Havana, Mar 24.- The Director General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco), Irina Bokova, reported today that more than 700 million people globally still remain without access to clean water. According to the official statement, during the years 1990 - 2010, 2,300 million people were able to get access to better drinking water. However, an equal amount of people still lack optimal conditions of sanitation.

The Director General also stressed that the most disadvantaged people, in this regard, are women and girls in emerging economies, where agriculture, industry and cities are developing rapidly.

In addition, she noted that current trends in consumption and water management show that there will not be enough of this resource to meet the growing demand on the planet.

Because of climate change, natural disasters related to water are the most destructive and consequently increase poverty.

Since last year, Unesco promoted several programs to eradicate problems related to shortages of the precious liquid: The International Hydrological Programme for Education on Water in Delft, the World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP) in Perugia, and the meetings of Unesco departments specializing in water.

The theme for World Water Day is 'Water and Sustainable Development', and the emphasis is the importance of this exhaustible resource for the development of the human species as well as agriculture and the economy.