Friday, March 10, 2006
What the World Needs Now is Good Water Governance
From UN Water:
Although unevenly distributed, the world has plenty of freshwater.
However, mismanagement, limited resources and environmental changes
mean that almost one-fifth of the planet’s population still lacks
access to safe drinking water and 40 per cent lack access to basic
sanitation. The United Nations World Water Development Report 2 released at the World Water Forum in Mexico City focuses
on the importance of governance in managing the world’s water resources
and tackling poverty.
Governance systems, it says, “determine who gets what water, when and
how, and decide who has the right to water and related services.” Such
systems are not limited to ‘government,’ but include local authorities,
the private sector and civil society. They also cover a range of issues
intimately connected to water, from health and food security, to
economic development, land use and the preservation of the natural
ecosystems on which our water resources depend.
The report highlights that
• Although significant and steady progress is being made, and that “at
the global scale there is plenty of freshwater”, WHO/UNICEF Joint
Monitoring Programme estimates indicate that 1.1 billion people still
do not have access to an adequate supply of drinking water and some 2.6
billion do not have access to basic sanitation. These people are among
the world’s poorest. Over half of them live in China or India. At this
rate of progress, regions such as sub-Saharan Africa will not meet the
UN Millenium Development Goal of halving, by 2015, the proportion of
people without sustainable access to safe drinking water. The MDG
target of halving, by 2015, the proportion of people without basic
sanitation will not be met globally if present trends persist.
According to the report “mismanagement, corruption, lack of appropriate
institutions, bureaucratic inertia and a shortage of new investments in
building human capacity as well as physical infrastructure” is largely
responsible for this situation.
• Poor water quality is a key cause of poor livelihood and health.
Globally, diarrhoeral diseases and malaria killed about 3.1 million
people in 2002. Ninety percent of these deaths were children under the
age of five. An estimated 1.6 million lives could be saved annually by
providing access to safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene.
• Water quality is declining in most regions. Evidence indicates that
the diversity of freshwater species and ecosystems is deteriorating
rapidly, often faster than terrestrial and marine ecosystems. The
report points out that the hydrological cycle, upon which life depends,
needs a healthy environment to function.
• Ninety percent of natural disasters are water-related events, and
they are on the increase. Many are the result of poor land use. The
tragic and developing drought in East Africa, where there has been huge
felling of forests for charcoal production and fuel wood, is a poignant
example. The report also cites the case of Lake Chad in Africa, which
has shrunk by some 90 percent since the 1960s, mainly because of
overgrazing, deforestation and large unsustainable irrigation projects.
Two out of every five people now live in areas vulnerable to floods and
rising sea-levels. The nations most at risk include Bangladesh, China,
India, the Netherlands, Pakistan, the Philippines, the United States of
America and the small island developing states. The report stresses
that changing climate patterns will further exacerbate the situation.
• The world will need 55 percent more food by 2030 This translates
into an increasing demand for irrigation, which already claims nearly
70 percent of all freshwater consumed for human use. Food production
has greatly increased over the past 50 years, yet 13 percent of the
global population (850 million people, mostly in rural areas) still do
not have enough to eat.
• Half of humanity will be living in towns and cities by 2007. By
2030, this will have risen to nearly two thirds, resulting in drastic
increases in water demand in urban areas. An estimated two billion of
these people will be living in squatter settlements and slums. It is
the urban poor who suffer the most from lack of clean water and
sanitation.
• Over two billion people in developing countries do not have
access to reliable forms of energy. Water is a key resource for energy
generation, which in turn is vital for economic development. Europe
makes use of 75 percent of its hydropower potential. Africa -- where 60
percent of the population has no access to electricity – has developed
only 7 percent of its potential.
• In many places of the world, a colossal 30 to 40 percent or more
of water goes unaccounted for, through water leakages in pipes and
canals and illegal connections.
• Although there are no accurate figures, it is estimated that
political corruption costs the water sector millions of dollars every
year and undermines water services, especially to the poor. The report
cites a survey in India for example, in which 41 percent of the
customer respondents had made more than one small bribe in the past six
months to falsify metre readings; 30 percent had made payments to
expedite repair work and 12 percent had made payments to expedite new
water and sanitation connections.
Recognising the vital part freshwater plays in human security and
development, the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation, adopted by Member
States and the World Summit on Sustainable Development (Johannesburg,
2002), called on countries to develop integrated water resources
management and water efficiency plans by 2005. The report indicates
that only about 12 percent of countries have done so to date, although
many have begun the process.
Financial resources for water are also stagnating. According to the
report, total Official Developpment Assistance (ODA) to the water
sector in recent years has averaged approximately US$3 billion a year
with an additional US$1.5 billion allocated to the sector in
non-concessional lending, mainly by the World Bank. However, only a
small proportion (12 percent) of these funds reach those most in need.
And only about ten percent is directed to support development of water
policy, planning and programmes.
Added to this, private sector investment in water services is
declining. During the 1990s the private sector spent an estimated US$25
billion in water supply and sanitation in developing countries, mostly
in Latin America and Asia. However, many big multinational water
companies have begun withdrawing from or downsizing their operations in
the developing world because of the high political and financial risks.
Although their performance has often failed to meet the expectations of
developing country governments and donor countries, the report stresses
that it “would be a mistake” to write off the private sector.
Financially strained governments with weak regulations, it finds, “are
a poor alternative for addressing the issue of poor water resources
management and inadequate supplies of water services”.
Water usage increased six-fold during the 20th century, twice the
rate of population growth. Our ability to meet the continually
increasing global demand, says the report, will depend on good
governance and management of available resources.
“Good governance is essential for managing our increasingly-stretched
supplies of freshwater and indispensable for tackling poverty,” says
UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura. “There is no one blueprint
for good governance, which is both complex and dynamic. But we know
that it must include adequate institutions – nationally, regionally and
locally, strong, effective legal frameworks and sufficient human and
financial resources.”
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