| Version française | Versión español |
HDR-Net Consolidated
Reply
FOR COMMENTS: HDR 2006 - Water
and Human Development
Crossposted on the HDR-Net, EE-Net, Gender-Net and Semfin-Net
Prepared by Kevin Watkins and Hanna
Schmitt
17 July 2006
Table of contents
Original Query
Kevin
Watkins, Director, Human Development Report
Office, UNDP
Dear Friends
I would like to take this opportunity to officially announce to the networks, that next year’s global Human Development Report (HDR 2006) will be on Water. Following an initial round of discussions I am attaching the current concept note for HDR 2006. Inevitably, the framework for the report will evolve over time as our background papers come in and in response to wider inputs. However, we hope that you will see this as a good starting point.
For my part, I really want to say how helpful and important our network discussions have been – and to emphasise how seriously they are taken by the Human Development Report Office (HDRO). As we take the research on water and sanitation forward, I would really like to draw as constructively as possible on the expertise and country experience represented in the network. While we are open to any inputs, I thought that it might be helpful if I indicated some priority areas. These are as follows:
I realize that this is something of a shopping list, but I do assure you that all inputs will be considered by the writing team. In particular, we are concerned to ensure that we draw on the breadth and depth of country-specific knowledge within the network.
Once again, many thanks for the networks wonderful contribution to HDRO’s work – and we all look forward to the continuing co-operation around HDR 2006.
Warm Regards
Kevin
Kevin Watkins
Director,
Human Development Report Office
UNDP New York
Dear colleagues,
The response to the HDR2006 discussion has been impressive. Let me start by thanking you all for your valuable inputs. I would like to reemphasize how important these network discussions are for the global HDR preparatory process. This process supports HDRO’s vision to draw more effectively on research, ideas and networks from national and regional HDRs, to build broader and deeper ownership of the report and to promote its messages both within our organization and with our external development partners.
During the course of this vibrant discussion, network members shared important ideas, data, expertise and country experiences, allowing our team to benefit from the knowledge UNDP and our external partner have to offer on the topic of water and sanitation. You have raised important issues, which have proven very useful to the work of the team, many of which will be addressed in the upcoming global HDR. In particular, you will now find an extensive discussion of climate change in the report, you will see that the gendered dimension of water and sanitation issues has been addressed throughout the report, and a key goal of this HDR has been to “unpack” the highly charged discussion on public vs. private provision to look at the real scale of the issue and to look at how under-financing and weak governance are failing the poor, whatever combination is employed.
We hope you will find we have done justice to some of these critical issues you have raised. The full discussion is below so that the detail and nuance will not be lost. What we have tried here is to summarize some of the key points that we have taken away from this discussion.
HDR2006 theme and concept note
Overall,
network members expressed their support to focus this year’s
HDR on water and sanitation and commended the concept note which captures the
issues and complexities around the topic very well. Network member noted, however,
that it would be important to elaborate how this report will build upon and
complement the UN World Water Report that was launched in March 2006.
Water Crisis: water scarcity, water quality, and alternative solutions
Network member pointed out that pollution contributes in a major way to the
overall water scarcity. In India for example, almost all cities face chronic
water shortage during summer months. Government agencies are increasingly failing
to meet the demands of a rising urban population. The water table is falling
all the time due to over-extraction from ground aquifers, and rivers and other
water bodies are increasingly getting polluted, encroached, built upon, and
commonly used as defecation grounds or simply outlets for sewage. Even the
groundwater quality in many parts of the country has become suspicious. Agricultural,
urban and industrial wastes pose a never-ending threat to groundwater.
Also in post communist countries in Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkan region, the pollution of water contributes in a major extent to the overall water scarcity. This situation has its origin in the industrial policies of the previous communist regimes and it has been perpetuated by weak environmental institutions, lack of regulations and by-laws on effluent discharges and above all efficient enforcement of them. In Serbia, for example, recent epidemiological studies on health and environment have found linkages between living conditions, drinking water quality and health. The situation is particularly acute for urban slums, populated by refugees, Roma and IDPs, as they lack the resources to purchase bottled water.
Another factor that has strong impact on the quality and quantity of freshwater resources is the overall climate change and the threat of the rising sea levels, particularly for Small Islands Developing States and their low-lying atolls.
Network members noted that the water crisis is essentially a crisis of supply. The constraint in supply comprises various difficulties that involve the supply chain, such as access/mobilization of conventional water, water conditioning, distribution, and maintenance. Therefore, it is important to exploit alternative solutions, which are more bearing, based on non-conventional modern technologies (Desalinization of sea water) or on traditional decentralized technologies (i.e. recuperation of rain water).
Algeria, for example, has opted for a desalination of its sea water as a complementary water source in addition to conventional water (dams and groundwater). The additional costs per cubic meter of this non-conventional water is high (around 10 times higher than for a cubic meter of conventional water), but its contribution to the reduction of the water deficit reveals its highly strategic character. The tariff policy is based on a system of burden sharing, ensuring that water bills are affordable by the households and that water consumption is maintained at the minimum level (principle of progressive tariffs in relation to levels of consumption).
With regards to sanitation, it was suggested to exploit the issue of non-water
based sanitation, which provides the same level of hygiene and dignity as water
borne sanitation.
Water as a human right
Several
network members highlighted the dimension of water and access to water
for basic consumption
as a fundamental
human right. It was pointed out that
asymmetric power relations threaten the principle of equity in use and distribution
of water, which results in individuals and groups, being excluded and/or deprived
from access to water. ‘Rights’ are therefore needed to effectively
address this discrimination and marginalization. At the national level, explicit
rights to water or State duties to ensure access to water have been recognized
in a number of constitutions, i.e. Colombia, South Africa and Uganda, Legal
redress has been obtained by the courts for the violation of the Constitutional
right to water. In Argentina in 1996, the Children’s Public Defender
of Minors filed and won an injunction against the local government for failing
to prevent the polluting of an indigenous community’s water supply.
Water governance: water resource management, pricing structures, water markets
Water resource management
Contributors pointed out that given the strong tensions between viewing water
as a human right with universal access and viewing water as a scarce private
good where access cannot be free, water control is needed over time, space,
availability and access (who owns the water resources in whatever form and
who should determine priorities for different uses of water).
Generally, these issues need to be addressed at different levels: There should be a more concerted institutional response at the global level that will lead the global effort in water governance since that resource covers significant portion of the globe and is detrimental for future generation, human security and prosperity in general. Without strong agencies at the national level with good capacities to plan and provide strategic direction and regulation to the management of water resources, however, the involvement of other players (private sector, NGOs, etc) will not be as effective as it could be. It is also important to consider good examples of traditional knowledge/community water management systems at the local level and tap into the advantages of decentralized water governance.
In the United States (Northern New Mexico, Southern Colorado) there has for example existed for hundreds of years a series of community managed water resource networks for farm irrigation, based on communal management and control of the Acequias (ditches). These communities are largely rural Chicano and Pueblo Indian (Native American) communities. They serve as examples of cooperative management and sustaining of a common resource, even in such a highly privatized society as the United States.
