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Less talk and more action to the global water and sanitation crisis urges UNDP report November 16th, 2006: Make water a human right—and mean it comprises one of the Human Development Report’s 2006 most dramatic messages. According to the HDR 2006, “Everyone should have at least 20 litres of clean water per day and the poor should get it for free”. While a person in the UK or USA sends 50 litres down the drain each day by simply flushing their toilet, many poor people survive on less than five litres of contaminated water per day, according to HDR research.
Less talk and more action to the global water crisis is at the heart of this year’s Human Development Report. Like hunger, the report says, the lack of access to water is a silent emergency experienced by the poor and tolerated by those with the resources, the technology and the political power to end it”. Across much of the developing world, unclean water is an immeasurably greater threat to human security than violent conflict. In a world of unprecedented wealth almost 2 million children die each year for want of a glass of clean water and a toilet! Each year, the authors report, 1.8 million children die from diarrhea that could be prevented with access to clean water and a toilet; 443 million school days are lost to waterrelated illnesses; and almost 50 percent of all people in developing countries are suffering at any given time from a health problem caused by a lack of water and sanitation. To add to these human costs, the crisis in water and sanitation holds back economic growth, with sub-Saharan Africa losing five percent of GDP annually—far more than the region receives in aid. The report comes up with key recommendations on how the world can resolve the problems linked to the water crisis. Key in line is the recommendation to place water at the centre of poverty-reduction strategies and budget planning. The HDR 2006 report calls for bold, coherent national water plans grounded in strategies for reducing poverty and extreme inequality and backed with predictable finance. There needs to be a dramatic move to increase international aid, says the report calling for an extra US$3.4 billion to $4 billion to be invested annually. According to the report, development assistance has fallen in real terms over the past decade, but to bring the MDG on water and sanitation into reach, aid flows will have to double. The report further talks of rethinking and redesigning water tariffs and subsidies as they can play a critical role in delivering affordable water to the poor, says the Report, as all too often, they instead deliver windfalls to the non-poor, while impoverished households using public taps face the highest prices. While making his remarks during the national launch of the Human Development Report the UNDP Resident Representative, Mr. Oscar Fenandez-Taranco called for countries to be more persistent and diligent in responding to the global water crisis, if the continent is to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015. “The world requires a better way of responding to this threat. We need to increase water efficiency, especially for agricultural activities. We need to free women and girls from the daily chore of hauling water, often over great distances. One way of achieving this is through involving women in decisions on water management. We need to make sanitation a priority, since this is where progress is lagging most, and we must show that water resources need not be a source of conflict. Instead, it should be a catalyst for cooperation”, said Mr. Fernandez-Taranco. In the case of Tanzania, he said the UN was pleased by the government of Tanzania’s efforts towards the development of the water and sanitation sector. He said that these key policies had rightly been put in place to increase access to water and reduce the time, that women especially spent in seeking and fetching water. Mr. Fernandez-Taranco cited the launch of the National Water Policy in 2002, the adoption, in 2005 of a National Water Sector Development Strategy that guides systematic implementation of the policy and establishment of the Water Sector Development Programme for 2006-2025. “We are all encouraged by these achievements because these present comprehensive, outcome-oriented strategies that should help accelerate progress towards achieving the water supply and sanitation goals and hence the Millennium Development Goals”, said Mr. Fernandez-Taranco.The UN System in Tanzania he said was ready to support the country’s efforts that would contribute to achieving the goals of water and sanitation for all by 2015. While launching the report, the Minister of Natural Resources and Tourism, Prof. Maghembe pointed out that water for livelihoods was one of the implications and dimensions to the global water crisis. He described the livelihoods as the chronic water stress that affects nearly 800 million people on the planet, which threatens the collapse of ecological systems and intensifies competition for water. “The world is not running out of water, in an aggregate or absolute sense, but for millions of people, access to water resources is coming under stress”, said Prof. Maghembe. To attain sustainable human development, meaningful conservation of the environment must be linked more strongly with poverty reduction efforts. The Minister called for the UN to continue supporting government interventions specifically the “Strategy for Urgent Actions on Land Degradation and Water Catchment 2006 so that promotion of environmental sustainability is fully integrated into poverty reduction efforts in line with both the National Strategy for Growth and Reduction of Poverty (NSGRP) or MKUKUTA, and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The HDR 2006 launch was officiated by the Minister of Natural Resources and Tourism and attended by water authorities, government officials, civil society and the media. For further information please contact our Public Information Unit. |
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