“By means of water, we give life to everything”
Koran
Water is the “stuff of life.” According to the UN Secretary General, “Access to safe water is a fundamental basic human need and, therefore, a basic human right.” However, this vital resource is currently embroiled in a crisis that threatens the lives of countless millions of people worldwide.
The United Nations Development Programme’s Human Development Report 2006, has just been released. The report, Beyond Scarcity: Power, Poverty and the Global Water Crisis, contends that climate change “now poses what may be an unparalleled threat to human development.”
The report itself is 441 pages and I am writing this blog entry in the throws of high-level negotiations. As a result, what I offer you, dear readers, is a very quick review of the report’s finding and recommendations. What I hope to get across in this blog is the extent of the water crisis. Due to restrictions on time and space, I will not spend time reviewing how the impacts of global climate change (drought, weather variability, salination of fresh water) enhance this problem. Rather, I encourage you to read the report for a detailed, yet accessible, review.
The report starts with the assertion that there is a water crisis and laments the paucity of action. The authors contend that the “root of the crisis of water can be traced to poverty, inequality and unequal power relationships, as well as flawed water management policies that exacerbate scarcity.”
Annually,
- 1.8 million children die as a result of diarrhoea and other diseases caused by water and poor sanitation.
- 443 million school days are lost each year from water-related illness.
Currently,
- More than 1 billion people lack access to clean drinking water.
- 2.6 billion people lack access to adequate sanitation.
- The basic minimum threshold for water use if approximately 20 liters a day
- 1.1 billion people are categorized as having access to only 5 liters of clean water a day.
Water insecurity violated the following principles of social justice:
- Equal citizenship
- The social minimum
- Equality of opportunity
- Fair distribution
The sources of the water crisis are varied, but the report highlights a series of common themes:
- Few countries treat water and sanitation as a political priority;
- The poorest people are paying the highest prices for water;
- The international community has failed to prioritize water and sanitation in the partnerships for development that formed around the Millennium Development Goals.
Foundations for crucial success as outlined in the report are:
· Make water a human right- and mean it.
· Draw up national strategies for water and sanitation.
· Support national plans with international aid.
· Develop a global action plan.
Core strategies for overcoming national inequalities in access to water, as outlined in the report include:
- Setting clear targets for reducing inequality as part of the national poverty reduction strategy.
- Establishing lifeline tariffs that provide sufficient water for basic needs free of charge at affordable rates.
- Ensuring that no household has to spend more than 3% of its income to meet its water need.
- Targeting subsidies for connections and water use to poor households.
- Increasing investments in standpipe provision as a transitional strategy to make clean, affordable water available to the poor.
- Enacting legislation that empowers people to hold providers to account.
- Incorporating into public-private partnership contracts clear benchmarks for equity in the extension of affordable access to poor households.
- Developing regulatory systems that are effective and politically independent, with a remit that stretches from the utility network to informal providers.
The report notes that “[t]here is more than enough water in the world for domestic purposes, for agriculture and for industry. The problem is that some people – notably the poor – are systematically excluded.”
I must concede that I don’t know enough about water politics to provide a thorough or critical analysis of the reports findings or recommendations. What I can say is that the report itself engages powerful language and is on-the-whole, a very accessible and moving document.
Download the report at: http://hdr.undp.org/hdr2006/