It was also pointed out that given the fact that there are over 260 international rivers in the world, one of the overarching challenge is to manage these transboundary water resources equitably and in an environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable manner – in the absence of an apex authority or binding legal regime. The Central Asia HDR 2005 on regional cooperation for human development and human security underlines for example that at the core of the region’s natural resource challenge lies the management of regional water resources, which requires a careful balance between irrigation, human consumption, the generation of electricity and the protection of fragile natural environments. Given the diverse national interests, the post-independence years have seen a serious weakening of the longstanding Soviet water and energy exchange arrangement among the Central Asia countries. Some of the challenges of transboundary water resource management and related water issues have also been addressed by the NHDRs of Kazakhstan and Tajikistan in 2003.
Pricing structures
It
was noted that it is very difficult to determine the “right price” for
water since both its dimension as a basic necessity and an essential human
right has to be covered and its value as a scarce private good has to be accounted
for. Some mechanisms could be a redistribution tax or certain international
legal regulations. In the context, the concept of virtual
water could be discussed
as well, which is especially important for arid countries and which is also
relevant to the cost of water transfers, when water is or is planned to be
transferred over long distances.
Water markets
It was pointed out that water markets/privatization of the water sector are
introduced, based on the assumption that privatization will benefit the poor
and rural consumers and improve access to sanitation and clean water. Network
members suggested however, that this is not always the case and that while
there have been success stories, the privatization of the water sector has
failed in many other cases.
Throughout the 1990s, many African countries awarded contracts to multi-national companies. By 2004, there were 20 ongoing water contracts in Sub-Saharan Africa. Following the privatizations, there have been various protests and public outrage and contracts have been terminated in Gambia, Kenya, Guinea, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and South Africa. One of the main reasons was that the tariff hikes following liberalization were not affordable to low-income consumers:
South Africa: In townships where unemployment is close to 70 percent, a US$ connection fee and volumetric charges were followed by cholera outbreaks. In KwaZulu-Natal, the death toll was 250 with more than 100.000 cases of illness as a result of using water from rivers and stagnant ponds.
Zimbabwe: A UK company terminated its water provision contract claiming that the customers are too poor to pay tariff rates that would have enabled the form to make a decent profit.
Guinea: The privatization of water maintenance, billing and payment collection resulted in a tariff increase from US$0.02 per m3 in 1989 to US$0.83 per m3 in 1996. Indeed, more customers were connected in one year reaching 23,000 from 12,000 in the previous year. The number of metered private customers went up from 5 to 93 per cent. Nearly all government institutions were also connected to piped water. In the end, only 24 per cent of the new water connections were working.
Latin America: In Latin America, on average, the cost of connection reached 20 percent of personal disposable income.
Measurement Problems and indicators
Network members pointed out that the way safe access to water and sanitation
services is measured and defined, need to be questioned and probably revised.
The currently used indicators of access to water and sanitation techniques
have proven to be flawed. For example high connection rates to drinking water
networks alone do not tell us anything about the actual availability of drinking
water. It was also suggested to develop indicators to measure the correlation
between water and sanitation and human development, even if only approximately.
It was suggested to measure this correlation through the resilience with which
the MDGs react to improvements in access to water and sanitation.
Water and MDGs
Contributors
underlined that the Report should put the discussion on water and sanitation
still more
in the
context of the MDGs. As such it was suggested
that the Report could address the question of what changes in the structure
of governance and financing have to be made in order to ensure that the targets
of universal access to water and sanitation facilities can be achieved (e.g,
mobilization of local communities to foster “quick wins”).
Water and conflict / security
Network member underlined that water is a fundamental factor for the achievement
of peace and human security around the world. The restriction of access to
water is used as a military and political tool in conflicts. Water has been
used as a military target in conflicts and also is a concern as a target of
terrorism. The destruction of water sources has, for example, been used in
several conflict zones to distress and forcibly displace people internally
and across borders as part of the war strategy (e.g. Nuba Mountains area of
Sudan).
Kenya/Uganda/Sudan border area: In this weapon-prolific region of the Kenya/Uganda/Sudan border area, males traditionally care for cattle, and the need to secure water and pasture for their animals has led to men carrying increasingly sophisticated arms, which has in turn increased the lethality of cattle raids and disputes over natural resources. Moreover, it was pointed out that access to water is particularly problematic for civilian populations in war zones, affecting especially women and children.
Some contributors also touched on the issue of conflicts caused by water quality degradation by transboundary pollution and industrial accidents.
Water and Gender equality and women’s
empowerment
It was emphasized that the gender dimension of access to water and issues
of entitlement and management should be featured prominently throughout the
Report. Network members underlined that women are the most affected by the
water crisis. More than half of the 1.2 billion people who do not have access
to water are women and girls. Moreover, in most developing countries women
are responsible for water management at the domestic and community level. It
is for example estimated that women and girls use more than 8 hours a day traveling
from 10 to 15 km to transport between 20 and 15 liters of water in each trip.
Again, on behalf of the global HDR team, I would like to thank all of you for this very stimulating discussion and for your reflections and guidance on the upcoming HDR2006. I hope that this exchange of ideas will not end with the closing of this network discussion. Please continue sending us specific examples that are aligned with the theme of this year’s report, as we are keen on drawing on the work of national and regional HDRs addressing the question of water and sanitation.
This year’s Report will be launched in November 2006 and we hope to draw on our development partners on the ground to translate these critical messages into action, in preparation towards, during and beyond the launch.
Sincerely
Kevin Watkins
Director,
Human Development Report Office
UNDP New York
General | Water Scarcity | Water governance and management | Financing the Water Sector | Water and Energy & Environment | Water and Gender | Water as a Human Right
Publications
1st United Nations
World Water Report “Water
for People, Water for Life”,
March 2003
The WWDR is targeted to all those involved in the formulation and implementation
of water-related policies and investment strategies, as well as to professionals
at all levels. Although it offers a broad global picture, it focuses particularly
on the situation in developing countries, where the need for better infrastructure
and governance is highest. With this report, WWAP is aiming to show where systems
are failing, and to provide the information needed for efficient and effective
capacity-building throughout the world. This 1st edition of the WWDR laid the
foundation for subsequent editions, concentrating essentially on evaluating
what progress has been made, and not made, since the Rio Summit and on developing
effective assessment methodologies. The Report encompasses a broad range of
components, focusing on human stewardship of freshwater, that complex aggregation
of policies, legislation, social programmes, economic approaches and management
strategies through which we seek to achieve water sustainability.
2nd United Nations
World Water Report “Water – A Shared Responsibility”,
March 2006
The Report builds on the conclusions of the 1st United Nations World Water
Development Report. It presents a comprehensive picture of freshwater resources
in all regions and most countries of the world as it tracks progress towards
the water-related targets of the UN Millennium Development Goals and examines
a range of key issues including population growth and increasing urbanization,
changing ecosystems, food production, health, industry and energy, as well
as risk management, valuing and paying for water and increasing knowledge and
capacity. Sixteen case studies look at typical water resource challenges and
provide valuable insights into different facets of the water crisis and management
responses.
