Most of the drought-stricken districts are in the south of the country, and their situation is in dramatic contrast to that of the Zambezi valley which has been suffering from severe flooding.
Zacarias noted that the geographical situation of the country renders it vulnerable to water and weather related disasters, such as cyclones, floods and drought.
Faced with such phenomena, Mozambique has to deal with the challenge of designing strategies to enable the country to live with them, as advocated by the United Nations which celebrated World Water Day last week under the theme 'Living with Water Shortages'.
Zacarias said that the fight against water shortages calls for an adequate strategy to manage water resources, a clear vision of the objectives to be attained at every stage, the application and combination of scientific and technological knowledge of the best experiences in the sustainable use of available resources, and infrastructures to retain water and regulate water flows.
He said that although there are still low rates of water supply to people living in the Mozambican countryside, it remains possible to attain the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) that calls for a 50 per cent reduction in the number of people without access to clean water and sanitation by 2015.
He noted, however, that this will only be possible as a result of an effort within the country plus international cooperation. The available data show that Mozambique needs at least 182 million US dollars to respond to the challenge of water supply and sanitation.
The Mozambican government and its partners recently launched the 'One Million' initiative, aiming at speeding up the attainment of the water supply and sanitation Millennium Goal.
With a six year duration, the 'One Million' initiative hopes to supply clean water to a million people in rural areas, through the building of new water sources and the rehabilitation of existing ones, that are no longer functioning.
SOURCE: AIM
