UN-HABITAT, Coca-Cola team up for providing clean water in Bengal,MP

By Staff
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Google Oneindia News

United Nations, Apr 19 (UNI) The United Nations Human Settlements Programme, known as UN-HABITAT, has signed an agreement with soft drink giant Coca-Cola to collaborate on projects to improve community access to water and sanitation in India and Nepal.

The agreement was signed yesterday in the Kenyan capital Nairobi and details of the deal were made available at UN headquarters in New York.

It includes the setting up of demonstration projects to increase water supply through rainwater harvesting and to better conserve and store water in Madhya Pradesh. In West Bengal, 150 schools will be provided with safe drinking water and sanitation.

Anna Tibaijuka, Executive Director, UN-HABITAT, described the India deal with Coca-Cola as ''an innovative example of how public-private-community partnerships can help meet the challenge of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).'' The goals are a series of eight targets for reducing social and economic ills -- including the halving of the number of people without access to clean water and proper sanitation -- by 2015.

The MDGs were agreed upon at a 2000 summit in which many heads of state and government participated in New York.

Coca-Cola also pledged to improve water management and sanitation in selected urban slums and rural areas of Nepal.

Mrs Tibaijuka, who signed the agreement with Coca-Cola at a ceremony in Nairobi, UN-HABITAT's headquarters and the venue of this week's session of its governing council, said ''clean water and sanitation can make or break human development.'' UNI

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