UN Millennium Project
Task Force on Water and Sanitation, Final Report, “Health,
Dignity and Development: What will it take?”, 2005
At least 1.1 billion people lack access to safe water and 2.6 billion lack
access to basic sanitation, resulting in the deaths of 3900 children per day.
Health Dignity and Development highlights the global water and sanitation crisis
and advances a comprehensive set of strategies to tackle the problem, including
national elaboration, government and stakeholder commitments; focusing on sustainable
service delivery, empowering communities, support from private partners, promoting
innovation and improving global structures.
A.K. Chapagain
and A.Y. Hoekstra, “Water
Footprints of Nations”,
Volume 1: Main Report, November 2004, UNESCO – IHL, Research Report Series,
No. 16
The internal water footprint of a nation is the volume of water used from
domestic water resources to produce the goods and services consumed by the
inhabitants of the country. The external water footprint of a country is the
volume of water used in other countries to produce goods and services imported
and consumed by the inhabitants of the country. The study aims to calculate
the water footprint for each nation of the world for the period 1997-2001.
Report of the Secretary-General, “Actions taken in organizing the activties of the International Decade for Action, ‘Water for Life’", 2005-2015”, 25 July 2005, A/60/158
Report of the Secretary-General, “Sanitation - Progress in meeting the goals, targets and commitments of Agenda 21, the Programme for the Further Implementation of Agenda 21 and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation” , 10 February 2004, E/CN.17/2004/5
Human Development Reports
Central
Asia Human Development Report 2005 - Bringing down barriers - Regional
cooperation
for human development and human security, December 2005
Chapter 4 of the Report looks at the question of regional cooperation on water,
energy and environment. Water, energy and environmental resources are critical
for human development and human security. In Central Asia, they are closely
linked, through both geography and the vast infrastructure systems put in place
during Soviet days. The republics are tightly interconnected with each other
in managing these resources, even as each country had different endowments
and priorities.
Kazakhstan
Human Development Report 2003 – Water as a Key Factor of
Human Development in Kazakhstan
The NHDR 2003 provides a comprehensive analysis of the water situation in
Kazakhstan. Regional development studies and MDGRs have revealed that water
plays a key role in Kazakhstan's human development. As 55% of national water
needs are satisfied by rivers crossing Kazakhstan and its neighboring nations,
water may affect not only the country's internal security but also the overall
economic development of Central Asia, China and Russia.
Tajikistan
Human Development Report 2003 – Water Resources and Sustainable
Human Development
The 2003 Tajikistan National Human Development Report on Improving Water Governance
was launched at the International Fresh Water Forum in Dushanbe on August 30,
where over 400 participants from 45 countries had gathered. The NHDR 2003 seeks
to promote dialogue amongst a broad range of actors involved in water management
with the goal of enhancing sustainable human development for the people of
Tajikistan.
Egypt
Human Development Report 2004 – Choosing
Decentralization for Good Governance
Chapter 8 of the Report looks at the question of decentralization in the sectors
of Irrigation and Sanitation in Egypt.
Thailand
Human Development Report 2003 – Community Empowerment and Human
Development
In the first chapter of the Report, people from local communities themselves
describe how they have struggled to gain power to improve their lives and prospects,
giving great importance to having access to clean and safe water.
Websites:
UNDP/Water Wiki: http://europeandcis.undp.org/WaterWiki/index.php/Main_Page
A website for knowledge sharing and on-line collaboration among Water Governance
practitioners and UNDP-partners in Eastern Europe, Caucasus and CIS.
UNDP
Water Governance: http://www.undp.org/water/
Water and MDGs: http://www.undp.org/water/crosscutting/mdgandwater.html
Water and Gender Mainstreaming: http://www.undp.org/water/crosscutting/gender.html
Public
Private Partnerships for the Urban Environment – Case Studies:
http://www.undp.org/pppue/gln/case.htm
UNESCO Water Portal http://www.unesco.org/water/
UNESCO Official Site of the International Year of Freshwater 2003 http://www.wateryear2003.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=1456&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
UN Department for Economic and Social Affairs/Division for Sustainable Development http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/sdissues/water/water.htm
Water Related Database of the United Nations System http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/tech_coop/water/watbase.htm
World Bank – Water Supply and Sanitation http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTWSS/0,,menuPK:337308~pagePK:149018~piPK:149093~theSitePK:337302,00.html
Water Supply and
Sanitation Collaborative Council http://www.wash-cc.org/
The Council exists under a mandate from the United Nations and focuses exclusively
on those people around the world who currently lack water and sanitation. It
has a special interest in sanitation and hygiene and emphasizes the need to
view water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) as an inseparable trinity for development.
Water Footprint: http://www.waterfootprint.org/
Ecologic (Institute for
International and European Environmental Policy)
Water:
http://www.ecologic.de/modules.php?name=News&new_topic=15
Development:
http://www.ecologic.de/modules.php?name=News&new_topic=59
IRC International
Water and Sanitation Centre http://www.irc.nl/
Provides news and information, advice, research and training on low-cost water
supply and sanitation in developing countries
Conferences
4th World Water
Forum, Mexico, March 2006 http://www.worldwaterforum4.org.mx/home/home.asp?lan=
The World Water Forum is an initiative of the World Water Council that has
the aim of raising the awareness on water issues all over the world. As the
main international event on water, it seeks to enable multi-stakeholder participation
and dialogue to influence water policy making at a global level, thus assuring
better living standards for people all over the world and a more responsible
social behavior towards water issues in-line with the pursuit of sustainable
development.
Financing water
supply and sanitation in EECCA, November 2005: http://www.oecd.org/document/33/0,2340,en_2649_34291_35221537_1_1_1_1,00.html
Conference of EECCA Ministers of Economy/Finance, Environment and Water and
their partners from the OECD, 17-18th of November 2005, Yerevan, Armenia
Background papers available on:
Lester Brown, “Water
Scarcity Spreading”,
Earth Policy Institute, 2002
Water scarcity may be the most underestimated resource issue facing the world
today. As world water demand has more than tripled over the last half-century,
signs of water scarcity have become commonplace. Some of the more widespread
indicators are rivers running dry, wells going dry, and lakes disappearing.
Lester Brown, “Troubling
New Flows of Environmental Refugees”,
Earth Policy Institute, January 2004
The number of cross-border migrants which could rightly be characterized as
environmental refugees is probably increasing. When a boat with dead and surviving
refugees from Somalia, by way of Libya, shores on the coast of Italy nobody
can tell how many of them were political, economic or environmental refugees
- failed states produce all three. The greatest source of future environmental
refugees will be water scarcity. Hundreds of villages in Iran, Pakistan and
the inner parts of China have already been abandoned by their inhabitants.
Within this decade Quetta, a provincial capital in Pakistan, may have to be
abandoned, as might the capital of Yemen, Sana'a. Added risks stem from spreading
deserts, and further on into the century, rising sea levels.
