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Poul Nielson describes practical steps towards halving the proportion of the world’s people lacking safe water and sanitation |
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A glass of fresh water from the tap – a luxury? The reality is that for some 1.1 billion people access to safe drinking water is something they can only dream about. Some 2.4 billion people worldwide similarly do not have access to adequate sanitation. Yet access to safe drinking water and sanitation is not just a luxury. It often makes the difference between life and death. Half of the world’s hospital beds are occupied by victims of waterborne diseases. And an estimated 6,000 children die each day from diseases caused by poor sanitation and hygiene. Add to this the increasing pressure on the world’s freshwater supply over the last 50 years, and the continuous degradation of water quality in many regions around the world, and there can be no doubt that the challenge before us is formidable. But since the global community came together and set itself a common agenda with the Millennium Development Goals, as endorsed and expanded at the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002, the challenge has also been clearly spelt out: to halve by 2015 the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation.
Collective effort Meeting this challenge will require a collective effort. The European Union (EU) therefore launched a water initiative at Johannesburg to bring together all stakeholders to ensure efficient delivery of the Millennium Development Goal commitments. Within its framework the European Community, member states, civil society, financial institutions and the private sector are working together to:
Over the last 12 months partners have been busy translating the many good intentions of Johannesburg into a real drive forward, and the initiative is beginning to show its first results. Efforts have been concentrated, in the initial phases, on setting up the structures within which results will be created. This involves in-depth needs assessments – country by country, region by region – spelling out the strategies and actions needed to fill the gaps identified and making sure that the necessary guidance and technical support are made available to keep the process on track. A multi-stakeholder forum has been established as a space for debate and exchange of ideas. Finally, working groups have been set up at regional level between European and partner countries – in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia, the Mediterranean, Latin America and Africa – to ensure momentum.
Reinforced coordination is now well on track. And a coherent, cost-effective approach to planning and delivering water-related programmes is emerging. The usefulness of these efforts should not be underestimated. They are essential in maximizing the effect of available resources. However, we must also acknowledge that coordination alone will not deliver clean water and sanitation to those who need them. Availability of funding remains as ever a precondition for action. Within the framework of the ninth European Development Fund, EUR555 million ($633 million) have already been allocated to water in 14 African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states. But the European Commission recognizes that significant amounts of additional funds will have to be invested in water and sanitation if we are credibly to maintain the ambition of delivering on the Millennium Development Goals.
A concrete proposal Earlier this year we therefore proposed establishing an EU water facility of EUR1 billion ($1.14 billion) from the European Development Fund to promote access to clean water and sanitation for the people of the ACP countries. The initiative is being followed up by a concrete proposal, presented to the EU Council at the beginning of 2004. The main objective of the facility will be to serve as a catalyst – promoting new initiatives and new information, building research and management capacity in ACP countries, and providing the flexible source of funding which is often the missing link in financing sustainable water-related programmes. The facility will be based on three key principles:
Many will be the rewards – such as in poverty reduction, sustainable development and conflict prevention – if we manage to deliver real improvements in people’s access to water and sanitation around the world. Many, too, will be the costs if we fail. We have undertaken clear commitments. Now it is time for these to be reflected in developing countries’ policies and budgets, and in the response from the international community in generating the necessary funds. The Commission stands by its commitments. With the water initiative, the water facility and other efforts seeing the light of day, there is a real chance that we will be able substantially to reduce the number of people for whom a glass of clean tap water remains a dream
Poul Nielson is EU Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, and Chief Executive Officer for the EuropeAid Co-operation Office. PHOTOGRAPH: K. C. Limarga/UNEP/Topham |
Complementary issues:
Freshwater, 1998
The Environment Millennium, 2000
Poverty Health and the Environment, 2001
WSSD, 2002
Freshwater, 2003
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