Water cooperation has many dimensions, including cultural, educational, scientific, religious, ethical, social, political, legal, institutional and economic aspects. It includes a need for a common understanding of what the needs and challenges are around water. The campaign for the World Water Day 2013, coordinated by UNESCO in cooperation with UNECE and with the support of UNDESA, UNW-DPAC, UNW-DPC, on behalf UN-Water, will focus attention on the importance of freshwater and advocating for the sustainable management of freshwater resources. The first World Water Day was held in 1993.

WATCH: 6 Words For the Planet; What Are Yours?

There are 3.5 million deaths every year from water-related disease and nearly 884 million people lack access to safe water supplies. That is why Water.org – a favorite charity of many celebrities, including Justin Bieber – is looking for innovative solutions to the crisis. Watch Gary White, CEO of Water.org, talk to genConnect about how we can use innovation to solve the global water crisis: 

WATCH: Be the Change That Saves a Life, With Dr. Richard Besser 

“There needs to be new ways of thinking about this,” explains White, who co-founded the organization with actor Matt Damon.”Yet in the United States, we’ve known how to make water safe for more than 100 years,” White added.

“Imagine if we solved the HIV/AIDs crisis and 100 years from now, there was still a child dying every 20 seconds from water-related disease. That would be unacceptable,” he continued. “And yet in the water sector, we’ve kind of grown accustomed to the fact that this problem is there and the charity alone isn’t going to get it done. We have to leverage markets, we have to look at innovation.”

Watch White talk about how Water.org‘s WaterCredit program is helping the poor in underdeveloped countries access micro-loans to obtain fresh water, below:

“Anytime you can combine the power with celebrity with a genuine solution and really core expertise in the social sector, that’s very powerful,” White says.

WATCH: PepsiCo Helps Farmers Do More, Use Less 

In December 2010, the United Nations General Assembly declared 2013 as the United Nations International Year of Water Cooperation to raise awareness, both on the potential for increased cooperation, and on the challenges facing water management in light of the increase in demand for water access, allocation and services. The Year will highlight the history of successful water cooperation initiatives, as well as identify burning issues on water education, water diplomacy, transboundary water management, financing cooperation, national/international legal frameworks, and the linkages with the Millennium Development Goals. It also will provide an opportunity to capitalize on the momentum created at the U.N. Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), and to support the formulation of new objectives that will contribute towards developing water resources that are truly sustainable.

• For more daily expert updates, follow genConnect on Twitter and Facebook.
• To stay on top of the latest contributions from experts: Sign Up for genConnect.

Watch genConnect’s interview with Gary White below: 

WATCH: We Need ‘New Ways of Thinking’ About Water Crisis

During the past few years, WaterCredit has allowed Water.org to connect microfinance institutions to communities in developing countries in need of water connections to their homes, which provide clean water and functioning toilets. Small loans are then made to individuals and households. As loans are repaid – they typically are repaid over two or three years – they can be redeployed to additional people in need of safe water, reducing the need for subsidies, which can then be freed up to help those who need it most. Water.org has about a 97 percent loan repayment rate.

The PepsiCo Foundation recently gave Water.org am $8 million grant to grow this micro loan program to scale in India, giving the organization the ability to reach about 800,000 people in need of fresh water in that country alone.

“What we’re doing is help nudge the micro finance toward something they hadn’t really considered before, and that is loans for access to water and to toilets,” White said.

WATCH: 6 Words For the Planet; What Are Yours?

Follow us on:

• Twitter @genConnect
• Facebook
• Google +
• genConnect.com

WATCH: 6 Words For the Planet; What Are Yours?

“There needs to be new ways of thinking about this,” explains White, who co-founded the organization with actor Matt Damon.”Yet in the United States, we’ve known how to make water safe for more than 100 years,” White added.

“Imagine if we solved the HIV/AIDs crisis and 100 years from now, there was still a child dying every 20 seconds from water-related disease. That would be unacceptable,” he continued. “And yet in the water sector, we’ve kind of grown accustomed to the fact that this problem is there and the charity alone isn’t going to get it done. We have to leverage markets, we have to look at innovation.”

WATCH: Be the Change That Saves a Life, With Dr. Richard Besser

genConnect was credentialed press at the 2012 Aspen Ideas Festival in Aspen, Colo., where we interviewed the premier speakers and attendees at the conference. For more of our video interviews and articles from the Ideas Festival, click here.

Follow us on:

• Twitter @genConnect, or @aifestival #AspenIdeas
• Facebook
• Google +
• genConnect.com