On the occasion of World Water Day, an awareness event - Walk for the Thirsty – is regularly conducted in Sharjah. I have participated in this event for six years and contributed to spreading awareness about the importance of saving water and reducing food waste.

The events were attended by many school and college students, families and public. I gave a speech as below:

The First World Water Day was celebrated on 22 March 1993. Every year the World Water Day highlights a specific aspect of fresh water.

There are 7 billion people on the planet today and another 2 billion are expected to join by 2050. A billion people in the world already live in chronic hunger.

Most of the water we drink is embedded in the food we eat: producing 1 kilo of wheat drinks up 1,500 litres. Even a cup of coffee needs 140 Litres of Water to make it.

To enable the World to cope with population growth and secure food for every one we all have to follow

- a healthier, sustainable diet

- consume less water-intensive products and

- reduce food waste which is a staggering 30% of the food produced worldwide.

Wasted food is the least recycled solid waste ending in landfill where it rots and produces Greenhouse gases adding to global warming. Seen in a futuristic time scale, our actions in wasting water and wasting food will lead to killing many lives in future generations.

The World is Thirsty because we are hungry. Let us pledge not to waste even a drop of water or a tiny morsel of food. Only by doing this we can provide future generations with precious water and food to sustain their lives.

After this, I read a pledge and was repeated by the participants as below:

I pledge to save

some water every day!

I pledge to save water,

to treat it with care,

never to waste it,

I wouldn’t dare!

I will not pollute it,

I won’t hesitate

to tell other people

of water's sad state.

I pledge to conserve

every drop that I can

every day of the week

That is my plan!

I pledge to save some

Water every day!

This was followed by a Walkathon and we all concluded happily knowing that we contributed our small share for saving water in this great planet.