Andrew Allan and Dr Patricia Wouters, “What Role for Water Law in the Emerging “Good Governance” Debate?”, University of Dundee, Scotland, March 2004
Inter-Parliamentary Union, “Water: The means required to preserve, manage and make the best use of this essential resource for sustainable development”, Resolution unanimously adopted by the 100th Inter-Parliamentary Conference, Moscow, 11 September 1998
Inter-Parliamentary Union/UNITAR, Global Capacity-Building Initiative for Parliaments on Sustainable Development – Report on the Working Group on Water, A joint Project of the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research, Paris, 22 – 23 April 2005
Inter-Parliamentary
Union/UNITAR, Global Capacity-Building
Initiative for Parliaments on Sustainable Development – Regional
Seminar for the Parliaments of the Arab States, 29-30 November 2005
Focuses on water management as an essential factor in achieving sustainable
development in the Arab region.
Websites:
World Bank – Water Resource Management http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTWRM/0,,contentMDK:20441122~menuPK:1304933~pagePK:148956~piPK:216618~theSitePK:337240,00.html
Third World Centre for Water Management, Mexico: http://www.thirdworldcentre.org/english.html
International Water Law Project
Bibliography: International Water Law: http://www.internationalwaterlaw.org/Bibliography/IWL-general.htm
International Water Law Research Institute
Water E-Law Library (WELL): http://www.dundee.ac.uk/iwlri/Research_WELL.php
David Hall, Water
in Public Hands, Public Services International, June 2001
In
the last 10 years many organizations have promoted privatization, invariably
through a concession
or lease arrangement
on the French model (sometimes described
as a public-private partnership – (PPP)), as the way forward for urban
water supply and sanitation. This is the position taken by the multinational
water companies, and is the dominant view in the World Bank. The purpose of
this study is to show that the challenges facing developing and transition
countries can be met by restructuring and development of water undertakings
within the public sector – providing a public service directly owned
and controlled by a democratically elected authority. It is intended to complement
the existing literature on water and sanitation, much of which concentrates
on the question of how to privatize management through PPPs - but does not
spend much time discussing whether it is in fact the best of the possible options.
Aldo Baietti,William
Kingdom,Meike van Ginneken, Characteristics
of Well-Performing Public Water Utilities, World Bank Water Supply & Sanitation Working Notes,
May 2006
In essence, private financing has only accounted for less than 5 percent of
the total investment in water supply and sanitation over the last 20 years.
At the same time, some public utilities have become more autonomous and accountable.
Some have improved their performance without involving the private sector and
working totally within a public environment of key stakeholders and funding
sources.
Andrew Nickson
and Richard Franceys, Tapping
the Market - The Challenge of Institutional Reform in the Urban Water Sector, Palgrave MacMillan, August
2003
This book examines the challenge of reform of the urban water supply sector
in developing countries, based on case studies of state-owned water companies
in Ghana, India, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe. The growing public private partnership
for urban water supply is analyzed, focusing on the concession contract model.
The implications for meeting the water needs of the urban poor, for the regulatory
role of the state and for state capacity building are also discussed.
Andrew Nickson, “The role of the Non-State sector in Urban Water Supply”, International Development Department (IDD) The University of Birmingham, October 2002, presented at the 'Making Services Work for Poor People'. World Development Report (WDR) 2003/04 Workshop held at Eynsham Hall, Oxford 4-5 November 2002;
Mukami Kariuki and Jordan Schwartz, "Small-Scale Private Service Providers of Water Supply and Electricity – A Review of Incidence, Structure, Pricing and Operating Characteristics", World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 3727, October 2005
Case Studies on public-private partnerships by the Commonwealth Foundation
Websites:
World Bank - Privatizing Water and Sanitation Services/ Papers and Links: http://rru.worldbank.org/PapersLinks/Privatizing-Water-Sanitation-Services/
Public-Private
Partnerships for Water Supply and Sanitation – Policy
Principles and Implementation Guidelines for Sustainable Services:
http://www.partnershipsforwater.net/en/start.html
This
multi-partner initiative focuses on enabling successful PPPs in water supply
and sanitation projects
in order
to promote overall water sector development.
The partner’s goal is to assist local, national and international private
and public actors (including small-scale providers) by proposing formal approaches
for good water governance in PPP projects.
Public Services
International - Campaign to resist privatization of water services: http://www.worldpsi.org/TemplateEn.cfm?Section=Water&Template=/TaggedPage/TaggedPageDisplay.cfm&TPLID=32&ContentID=2404
International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI), Local Government
Implementation Guide for the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation and the Millennium
Development Goals
Volume 1: Water, Sanitation and Human Settlements
ICLEI Water campaign http://www.iclei.org/index.php?id=799
ICLEI's Water Campaign is designed to assist local governments in their efforts
to manage water sustainably. The Campaign provides a framework that encourages
the development of local water action plans to achieve tangible improvements
in local water quality, conservation and access. Participants in the campaign
work towards achieving holistic integrated water resources management.
Projects:
The
Barefoot College – Rain Water Harvesting, India
Since 1986, the College has focused on rain water harvesting and piped water
systems as the emphasis has moved beyond providing clean drinking water to
providing easy access to drinking water. 13 villages, 1200 connections and
15000 people now benefit from community piped water supply systems, designed,
planned and implemented entirely by the village people. These communities pay
Rs. 30/ month for two hours of water per day.
Jal
Bhagirathi Foundation – Natural
Resource Management Project, India
The project in the
Marwar region is a Natural Resource Management Project with special emphasis
at building the capacities of backward rural communities
for management of critical water resources. While the project seeks to support
traditional institutions of managing common property resources, it seeks to
decrease biotic pressure on the fragile eco-system. The project will provide
drought relief to a region extremely distressed with repeated droughts and
also focus on community driven solutions for long term drought proofing of
the Project Area.
Civil Society Organizations:
Friends of the Earth: http://www.foe.org/
World Development Movement: http://www.wdm.org.uk/
Public Citizen: http://www.citizen.org/cmep/Water/humanright/un/
Environmental Security Initiative
The Environment and Security (ENVSEC) Initiative aims at increasing co-operation
and security within and between communities by assessing and addressing the
interdependency of natural environment and human security.
GEF/UNDP/UNOPS, Improved land and water resource management in the Upper Syr
Darya basin in the context of Sustainable Development
The Upper Syr Darya basin is threatened by the lack of a coordinated water
management strategy that integrates land and water use in a sustainable manner.
This project, in coordination with the UNDP Energy and Environment Practice
and the UNDP, UNEP, OSCE and NATO Environmental and Security (ENVSEC) initiative
will address transboundary integrated land and water management through a dual
prong approach. The first part is preparation of a transboundary diagnostic
analysis complemented by a stakeholder analysis and causal chain analysis that
will assist in development of a set of eco-system quality objectives (EQOs)
that will serve as the basis for the regional strategic action programme and
the national action plans. The second part of this approach is the testing
of these EQOs as instruments for sustainable use of land and water resources
in the region. These EQOs will be scaleable for the whole region to down to
small villages. Once these EQOs are established, two community level demonstration
projects that emphasize issues of sustainable development in transboundary
cooperation in water resource utilization and economic development will be
implemented to test their practicality. The projects will be monitored and
evaluated for their application throughout the basin.
