BUDAPEST, Nov. 21 -- Hungarian President Janos Ader sponsored the issue of a commemorative postal stamp on Monday, to mark the Budapest Water Summit of which he is chief patron, set to begin in a week's time.
Ader warned that accessible fresh water made up only 0.007 percent of the overall water on Earth, and that we were regularly polluting even that amount. Meanwhile, he pointed out, the population of the planet was increasing.
Ader said that we have only 15 or 20 years to prevent a global water shortage which, he argued, would stifle food production, industrial development, environmental sustainability, and global health, while triggering political conflicts.
The summit is expected to focus on how the political decision-making process, capital, science, and technology are all interconnected with the non-governmental sphere when it comes to achieving a sustainable water management system.
Ader noted that the recommendations of a Water Summit held in Budapest in 2013 were included in the sustainability goals issued by the United Nations, and voiced the view that the latest Budapest Water Summit, scheduled for Nov. 28-30, 2016, would most likely be just as successful.
Heads of state and government, as well as representatives of global organizations and financial institutions are expected to attend.
The stamp, issued as a commemorative block with a face value of 400 forints (1.37 U.S. dollars) was designed by artist Anita Laczko and portrays a unique bird shaped from droplets of water rising above a water surface.