In honor of the 20th World Water Day, Korea's ambition to be a green country proclaimed
The special week (19-23 March) will see a campaign for cleaning up waterside areas nationwide
The Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs (MLTM, Minister: Do-youp Kwon) and the Ministry of Environment (MOE, Minister: Young-sook Yoo) will jointly hold a ceremony for the 20th World Water Day on Thursday, March 22, 2012 at 10am at the Grand Ballroom of KINTEX, Ilsan, participated by Prime Minister Hwang-sik Kim, officials from relevant government ministries, civic groups, and academics, totaling around 800 guests.
* The World Water Day: in 1992 at the 47th UN General Assembly, the World Water Day was designated on the 22nd of March annually, in order to remember the importance of water and prevent water pollution and water scarcity, which are becoming exacerbated with the passage of time. From 1993, governments worldwide have been holding ceremonies and related water events on that day.
The UN proclaimed as this year's theme, the "Water and Food Security: the world is thirsty because we are hungry," with a subtheme of "Safe Water against Climate Change."
* The phrase, "the world is thirsty because we are hungry" was adopted in the sense that the world needs to be prepared for the lack of water and food resources as the water spent on agriculture rises rapidly compared the actual consumption of water as drinking water, raising a red flag as to a need for a response measure to be established immediately.
Capitalizing on this year's Water Day event, the government of Korea aims to remind the public about the importance of water and proclaim its vision of becoming a world-class green country in the 21st century.
The Korean government has been committed to its goal of water management, by carrying out the Four Major Rivers Restoration Project, whose outcomes will be expanded to smaller rivers so that the positive outcomes of the Four Rivers Project could be manifested in other areas, such as water scarcity alleviation, water disaster prevention, and quality water supply, which will produce great benefits that can be shared by the general public. Also, the MLTM will help Korean water companies make inroads into overseas markets, suggesting a new way for the Korean water industry to march forward in the future.
Furthermore, at the Ceremony, the Prime Minister and the Vice Minister of the MLTM will,
Swear an oath of deeper devotion to water issues in public, reaffirming their determination to lead the way toward water protection against climate change. And at the same time, the government will award 16 honorees for their contribution to water issues. The honorees were selected from both the public and private sectors.
The MLTM, MOE, and other relevant public institutes and local municipal government agencies will set the entire month of March as the World Water Day Promotion Period, so that river restoration campaigns, academic seminars, exhibitions, and other various events will take place, in order to raise the public's awareness on water issues. By promoting the importance of water to the public, the government will garner the public's support on water issues.
* An environment marathon event will take place on March 24, and "I-love-water" art work exhibition will start on the 19th and end on the 22nd of March at the visitors' center of the Government Complex Gwacheon. The 2012 Korea Water Prize will be held on the 22nd of March, and "I-love-water" campaign and Korean river information sessions that provide hands-on experience will take place as well during the week.
In particular, the MLTM notes that in honor the World Water Day, the nationwide waterside cleaning special week (19-23 March) will be designated, as the areas near the four major rivers and the relevant sub-rivers and streams will go through a beautification process with volunteers picking up garbage around the areas. There is a special headquarters dedicated to this campaign and there are a number of sub agencies under the Korean government that are participating in this campaign. A total of 11,000 people nationwide will take part in this series of events to clean up the vicinity river areas in an effort to combat water pollution.