UNEP Regional Office Europe, Rapid Environmental Assessment of the Tisza River
Basin
Almost five years after a cyanide spill from a gold mine in northern Romania
traveled down the Tisza river in Hungary, leaving a trail of ecological destruction
in its wake, local communities in the region remain at risk from floods and
industrial pollution.
GEF/UNDP Bratislava Regional Office/UNOPS, Establishing Mechanisms for Integrated
Management of Land and Water Resources in the Tisza River Basin
The Tisza river system is an internationally significant river system, which
is significantly degraded and continues to be threatened. The Tisza River Basin
is in need of a coordinated regional effort to develop harmonized national
and regional policies for integrated land and water management. This project
will address the issues of flooding, pollution, loss of biodiversity, adaptation
to climate change, and the need for sustainable development in the Tisza River
Basin. A major product will be the development of a regionally owned Strategic
Action Programme, which will to the extent possible be streamlined with an
EU River Basin Management Plan for the Tisza, meeting the requirements of the
Water Framework Directive, and a Flood Prevention and Risk Management Strategy,
while at the same time addressing wider sustainability issues in the water,
agriculture, energy, industry and navigation sectors, highlighted by the work
of the UNDP in their Tisza Basin Sustainable Development Strategy.
Tim Kessler and Nancy Alexander, Citizens’ Network on Essential Services, Financing and Provision of Basic Infrastructure: Synthesis, Commentary and Policy Implications of Water and Electricity Service Case Studies
A.K. Chapagain
and A.Y. Hoekstra, ‘Virtual
water flows between nations in relation to trade in livestock and livestock
products’, Value of Water
Research Report Series No. 13, August 2003, UNESCO-IHE.
This
study aims to develop a methodology to assess the virtual water content of
various types of livestock
and livestock
products and to quantify the virtual
water flows related to the international trade in livestock and its products.
Virtual water content – The
virtual water content of a product is the
volume of water used to produce the product, measured at the place where the
product was actually produced (production site specific definition). The virtual
water content of a product can also be defined as the volume of water that
would have been required to produce the product in the place where the product
is consumed (consumption site specific definition).
Aldo Baietti and Paolo Curiel, "Financing Water Supply and Sanitation Investments", World Bank Water Supply & Sanitation Working Notes, October 2005
USAID Case Studies of Bankable Water and Sewerage Utilities
OECD, Financing
Water Services and the Social Implications of Tariff Reform,
November 2005
WELL Factsheet – How Small Water Enterprises can contribute to MDGs for water
Meera Mehta and
Kameel Virjee, "Financing
Small Water Supply and Sanitation Service Providers - Exploring
the Microfinance
Option in Sub-Saharan Africa", WSP – Water and Sanitation
Program, December 2003
The paper provides several examples of water projects and touch on the issues
that impede or facilitate small enterprises, giving particular attention to
the access to credit.
Mukami Kariuki and Jordan Schwartz, "Small-Scale Private Service Providers of Water Supply and Electricity A Review of Incidence, Structure, Pricing and Operating Characteristics", World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 3727, October 2005
UNDP Serbia and
Montenegro, Stuck
in the Past – Energy, Environment
and Poverty in Serbia and Montenegro, 2004
This report takes up into the poor household to understand how the poor respond
to external circumstances. It suggests that if the poor were able to heat more
living space with less energy, more energy could be diverted to productive
use, creating jobs providing goods and services, empowering local communities,
reducing poverty and facilitating development.
UNDP Serbia and Montenegro, Field
assessment mission of UNDP to the flooded areas in Vojvodina, 10 May 2005,
Upon the flooding of several municipalities in the Banat region of Vojvodina,
north Serbia, 21 April 2005, UNDP Serbia and Montenegro undertook a one-day
assessment field mission to the affected areas in order to identify possible
programmatic interventions in the reconstruction and recuperation process of
the region.
American University, Trade and Environment Database (TED) Case
Study: Danube Pollution, November 1997
Five major rivers and 165 million people in 17 countries pour pollution into
the Danube River. The river absorbs raw sewage from cities, pesticides and
chemicals from farmers' fields, waste from factories and bilge oil from ships.
Virtually enclosed once it begins to weave its way through Europe the Danube
retains most of the pollution reaching its waters.
Websites:
The
Trade & Environment
Database http://www.american.edu/ted/ted.htm
The
Trade & Environment
Database (TED) is a collection of categorical case studies that began with
a focus
on solely environmental issues, but did
not include the economic consequences of other social policy choices, such
as culture, rights, or other issues.
UNDP/GEF, Transfer
of Environmentally Sound Technologies (TEST) to Reduce Transboundary Pollution
in the Danube
River Basin – Final Evaluation
Report, March 2005
The UNDP/GEF Pollution Reduction Programme identified 130 major manufacturing
enterprises of concern (known as hot spots) within the Danube River Basin;
a significant number of these were contributing to transboundary pollution
in the form of nutrients and/or persistent organic pollutants. In spite of
the environmental problems they were causing, there was a lack of convincing
evidence that it is possible to comply with environmental norms while still
maintaining or perhaps enhancing their competitive position. This project set
out to build capacity in existing cleaner production institutions in five Danubian
countries to apply the UNIDO programme on Transfer of Environmentally Sound
Technology (TEST) at selected pilot enterprises that were contributing to transboundary
pollution in the Danube River Basin and the Black Sea. The aim of the assistance
was to bring these pilot enterprises into compliance with environmental norms
of the Danube River Protection Convention while at the same time taking into
account their needs to remain competitive and to deal with the social consequences
of major technology upgrading. The enhanced institutional capacity would then
be available to assist other enterprises of concern in these countries as well
as other Danubian countries.
Malcolm Farley and Steve Kilbey, Environmentally-friendly hygienic dry sanitation technology, 25th WEDC Conference, Integrated Development for Water Supply and Sanitation. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 1999
Florian Wieneke,
"Acceptance
Analysis of New Technology for Sustainable Water Management and Sanitation:
A Case Study of Operating Farm Households in the
Mekong Delta, Vietnam", PhD thesis, August 2005
Recent
development in agricultural und industrial production leads to increasing
pollution of the water sources
in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam. According to
the “Vietnam Environment Monitor 2003 – Water”, no safe drinking
water is provided to approximately 40 % of the total population. Thus, environmental
institutions and governments became aware of the looming fresh water crisis.
As a result, the “National Rural Clean Water Supply and Sanitation Strategy” (NRWSS)
was elaborated as part of the national “Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper” to
take responsibility for the Millennium Development Goals.
