“Water is everyone’s business”
Water activist and ultra-marathon runner Mina Guli has arrived in Zambia as part of the RUN BLUE campaign.
The CEO of the Thirst Foundation, a non-profit organisation that is focused on delivering groundbreaking action on water, is running 200 marathons across the world in a year in preparation for her presentation to the UN Water Conference in March 2023.
To date she has completed over 50 marathons.
“I have seen this water crisis for myself and I want the world to see it. But not only to see it, but to take action to solve it,” says Mina Guli.
Over the last six years, Guli has run thousands of kilometres across some of the harshest places in the world. She runs to raise awareness of the water crisis, to show the urgency of the problem we are facing and to drive action from people around the world.
“We need companies to step up and help close the gap on global water targets, as companies use almost
90% of the world’s freshwater, either directly or indirectly,” says Guli.
To assist companies in becoming custodians of water, Thirst Foundation and global water leaders from business, the NGO sector, government and civil society have developed the Six for 6 best practice framework, which includes setting water quantity and quality targets, standardising water reporting and publicising water use.
“The United Nations Conference on Water in 2023 gives us an opportunity to do that. To lift up your voices, to put water on the agenda and to drive concrete action on water from companies, governments and people everywhere,” says Guli.
The global RUN BLUE campaign aims to inspire real action on water by:
Raising awareness of water crises and solutions by Mina Guli – a globally renowned water activist – running 200 marathons in 1 year; Building a water movement of 200 million people across the world;
Inspiring 200 companies to take real action on water; and,
Driving real progress on SDG6 by influencing the UN Water Summit in 2023 – the first global summit on water for 50 years.
Zambia is the fourth stop on the RUN BLUE route through Africa and includes opportunities to highlight
the key water challenges facing the country.
Contact:
Benetria Milambo, WWF Zambia: bmilambo@wwfzam.org
Dominique Pienaar, Thirst Foundation: dominique@thirstfoundation.org or media@thirstfoundation.org