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Mar 18th, 2005 - 17:43:03 |
Cam
UN Press Release: Access to safe water a priority as the UN marks the beginning of International Decade
Government Ministers to Meet in April to Decide on Policy Measures Necessary to Reach Targets for Water, Sanitation, Slums
(New York, 17 March 2005)
As the International Decade for Action "Water for Life" begins, the United Nations and Governments are seeking to galvanise efforts to meet the internationally agreed targets of halving the number of people without access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation by 2015. Ministers and government delegates will meet next month in New York to take policy decisions on practical measures and options to accelerate progress toward these and other water-related goals at the Commission for Sustainable DevelopmentTMs 13th session.
The Water for Life Decade, which will be launched next week on World Water Day (22 March), calls on the international community to strengthen efforts to increase access to water and sanitation for all. The Decade aims to promote efforts to fulfil international commitments made on water and water-related issues by 2015, placing special emphasis on the involvement and participation of women in these efforts.
"This is an urgent matter of human development, and human dignity," stated UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in his message to launch the Water for Life Decade. "Together, we can provide safe, clean water to all the worlds people. The worlds water resources are our lifeline for survival, and for sustainable development in the 21st century."
Meeting the targets on water and sanitation would also contribute significantly to the realization of other UN Millennium Development Goals, including reducing poverty, promoting gender equality, reducing child and maternal mortality and providing universal primary education. The importance of achieving these two targets, together with that of achieving a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers by 2020, was behind the decision by governments to focus on these three issues in the first two-year cycle of the UN Commission on Sustainable Developments new programme of work.
Governments to decide on policy options and actions
To be held from 11 to 22 April 2005, the UN Commission on Sustainable DevelopmentTMs Thirteenth Session (CSD-13) will be the first policy-setting session since the World Summit on Sustainable Development was held in Johannesburg in 2002. The aim of the meeting is to decide on concrete policy options and actions to be taken to achieve the goals and targets related to water, sanitation and human settlements contained in Agenda 21, the Programme for the Further Implementation of Agenda 21 and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation.
"The importance of the work of CSD-13 cannot be overestimated. The policy options and actions Governments are expected to agree on will underpin our common endeavours in the coming years to meet the Millennium Development Goals and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation targets and commitments in water, sanitation and human settlements," stated H.E. Dr. John W. Ashe, Chairman of CSD-13.
Increasing the participation of women in decision making on water and sanitation was one of the issues on the table at the recent preparatory meeting for the Commission on Sustainable Development, in addition to its being a key focus of the Water for Life Decade. "We need to free women and girls from the daily chore of hauling water, often over great distances. We must involve them in decision-making on water management. We need to make sanitation a priority. This is where progress is lagging most," stated UN
Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
Focus on developing countries
The preparatory meeting also recognized that developing countries, especially those in Africa, the least developed countries, land-locked countries and small island developing States, face the greatest challenges in achieving targets for sustainable development.
Following are a few examples of the many policy options that will be discussed at the CSD-13:
Improving access to safe drinking water and sanitation
* Ensuring that no one is excluded from essential water supplies. Examples of possible actions include the provision of means-tested
direct subsidies to the poor as in Chile, applying increasing block rate tariff structures to water pricing as in Cote dTMIvoire and the provision of a basic daily quantity of water free of charge to households as in South Africa.
* Decentralizing the delivery of water services and providing technical assistance and capacity building to local authorities and community based organizations in water resources management. Examples include the federal government of MexicoTMs policy of matching costs paid by municipalities for investment in water services.
* Strengthening governance of public water utilities such as Senegals reform of its national water utility.
* Making sanitation access affordable to poor people, for example through the provision of subsidies for household hookups to sewerage
services as in Jamaica and Trinidad and cross-subsidies to meet the sanitation needs of the poor as in Egypt. India has used financial incentives to encourage rural communities to improve sanitation infrastructure.
