Water is Life…

 

 

Date of Issue : 3 April 2014 

German post in cooperation with the German Federal Ministry of Finance introduced a new charity stamp from the series “For the Environmental Protection”. Five colored dots forming a plus sign next to the motto “doing good – help with stamps” can be found on all the charity stamps and supplement products. The additional cost of the philatelic products is dedicated to the charity purposes.

Water is Life – it is the motif of this year’s charity stamp For the Environmental Protection. Without water there is no life, no growth and no harvest. It drives turbines and carries the largest ships. From water we produce energy and our waterways are among the lifelines of industry and business. But this natural resource is not only scarce and precious, it is also highly vulnerable . Pollution and contamination of drinking water are among the most pressing health risks.

UNESCO estimates water difficult of access or even unavailable for up to one billion people. Although the blue planet is covered about two-thirds with water – the most however is salty seawater. Drinkable liquid from precipitation, rivers and freshwater lakes makes only 0.6 percent of the total amount of water on Earth. This precious commodity is also uneven distributed geographically and socially. In some regions, people consume and pollute much water, in others they suffer from poor water quality and lack of water.

The lack of access to clean water is the main problem in many countries of the Third World. Almost 80 percent of all diseases in developing countries, such as cholera and severe diarrhea, are due to contaminated drinking water. Between 2 and 3.5 million people die annually on the consequences of poor water supply, according to estimates.