On March 22, on World Water Day 2018, the lecture of René Castro Salazar, Assistant-Director General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), took place at the HQ of the Russian Geographical Society in St. Petersburg. The high-ranking guest spoke about the FAO's work to solve the problem of the shortage of freshwater in the world and answered questions from the audience.
René Castro noted that today growing water scarcity is one of the main challenges to the sustainable development. And it is about to get more dramatic, as the world's population continues to increase, people's living standards are rising, the diet is changing, and the effects of climate change are becoming more tangible.
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During his meeting with Vice-President of the Russian Geographical Society Kirill Chistyakov and Adviser to the President of the Society for International Activities Sergey Katikov, René Castro Salazar discussed the prospects for cooperation between the organizations and gave a positive assessment to the activities of the Russian Geographical Society. He also expressed the hope for the development of cooperation in agriculture and soil science.
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René Castro got acquainted with the history and modern activities of the Society. In the scientific archives, the guest was shown the only surviving manuscript diary of Nikolai Miklukho-Maklai with the researcher's drawings. The guest also visited the Scientific Library, where he saw rare editions and atlases of the Society.
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"Water is a source of life, water is blood of the landscape, as the classics of Russian geography have said, and where there is no water, there is no geography," said Kirill Chistyakov.
Photos and text: the Society press center