Websites:
US Environmental
Protection Agency - Environmental Justice: http://www.epa.gov/compliance/environmentaljustice/
UNDP, Mainstreaming
Gender in Water Management – A Practical Journey
to Sustainability – A Resource Guide, February 2003
The Gender and Water Resource Guide has been developed to assist practitioners
in mainstreaming gender within the context of integrated water resources management
(IWRM). The mainstreaming of gender is critical to reach the Millennium Development
Goals as well as the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation. The resource guide
consolidates available materials and gives a quick guide to accessing existing
information. UNDP and its partners will aim to continually update the guide
in order to keep abreast of new materials, information and concepts.
UNIFEM, Concept
Paper – Promoting and Protecting Women’s
Right to Water in the Context of Globalization and Feminized Poverty
The
paper provides a rights-based analysis of economic policies relating to water
as well as a usage perspective
in light of women’s care work. It
benefited from an extensive review of relevant literature, human rights provisions
esp. the general recommendation on the right to water, as well as the discussions
in relation to the World Water Forum held in Kyoto in 2004.
Ben Crow, "Water:
Gender and Material Inequalities in the Global South”,
Center for Global, International and Regional Studies, University of California,
September 2001
Because water is pivotal for health and livelihoods, inadequate access to
water may be a significant cause of poverty and conflict. Poor access to clean
water for drinking causes ill health. Poor access to water for agriculture
and other livelihoods may be a cause of material deprivation. Water deprivation
is widespread, and at the beginning of the twenty-first century it has to be
tackled under unpromising conditions. Scarcity is increasing and government
action is becoming more constrained. These circumstances demand innovation
if water deprivation is to be tackled effectively. That innovation will require
us to understand the technical, social and natural dynamics of the main modes
of water access.
Ben Crow and Jessica
Roy, “Gender
Relations and Access to Water: What We Want to Know About Social Relations
and Women's Time Allocation” Center
for Global, International and Regional Studies, University of California, March
2004
Inadequate access to safe water has severe consequences for health and livelihood.
More than one billion people do not have access to safe water. This paper addresses
three questions: 1) How could a focus on social relations illuminate access
to water? 2) Is there statistical evidence of a water-poverty connection? 3)
How could time allocation studies improve our understanding of access to water?
Ana Elena Obando, Women and Water Privatization, Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID), November 2003
T. Jahnavi, Water and Women, The Flow, March 2003
Websites:
UNESCO Water at the core of women’s traditional tasks, Facts and Figures: Women and Water http://www.wateryear2003.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=2543&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
World Bank Gender, Water Supply and Sanitation http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTGENDER/0,,contentMDK:20205024~menuPK:489481~pagePK:148956~piPK:216618~theSitePK:336868,00.html
Gender and Water Alliance http://www.genderandwater.org/
Global Development Research Center - Gender Perspective in Water Management http://www.gdrc.org/uem/water/gender/
John Scanlon, Angela Cassar, and Noemi Nemes, "Water as a Human Right?", IUCN Environmental Policy and Law Paper, No. 51, 2004
Rosemarie Baer, “Why we need an International Water Convention”, Swiss Coalition of Development Organizations, March 2004
Hilda L. Solis, “Environmental Justice: An Unalienable Right for All” , American Bar Association
Upala Devi Banerjee, “Lessons learned From Rights Based Approaches in the Asia-Pacific Region”, September 2005
Sebastian Silva Leander, “What can a Human Rights Based Approach Bring to Water Governance?“
Water and Indigenous People
Indigenous Peoples Kyoto Water Declaration Third World Water Forum, Kyoto, Japan. March 2003
Websites:
Website of the Public Citizen - Online Water Rights Library: http://www.citizen.org/cmep/Water/articles.cfm?ID=10840
Indigenous Environmental Network – USA: http://www.ienearth.org/water_campaign.html
Indigenous Water Initiative: http://www.indigenouswater.org
Responses were received, with many thanks, from:
| 1. Vanessa
Farr, UN Institute for Disarmament Research 2. Carlos A. Linares, UNDP/BDP (message 1, message 2) 3. Francesca Cook, UNDP/BCPR 4. Jens Wandel, UNDP/BOM 5. Tek B. Gurung, UNDP Nepal 6. Abdou Kolley, UNDP Banjul 7. Raghda Jaber, UNDP Lebanon 8. Ram Shankar, UNDP Nigeria 9. Juerg Staudenmann, UNDP/Bratislava Regional Centre (message 1, message 2, message 3) 10. R. Andreas Kraemer, Ecologic 11. Lenni Montiel, UNDP Vietnam 12. Khalil Tian Shahyd, UNDP India 13. Mamour A. Jagne, UNDP Banjul 14. Paul Paryski, Blue Ribbon Water Task Force 15. Mohamed Bayoumi, UNDP Egypt (message 1, message 2) 16. Sukhrob Khoshmukhamedov, UNDP Tajikistan 17. Upala Devi Banerjee, UNHCHR/ Asia Pacific Regional Office 18. Paola Pagliani and Christina Hansson, UNDP Serbia and Montenegro 19. Degol Hailu, UNDP Caribbean SURF 20. Bharati Sadasivam, UNDP/BRSP 21. Anuradha Rajivan, Asia Pacific Regional HDR Initiative (APRI) UNDP RCC 22. Thord Palmlund, UNDP/BDP 23. Florian Wieneke, German Agro Action 24. Ines Raimundo, Eduardo Mondlane University 25. Aster Zaoude, UNDP/BDP |
26. Nisreen
Alami, UNIFEM 27. Girma Hailu, UNDP Ethiopia 28. Shahin Yaqub, UNDP/HDRO 29. Vijaya Singh, UNDP Nepal 30. Prema Gera, UNDP India 31. Luc Franzoni, UNDP/BRSP 32. Taib Diallo, UNDP Senegal 33. Marthe Yansomwe, UNDP DRC 34. Aruna Bolaky, UNDP Algeria 35. Helena Naber, UNDP Jordan 36. Laurent Rudasingwa, UNDP/BCPR 37. Sergio Feld, UNDP/Regional Center Bangkok 38. Emilie Filmer-Wilson, UNDP/BDP/Oslo Governance Centre 39. Asenaca Ravuvu, UNDP Fiji 40. Michel Kabalisa, UNDP Rwanda 41. Claudio Finizio, UNDP Mauritania 42. Aparna Basnyat, UNDP/ Regional Centre Colombo 43. Karin Svadlenak-Gomez, UNV 44. Mohamed Bouchakour, UNDP Algeria 45. Sara de Pablos, UNDP Mauritania 46. Leila Tadj, UNDP Algeria 47. Aeneas Chapinga Chuma, UNDP Zambia 48. Ngila Mwase, UNDP Mozambique 49. G. Uyanga, UNDP Mongolia 50. Elena Malanova, UNDP Russia |
Vanessa Farr, UNIDIR, wrote:
Dear Kevin
In the sections on ‘Water and Human Development’ and ‘Managing water as a trans-boundary resource’, I would also urge you to consider the impacts of sustained armed conflict on people’s access to water. From my own field observations, I conclude that:
There is also quite a lot of research on the ways in which prolific small arms hamper humanitarian assistance and deny development and progress, which will be useful for you to consult.
Please let me know if I can offer further assistance on defining these areas for discussion in the Report.