Financing water and sanitation-related investments
* Increasing donors Official Development Assistance commitments towards the 0.7 per cent of GNI target.
* Addressing the debt burdens of poor countries, for example in Uganda, where debt relief helped finance its Poverty Eradication Action Plan.
* Bolstering revolving funds and microcredit programs that assist communities and households in improving water and sanitation access.
* Targeting limited public resources at highest impact sanitation interventions. Examples include programs in African countries such as
Ethiopia, Malawi, Uganda, Burkina Faso and Zambia which prioritize sanitation provision in schools and public buildings.
Mainstreaming sanitation at the national level
* Prioritizing and institutionalizing sanitation at the national level as part of an overarching policy framework. Examples include TanzaniaTMs inclusion of sanitation in its national development plans and Senegals creation of a separate Ministry of Protection, Public Hygiene and Sanitation.
Improving housing and services for the urban poor
* Improving security of tenure in slums and informal settlements through such measures as the residential licensing programme in Tanzania, which facilitates access to formal credit, and realizing womens equal rights to hold legal contracts of tenure, inheritance and other acquisition of real estate.
* Follow an integrated approach to human settlements planning, involving land-use planning, housing development, water, sanitation and other infrastructure, education and health facilities
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The Commission on Sustainable Development is the United Nations high-level forum responsible for ensuring follow up to the World Summit on Sustainable Development, and monitoring progress towards achieving internationally-agreed development goals.
For more information on CSD-13 visit:
www.un.org/esa/sustdev/csd/csd13/csd13.htm
For more information on the International Decade for Action "Water for Life" please visit www.un.org/waterforlifedecade (to be launched on 22 March 2005)
Aug 18th, 2003 - 23:12:00 |
Cam
Virtual Water
Join the debate on virtual water.
http://www.worldwatercouncil.org/virtual_water.shtml
Jun 28th, 2003 - 21:23:30 |
Cam
Pioneers of Change Water Sustainability Initiative
For the last six weeks, the Water Sustainability Initiative has been developing in South Africa. Many meetings have taken place with water professionals and several local partnerships have been formed to create a continuous inquiry into the cultural, social, historical, emotional, and spiritual relationships we have with water within
the South African context.
Some of the projects that are presently underway are:
- Pioneers of Change is creating a learning tool in the form of a CD-Rom that will include clips from various interviews/conversations with a
wide spectrum of water professionals, from private and public enterprises, to NGOs,
international organisations and community leaders.
- As mentioned in previous newsletters, Pioneers of Change is creating one day workshops to explore "New Cultures towards Water". The
one day workshops will be designed around group discussions among the participants
as well as spaces for personal reflection, action-planning and sharing of participants' work
and projects.
- Pioneers of Change is partnering with several local youth arts projects to bring water into the classroom and to have young people share their thoughts and feelings towards water through various creative projects. Most of these partnership projects involve local artists and teachers accompanying Pioneers of Change on
field trips to places near water to reflect on our connectivity to water and how this relationship
can be expressed through painting, drawing and theatre.
During the next two months, a similar approach will be taken in London to build relationships with water professionals and to create a learning tool
based on the UK context of water management and sustainability.
For more information, please contact Karen Kun [karen@pioneersofchange.net]
Jun 5th, 2003 - 03:57:36 |
Cam
A Dangerous Splash in the Sea
SANTIAGO - From Acapulco to Viña del Mar, the most beautiful beaches of Latin America are turning into dangerous places for bathers, the result of increasing contamination from various sources, but mostly from sewage discharged into the sea.
http://www.ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=18525
Apr 29th, 2003 - 01:31:56 |
Cam
Meeting the Challenge of Water
In the Netherlands, a new multilateral institution focusing on water resources management has become the country’s first Global Development Learning Network center. The UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education is in Delft, home to a number of important institutions focusing on water, hydraulic engineering and transport. There are now 58 GDLN centers around the world, helping development practitioners share knowledge, exchange expertise and coordinate donor activities.
Click here for more info.
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