UNDP
Foreword

Start building
the foundations

Water is one of the essentials of life, and a key foundation for human development. But, as you will read, for large sections of humanity, this foundation is not in place. Some people believe that the current water crisis is occuring because there just isn't enough water for everyone. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) rejects this view, arguing that the roots of the crisis can be traced to poverty and inequality. With one billion denied their basic right to safe drinking water, the world's poorest are paying the highest price in this crisis. Lack of water creates cycles of poverty which lead to more inequalities between men and women and boys and girls, more child ill-health, and more disease and death. Two million lives could be saved by making water the top political priority. But it is not: water strategies do not win elections, and toilets are not core issues in any democratic elections. As a result, the international community has failed to make water a priority. And, the poor still lack the political voice or muscle to assert their claim to water as a human right. However, this booklet is very far from a council of despair. Our research suggests that the world already has the finance, technology and capacity to consign the water crisis to history, just as surely as today's rich countries did a century ago. What are missing are well-designed, properly financed plans of action. To repeat: we do not see an absolute shortage of supply - the world is not running out of water. But millions of the world's most vulnerable people do live in areas of mounting water

stress. More needs to be done to address threats posed by climate change. Competition for water will increase in the decades ahead as populations grow, and industrialization and the needs of agriculture drive up demand for it. Around 1.4 billion people live in river basins where water use exceeds recharge rates. Rivers are drying up, underground aquifers are failing and water-based ecosystems are degrading fast. Theworld is running down one of itsmost precious resources while, at the same time, running up an ecological debt that will burden you - the younger generation - with an increasingly difficult problem. If the necessary corrective actions are not taken, two things could happen. First, the weakest could see their right to clean water eroded by more powerful groups of people. Second, cross-border conflicts could intensify and break out into open warfare if they are not checked by public policies and international cooperation. The 2006 Human Development Report was designed to stimulate debate amongst policymakers on these crucial issues. I hope that this Youth Summary of the Report will stimulate a similar and creative debate amongst the rising generation who will, if the current inertia onwater policy persists, have to face awater crisis that dwarfs that faced by today's leaders.

Kemal Dervis

Administrator, United Nations Development Programme

Youth
Foreword

You have to work today to save
the world tomorrow

"…they put it in a plastic bag and throwit in the street? That's unbelievable!" A chorus of incredulity rises from the six young people around the table.

"No! I tell you, it's true!" A voice cuts across the disbelief. "What else can people do? There are no pipes. There are no toilets. Where else do you go?" Relaxing in to her seat as her point sinks in, Patricia surveys the faces the room. "Really, we have no idea how lucky we are."

Condensing the 2006 Human Development Report into 32 youth-focused pages takes a lot of brainstorming, research, writing, and story telling. It's the second evening of the editorial meeting and young writers, artists, and editors from around the world are discussing the finer points of the water and sanitation crisis. The particulars of "flying toilets" in Kibera, Kenya launch the editors into an excited discussion of the various merits of well-digging, latrine-building, and drip irrigation."

The Human Development Report (HDR) is one of the bestknown and widely read United Nations publications. The 2006 report tackles one of the most challenging and most ignored issues facing the global human family: the availability of clean water and adequate sanitation. Ensuring safe water and sanitation worldwide would save the lives of 1.8 million children each year, and would grant dignity to the 2.6 billion people who live without sanitation."

The HDR is a fascinating document, full of facts, figures, and first-hand accounts from the front lines of the water and"

sanitation crisis all around the world. It is also 400 pages long and delves into complex and convoluted government policy issues, so it's not exactly a must-read for the youth of today. This is why the UNDP invited the young people of Peace Child International's world network to create an illustrated summary of the report specifically targeted at youth.

Around the table, the discussion has turned to submissions. There are over 500. Neat stacks of essays, poems, drawings and photographs are strewn across the table in minutes. A hum of page-flipping and excited murmurs settles over the room as the young editors read and share what the world's youth think about water scarcity. The result is the magazine you are reading now...