His Excellency Rashid Ahmad Bin Fahad, Minister of Environment and Water, officially launches Oasis United Nations – GEMS Water Programme: “Water for Africa”

Oasis Water, a National Food Product Company (NFPC) brand, reiterates its core commitment to providing clean, clear and safe drinking water to those in the world who need it most

Dubai, October 15th, 2008 – Oasis Water, the water company helping the region come to life, today officially launched its own Oasis United Nations – GEMS Water programme under the auspices of His Excellency Rashid Ahmad Bin Fahad, the Minister of Environment and Water for the United Arab Emirates. The programme, known as the Oasis “Water for Africa” campaign, will provide some of the poorest people on the African continent with access to life-saving clean, clear, potable drinking water.

Beginning today, the Oasis “Water for Africa” campaign will run for a period of eight weeks throughout the UAE and will actively call on everyone living in the local community to offer their support for the programme, which aims to provide clear potable water to the most deprived African regions and which is expected to impact and touch the lives of many Africans. This is especially pertinent at a time when around 4,500 children die each day from unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation facilities, according to UNICEF.

Residents in the UAE can support the Water for Africa campaign, by simply buying bottles of Oasis Water. From the sale of every single Oasis branded bottle of water, sold during the eight week period Oasis Water, the largest producer of branded bottled water in the UAE, will contribute to providing an equivalent amount of safe drinking water, to those who need it most in Africa. This is an initiative in conjunction with the ongoing efforts of the United Nations - GEMS Water Programme.

Speaking at the official launch of the programme, His Excellency Rashid Ahmad Bin Fahad stated; “In the UAE, we are firmly committed as a nation to help the UN meet its agreed Millennium Development Goals to end poverty by 2015. One of the fundamental parts of this is to halve the proportion of the world’s population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation.”

“As individuals, we should all feel responsible for helping out our fellow man, and an
initiative such as this - while demanding very little from each individual, will
affect so many in such a positive and sustainable way.”

The Oasis Water for Africa campaign programme comes at a time when the UN has identified that almost half of the world’s population face a scarcity of water and nearly one billion people today lack safe sources of drinking water. Furthermore, UNICEF cites that ‘the lack of safe water and sanitation is the world’s single largest cause of illness. In 2002, 42 per cent of households had no toilets, and one in six people had no access to safe water.’

It was found that countries in Sub-Saharan Africa account for more than a third of those without improved drinking water supplies. They require foreign aid, investment and NGOs and private initiatives to jump into action, to alleviate the water crisis, and to stop it from spreading and creating a humanitarian disaster across the African continent.

“Living in a region where cold, fresh and healthy drinking water can easily and cheaply be purchased from every street corner and where water runs freely from the taps, we often unintentionally take something as life-giving and life-saving as water for granted. With this campaign, we do not want people to donate money or do anything out of their way. All they have to do to support this cause is to buy Oasis Water. Every time anyone in the UAE buys a bottle of Oasis Water, they will be contributing to providing safe drinking water to those who are in dire need of it in Africa,” stated Emily Billotti NFPC - Events and PR Manager.

“In leading this initiative, we are reinforcing our belief that every individual anywhere in the world should have access to the best possible quality of drinking water, and nowhere is this more important than in Africa, where millions of babies, children and adults go without it on a daily basis,” she concluded. Oasis Water can be purchased in most outlets throughout the UAE.
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About The Oasis Water Company
The Oasis Water Company was founded in 1984 as the bottled water division of the National Food product Company (NFPC). Oasis’ unwavering commitment to providing hydration and rejuvenation for the body and mind, while maintaining stringent international quality standards, is what made it the first company in the UAE to earn a place in the International Bottled Water Association and the National Sanitary Foundation. Oasis Water is also HACCP and ISO 9001 certified. Today the Oasis community is made up of more than 90,000 homes and offices, as well as over 10,000 retail outlets across all seven Emirates. In fact, more than 1,000,000 litres of water are bottled and distributed every day!

About United Nations GEMs Water Programme

Water, the planet's most vital natural resource, has a fundamental bearing on the health, wellbeing and survival of human, animal and plant life across the globe. Today, in a world where water is often treated as a trivial commodity - across industry, agriculture and among individuals - levels of water scarcity, and the depletion of water sources around the world are growing at an alarming rate.

Given this intrinsic reliance that life on the planet has on water and the pressing need to preserve natural supplies, the United Nations GEMS Water Programme has been instituted to monitor and facilitate the discovery of available water sources that are hygienic and suitable for human consumption.  United Nations GEMS complements the global efforts of the United Nations Water Programme, by measuring water quality and making global water quality information available to all.

In joining with NGOs and private enterprises for raising awareness about this universal need for clean and safe water, the message of the UNEP GEMS Water Programme can be spread to a greater number of people. This enables the programme to gather further support - to ensure that sustainable sources of clean water are available to all citizens of the world, now and for the future.

For further media information, please contact:

Emily Billotti
National Food Product Company – Events & PR Manager
Tel: +971 4 884 5588
Email: Emily.Billotti@nfpc.net

Gregory Henderson
Manning, Selvage & Lee | Dubai – PR
Tel: +971 4 3672595
Mob: +971 50 499 4628
Email: Gregory.henderson@dubai.mslpr.com