Regards
Vanessa Farr
UN Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR)
Dear Kevin and colleagues from HDRO,
I will send detailed comments next week to concept note circulated date November 2005. However, I am sending this initial reaction to clarify one important issue reflected throughout the concept note. Whenever the concept of access to water is mentioned, we need to be correct about referring to access to safe water or safe water sources (for consumption).
The argument that I am supporting is that everyone has access to water. But not everyone has access to safe water. Thus, the MDG target 10 clearly indicates access to safe water. Who serves the officially unserved population? – informal sector providers do, in addition to a multiplicity of other ways in which people and communities provide access for themselves (from un-safe sources). In many cases, where supply of safe water is inadequate, local entrepreneurs have stepped in to provide affordable services, filling the gaps left by official providers. Statistics do not count or include informal sector providers, deficits only reflect those not connected to official systems. Coverage from any source of water is indeed 100% for those living on this planet. There is no official accounting for informal provision. Everyone has water to drink on a daily basis. Let’s get this right from the beginning.
Attached please find recent World Bank publication on this issue. I will be happy to discuss this further.
Best regards,
Carlos
Carlos A. Linares
Sr. Water Policy Adviser
Energy and Environment Group
Bureau for Development Policy
United Nations Development Programme, UNDP
Dear Kevin,
What an excellent choice of topic for the next HDR. The following short paragraphs (excerpts from: The DAC Guidelines Helping Prevent Violent Conflict) contain interesting information that may be of use to you as you move forward in the process. They outline the links between water (environmental resources) and conflict, including issues around regional management of natural resources.
Access to water will increasingly be at the centre of national and international tensions.
Best regards,
Francesca Cook
Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery
UNDP
Dear Kevin,
It was a real pleasure to read the concept note, which indeed captures issues and complexities around water well and in a comprehensive way. I will make two comments here; i) an example of how progress can be made in water management for human consumption if one thinks about it as a “common”; and ii) how important it is for us to emphasize the need to develop capacities to understand these issues.
In Turkmenistan, in 1998 onwards there was high water consumption per inhabitant in the major cities and still people had very little access to water. The situation was that water was provided free or charge but in reality there were so many leaks, so that people only had irregular access to water. What happened in that scenario was that the more wealthy people bought pumps, so they would suck the water to their houses first reducing already scarce water to everyone else.
At the same time, with its newly acquired independence there was a complete vacuum around who owned houses, pipes, who should finance maintenance and overall ability to formulate any kind of water management policy and plan. In this environment it was not possible for the development banks or any large donor to operate, so the water situation for individuals declined significantly year on year.
We managed to make some progress by treating this as a problem of how to manage a common good and avoid “tragedy of the commons”. The idea was simple.
Thousands lived in buildings with 5 – 6 floors. When water pressure was up, the upper floors would not get much mainly because of three things: i) people filled all kind of tanks and containers with water when something was there and those at the end of the grid got little; ii) as water was not there normally, leaking toilets and open taps (people forgot to close last time some drops came), resulted in serious waste and iii) the pressure was not high enough.
The solution was to organize dwellers building by building and install pressure pumps at the basement of each stairwell. The pumps worked when there was water and ensure that all floors would get water. When you open your tap, pressure goes down and the pump will work. In areas where the dwellers manage to get this to work, the result was astounding. Water consumption dropped significantly, and willingness to collaborate went up. The main reasons were that the pumps only work if there is no leakage in the building (otherwise the pressure can not be kept up), so when one apartment did not fix a leakage everybody could hear the pump going all the time and they would find the leakage and insist it gets fixed. Secondly those on the upper floors no longer had to go down to the first floor and carry water up, so they liked the arrangement. The first floor dwellers no longer had to constantly give water to their upper floor neighbors so they liked the arrangement. Finally, we achieved to create nascent community organization in a country where NGOs were illegal. When each building saw the water as a common limited good and organized around this – they would reduce their water consumption significantly leaving more water to everybody else and they were happier with the outcome. However, there are many issue around this type of investment and also in the development context in Turkmenistan, so I am not sure the solution was sustainable. However, the fact remains that water consumption could be reduced significantly for those involved in this scheme and they felt empowered by approaching water management this way.
The second point is simple to make. As the paper captures well, management of water as a resource is a complex issue that requires real expertise to analyze. The debate is polarized and research of what works in terms of securing people access to reasonable amount of water per day – in particular in cities – both small and large, suffers in this environment. We could also use the 2006 HDR as an opportunity to outline how we can measure their capacity to analyze, create policies and manage water resources. This type of analysis would help everybody to decide which approach to use and may also break up the current polarization between the market/pricing approach and the fact that people must drink water everyday to survive.
With best regards
Jens
Jens Wandel
Director
Center for Business Solutions/ Bureau of Management
UNDP
Dear Kevin,
I’ll go into details of the concept note and hopefully make more substantive comments. However, when I just scroll down the 8 pager concept note, I could not see the “Water and Energy” in bold heading. Perhaps this dimension is completely missing (I’ll have to get into details). For now, I believe that “Water and Energy” dimension should receive a very important place in the HDR. From, almost everywhere in the world, one can find evidences how important water is for power/energy generation and thereafter, how important is energy for achieving MDGs and Human Development. Since it is very obvious, I suggest including this dimension in the concept note and hopefully it will then get through all the way!
Best regards,
Tek
Tek B. Gurung
UNDP Nepal
Dear colleagues,
As Carlos put it, I want to agree that everyone has access to water, and as far as I am concerned, two issues stand out as important for the 2006 HDR to address. The first is that of water safety as articulated by Carlos. There will be need to look at how safe and adequate is the water for consumption purposes, as unsafe drinking water, though satisfies the immediate need, thirst, may lead to several undesirable health-related consequences. The second issue for me is that of affordability. Given that in many places, public provision is not enough and is complemented by private provision, safe drinking water may be available/accessible but unaffordable by the poor, and as a result, they turn to other options that could be hazardous to their health.
Regards,
Abdou Kolley
UNDP Banjul
Greetings,
Most of the water issues and some other resources issues as well like oil, or minerals, in the case of the Middle East, center around land ownership and rights, which in many cases suffer from tensions between traditional forms of ownership and modern legal proofs. The tension in the land tenure arena is very high, and is a direct input, if not the main one, into the water resource availability. Should this issue be tackled in the HDR of 2006, or does it merit a separate note/report, etc.?
Raghda
Raghda Jaber
UNDP Lebanon
Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the HDR 2006 concept note. Water and human development is an excellent choice given the increasing depletion of water resources around the world and the increasing levels of conflict around this valuable resource. A couple of observations on the concept note:
1. Explicit reference to the issue of water conservation techniques would greatly add to a discussion and analyses on water issues in this HDR – this might be appropriate under the section on water and human development. I believe a detailed discussion on water conservation techniques would be appropriate in this HDR dealing with water. Water harvesting of course is well known especially given its success in Asia. But, can this be replicated on a cost-effective basis in Africa? Such replication is likely to encourage South-South cooperation. There are numerous other water conservation techniques that are being used around the world that deserve elucidation.
