to achieve succinct implementation of waterborne disease control, pollution control and environmental sustainability," said Khalid Malik, United Nations Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in China.

    By August, the project will set up pilots in four primary schools in rural Sichuan and Xinjiang provinces where basic sanitation such as clean toilet do not yet exist and students must cope without access to safe and sufficient drinking water. Significant efforts will be made to improve conditions in schools, in forms of installing sanitary toilets and applying health education and technical training on school health management in hopes to reduce the incidence of waterborne diseases and raise hygiene awareness and education amongst primary school students. 

    The partners share the common belief that the strength of the partnership lies in collaboration -- together the partners can go the distance that one party cannot go alone. 

    "The health of our business is directly linked to the health of the environment -- sustainable growth needs sustainable communities.  Water is our most important ingredient and more urgently than ever before, we need to work together -- governments, civil society and businesses - to achieve water sustainability," said Paul Etchells, Deputy Group President of the Pacific Group, The Coca-Cola Company. 

    During the launching ceremony, Coca-Cola's "Environmental Champion", Wang Lee Hom, made a surprise guest appearance with two Xinjiang students from a pilot school. Together with partnership representatives, Wang Lee Hom and the students officially launched the project, turning on water taps to signify water access for the communities and schools in the project pilot sites.  

    Reflecting on personal anecdotes, Wang Lee Hom urged the attendees to accept a personal social responsibility to help improve water and sanitation conditions by starting with our local communities. To support these efforts, a series of Water Pins, developed by The Coca-Cola Company, made of the Bird's Nest steel from the National Stadium will be available to the public for purchase.  5 RMB of every pin purchase will directly go to the project to improve water access for rural schools in China. These Water Pins are currently available at the official Olympic Commemorative Pin Center at Gongmei Building, Wangfujing, Beijing. Additional official pin trading centers will be opened on the Olympic Greens, at the Olympic Village and other retail channels. 

    About UNDP

    UNDP fosters human development to empower women and men to build better lives in China. As the UN's development network, UNDP draws on a world of experience to assist China in developing its own solutions to the country's development challenges. Through partnerships and innovation, UNDP works to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and an equitable Xiao Kang society by reducing poverty, strengthening the rule of law, promoting environmental sustainability, and fighting HIV/AIDS.   http://www.undp.org.cn

    About The Coca-Cola Company

    The Coca-Cola Company is the world's largest non-alcoholic beverage company.  Along with the Coca-Cola(R) trademark, recognized as the world's most valuable brand, the Company markets four of the world's top five nonalcoholic sparkling beverage brands, including Diet Coke(R), Fanta(R) and Sprite(R) beverages, and a wide range of other non-alcoholic beverages, including diet and light beverages, waters, juices and juice drinks, teas, coffees, energy and sports drinks. For more information about The Coca-Cola Company, please visit our website at http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com.



SOURCE  UNDP China