Over one billion people live near water that is unhealthy to drink. Rural communities suffer most because they lack the resources to improve the quality of contaminated water. Over two million people in developing countries, mostly children, die each year from preventable diseases associated with a lack of safe drinking water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene.

A new project sponsored by the United Nations Cyberschoolbus—“Pumped Up for Peace”—seeks to rally teachers and students around the world to raise money to build water filtering systems and pumps. The native community of Huacaria, located in the Amazon rain forest in Peru, is the first such community helped by the project. The new Cyberschoolbus site brings into the equation an in-depth investigation of indigenous peoples, water-related health issues and the environment.

The following relevant articles have been selected from past issues of the UN Chronicle and its online edition. Please visit the E-Alert archive for coverage of other important global issues.

Issue 4, 2003

• Indigenous People: Opening the First Door to the UN
  Biko Nagara
  

• http://www.cyberschoolbus.un.org/pufp/peru/about.asp
  
  
• http://www.unesco.org/water/wwap/
  
  
• http://www.unesco.org/water/wwap/wwdr2/index.shtml
  
  
• http://ioc.unesco.org/igospartners/em18.htm
  
  
• http://www.paho.org/
  
  
• International Year of Freshwater 2003
  

These stories and more can be found at UN Chronicle Online at www.un.org/chronicle.

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