Session Two - Water and Waste

Discussion

Ms Lotte Reimer, President, Zimbabwe Institution of Engineers :

I picked up a phrase that said, 'unless we live, environment is of no use'. I think we have to be careful with the kind of attitude that a lot of our politicians take particularly in developing countries. I think that in most places politicians are unhappy and very careful about not being voted out and therefore they very often take short term solutions and one of the things that I have heard several times is, 'we must put people before environment'. Now if we put people before environment, we are not going to get very far. Putting people before environment means that we will end up just prolonging the misery a little bit, but we will never get a sustainable solution. What can we do to influence our governments in that sense, so that they are not worried so much about their own short term political careers, but more about long term sustainability of the country and the people and the environment?