Water Issues

Millenium Development Goal 7:
Ensure Environmental Sustainability - Reduce by half the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water

The Millennium Declaration target is to halve the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation by 2015. It is estimated that more than 1 billion people lack clean water and more than 2.5 billion live without adequate sanitation. Many countries facing water scarcity are low-income societies with rapidly growing populations that are generally unable to make costly investments in water-saving technologies. Providing safe drinking water becomes a greater challenge as economic development and population growth place increasing demands on limited water resources.

"The second biggest killer of children" was nearly omitted from the millennium development goals according to Larry Elliott in the Guardian (26/11/07). "After pressure from charities such as WaterAid, the UN later agreed to set a target for halving the number of people without access to clean water and sanitation, but on current trends the target will not be achieved until more than half a century later. Rich countries have promised to double assistance by 2010 but have yet to deliver - spending on water and sanitation has actually fallen."
 
Last Wednesday (21/11/07), the United Nations launched its year of sanitation to accelerate progress for 2.6 billion people without proper sanitation facilities. What Elliott describe as "insanitary conditions considered repugnant and intolerable by the Victorians" contribute to the deaths of 1.5 million children annually.

"Beyond adaptation, ending our Faustian deal with oil by mitigating climate change through bioenergy or hydropower could have serious water implications." according to the World Water Week 2007 report [PDF].

An April 2007 report by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said that African people will be hit severely by climate change. The report predicts that an increase in greenhouse gas emissions will see up to 1.8 million more people in Africa without sufficient clean water, an increase in arid and semi-arid lands, poverty and an increase in pandemics like malaria, cholera and Rift Valley Fever.

The 2006 UN Human Revelopment Report focuses on water and sanitation; the Report underscores the importance of safe drinking water and sanitation to fighting diseases and its link to development.

Critical Importance of Water Issues for the Least Developed Countries (LDCs), presented at the Third World Water Forum (Kyoto, 16-23 March 2003)

The United Nations General Assembly, in December 2003, proclaimed the years 2005 to 2015 as the International Decade for Action ’Water for Life’.

EU Water Initiative - A the 2002 World Summit for Sustainable Development in Johannesburg (WSSD), the EU launched a Water Initiative (EUWI) designed to contribute to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and WSSD targets for drinking water and sanitation, within the context of an integrated approach to water resources management. The EU water initiative(EUWI) is conceived as a catalyst and a foundation on which future action can be built to contribute to meeting the water and sanitation MDGs. EUWI brochure

The EU is committed to contribute to achieving the following international goals:

• To halve by 2015 the proportion of people who are unable to reach or afford safe drinking water and the proportion of people who do not have access to adequate sanitation
• To establish national water resource management plans by 2005

These commitments have been reconfirmed in a keynote speech by Mr Adrian Wood, Chief Economist and acting Head of Policy Division, Department for International Development. The speech was held on August 25 at the Multi Stakeholder Forum in Stockholm.

Uk_Presidency_Aug_05_EU_WATER_INITIATIVE_MSF.

The World Bank Group’s Programme for Water supply and Sanitation

Report of the Millennium Project Taskforce on Water and Sanitation

2005 Report on the Millennium Development Goals

African Ministers Initiative on WASH

Freshwater biodiversity and poverty in eastern Africa Red areas where high percentage of children with stunted growth - used as a proxy for poverty - coincide with a high freshwater biodiversity index - a proxy for biodiversity - likely indicate areas in which poor people have no other choice than to unsustainably extract resources, in turn threatening biodiversity.

Links to international organisations provided by the Stockholm International Water Institute, organisers of World Water Week