2. Link to the MDGs - I think a HDR on water would also wish to consider issues surrounding large dams and the consequent conflicts that the construction of these dams have caused around the world – whether in Latin America, Asia (specifically, in India and China – the cases of the dam on the Narmada river, the Tehri dam and the Three Gorges dam). The destruction caused by these dams has been both ecological and social (skewed rehabilitation of project affected people). Are large dams really the answer to increasing the availability of water or are there other ways by which this water can be more effectively harnessed? Though normally a politically sensitive topic, a HDR on water could be an appropriate place to discuss the viability of large dams including the Report by the Commission on Large Dams in 2000-01. Rehabilitation problems are likely to have a direct linkage to a lack of achievement of MDG issues in the affected areas.
3. Traditionally, I realize that the HDR focuses on the needs of less developed countries and their citizens. However, given that the growing crisis over water resources is truly a global problem; the rapid depletion of water resources in North America (especially in western and mid-west US) may deserve some discussion.
Sincerely,
Ram Shankar
Program Specialist, UNDP
UN House, Abuja - Nigeria
Juerg Staudenmann, UNDP/Bratislava Regional Centre, wrote:
Dear Kevin,
Once again I would like to congratulate you and the HDRO for the choice of the theme for HDR 2006. “Water” with its various facets is certainly one of the key issues for (human) development and I’m looking forward to a period of in-depth analysis and stimulating discussions. In addition to the points you mentioned, I would like to quickly highlight a couple of aspects that I believe deserve special attention in the further discussion and development of the HDR concept:
Best Regards,
Juerg
Juerg Staudenmann, Water Governance Advisor
UNDP, Europe and the CIS
Bratislava Regional Centre
R. Andreas Kraemer, Ecologic, wrote:
Dear Kevin,
Your list of issues closes with "Examples of successful/unsuccessful use of water markets and the regulation needed to support them". Ecologic (Institute for International and European Environmental Policy) produced two reports (see below) with case studies, one generally on economic instruments, another specifically on "rights markets" for water pollution. Both reports lead to further sources.
The main conclusions (for me) are:
1) Designing and
administering such schemes is complex and monitoring requirements high; many developing countries will find it impossible to establish the necessary
institutions;
2) Regulation is required to ensure that monopoly, oligopoly or other competition-restraining
features do not affect the market;
3) Efficiency gains are small in water pollution trading and in water rights markets, but they can be considerable when water (rather than water rights) is traded;
4) Water users associations resemble many of the features of (successful) water markets; it may be useful to look at the relevant (empirical) research by, inter alia, Elinor Ostrom.
You find detailed conclusions in the reports (see links below) and more information on our relevant work on the thematic web site sections for
Water: http://www.ecologic.de/modules.php?name=News&new_topic=15
and
Development: http://www.ecologic.de/modules.php?name=News&new_topic=59
Best regards,
Andreas
Andreas Kraemer
Ecologic
Lenni Montiel, UNDP Vietnam, wrote:
Dear Kevin and the HDRO Team,
Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the HDR 2006 concept note. The selected topic for the HDR 2006 is not only relevant for its own merits given the rapid advance of the water crisis in this millennium, but it will certainly be a significant contribution/reference to the 4th World Water Forum to be organized next year in Mexico. Water is a complex and multidimensional issue and I guess you will be receiving several comments and contributions. I would like to provide a complementary view, to what has already been suggested by other colleagues, mainly from the perspective of linking democratic governance and water considerations. Hope they will be useful.
I. Water and Governance
“Water and Governance” seems to be an area that will require more “explicit” attention. The intention to explore “wider governance structures that exclude poor people from water” is a good start. Attention is been given to markets and non-governmental organizations in the provision of water, and this seems to be also good and very much necessary.
However, while reading the concept note the perception is that practically no reference is made to state organizations. I refer here not only to national government agencies – Ministries and Executive agencies of different nature. I also consider national parliaments, the judiciary and the systems of justice, local government. As per, national executive agencies, it is clear that without strong national agencies with good capacities to plan and provide strategic direction and regulation to the management of water resources, the involvement of other players (private sector, NGOs, communities, etc…) will not be as effective as it could be. In this section I will say that Capacity development for Integrated Water Resources Management should be considered explicitly and be systematically emphasized.
1. Water and Parliaments
I also think that some attention needs to be put to the role of National Parliaments as the entities that are responsible for setting up the legislative framework in which water is managed, financed and regulated at national and at local levels. Parliaments are also important as political arena for the representation of people’s interests and concerns around water issues and problems – not few in many cases. It would be interesting to present some few cases in which people’s voice is represented in national parliaments to sort out water problems, linking this with parliamentary efforts in terms of poverty reduction and MDGs. Parliaments do play a fundamental role in exercising oversight functions over Executive agencies, and if there are water problems in a country, then it is clear that parliaments could do more to held governments accountable to the people for their inaction or ineffective interventions in this area. Finally, parliaments are the institutions that ultimately allocate financial resources for different objectives and priorities. The analysis of their roles in securing appropriate consideration of water priorities and programmes in national budgets could contribute to better policy-making in this area. Parliamentary practices in national budget planning, ratification and overseeing in relation to water priorities could be an interesting subject for analysis, not to mention that it would be relevant to look at it also from the perspective of gender budgeting. Let’s not forget, that the role of Parliaments in the achievement of MDGs has been pointed out as of a paramount importance during the Summits in years 2000 and 2005 (see Summit Outcome Document). For your reference:
2. Water and Justice
The concept note is providing a good framework for linking water, human development, human rights, inequality and justice. The amount of conflict and tension that exists around water resources within and between countries inevitably leads to the fact that a very important component of the governance of water is related to the functioning (or not) of justice systems. Justice systems and access to justice have fundamental implications in ensuring access to water, especially for the poor and disadvantaged groups of populations. Access to justice is important when considering challenges such as management of water resources in remote areas, water resources and the rights of indigenous peoples, controlled access to water as a discriminatory practice against groups of population due to ethnic, religious or class considerations. The role of traditional and aboriginal systems of justice in the resolution of water disputes may also be important, particularly when they clash with more formal and modern legislative frameworks and obviously are a source of conflict between State organizations and indigenous peoples. In fact, water for many is perceived as an “indigenous right”. Enforcement of environmental laws and water law is undoubtedly a relevant issue.
3. Water and Local Government
Effective management of water resources in cities but also in rural areas is often linked to the actual capacities of local government to perform these functions. From a technical and managerial point of view these capacities are often not present in local government. About the roles of local government in water management much has been written and analysed during recent years. But, most of times with regards to the capacity of local government as a provider of services. I believe attention also needs to be put to “local representative bodies” as the ‘link” between providers and people, consumers, citizens. The role of individual local councilors in terms of key players in the public policy making around water issues needs to be highlighted. Individual Councilors do make significant contributions to poverty reduction initiatives, human rights protection, fight against discrimination and racial and gender equality and their connection with the management of water problems and needs could be positively analysed in the report.