Also, in the northern part of China, it is said that the groundwater level has
dropped 30 meters due to excess purnping of water. Water levels have also gone
down in the breadbasket regions of the world such as the American Midwest and
the Punjab Region of India and Pakistan and seriously affecting their agricult
ural production. In the Punjab plains, mixture of salt into the underground wa
ter, and is resulting in serious damage to agricultural production. All of the
se incidents are attributed to excessive use of fresh-water to meet the increa
se in demand.
While it is necessary to conserve the forest resources in order to recharge an
d secure the fresh water resource, these forest resources are also facing risk
from industrialization and population pressure. The water issue is therefore s
erving as constraints for the future of humanity in such a significant way. Th
is water problem not only affects us in terms of global environment and food,
but asserts strong and direct impact on the resolution of the population probl
ems.
One of the main agreements reached at the International Conference on Populati
on and Development, which was held in Cairo in 1994, was that we have to creat
e an environ-ment for realizing reproductive health in order to solve the popu
lation problem. There Is a physical aspect and a social aspect to such environ
ment for realizing reproductive health-and water has great significance in the
physical aspect.
The most important requirement for realizing reproductive health would be the
availabil-ity of clean and hygienic water because this availability of clean a
nd hygienic water is indispensable in reducing infant mortality rate.
It is not possible to pass over the water issue in the course of our effort to
solve the popu-lation problem, which is placing burden on the earth and puttin
g pressure on the future of humanity. Neither can we cope with the pressure of
population increase without coming to grips with this issue. Despite its impor
tance, water problem has hardly ever been approached from a comprehensive poin
t of view.
This Kobe Conference will mark the first international conference - and the fi
rst parlia-mentary conference in particular - that will be held for comprehens
ive discussion of "Population, Water Resource and Development." Such discussio
n is essential for re-flecting upon on the actions of the humanity and creatin
g a promising future, and it is of great significance that this epoch-making c
onference will be held here in Kobe. I sin-cerely hope that the active discuss
ion that will take place at this conference will produce fruitful results.
I would like to express sincere apologies for not being able to attend this co
nference be-cause of an urgent trip I had to make to Korea. Thank you very muc
h for your kind at-tention.
