| United Nations |
|
E/CN.17/1998/2 |
Economic and Social Council
Distr. GENERAL
27 January 1998
ORIGINAL: ENGLISH
Economic and Social Council
Commission on Sustainable Development
Sixth session
20 April-1 May 1998
Strategic approaches to freshwater management
Report of the Secretary-General
Contents
Paragraphs Page
I. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-2 3
II. Problem clusters: identification of areas
for action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-15 3
A. Access to urban and rural water supply and
sanitation services. . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-7 3
B. Water for sustainable food production and
rural development. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-9 4
C. Growth in the demands and impacts of
industrial use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 4
D. Degraded environments. . . . . . . . . . . . 11-12 4
E. Undervalued water resources. . . . . . . . . 13-14 5
F. Weak institutional and regulatory
frameworks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 5
III. Key issues in freshwater management:
implications for policy choices and management
options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16-28 5
A. Current gaps in freshwater management. . . . 16-19 5
1. Overall lack of awareness of the
scope and function of freshwater
management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 5
2. Absence of explicit linkages with
socio-economic development . . . . . . . 17 5
3. Declining capacity to assess the
availability and variability of water
resources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 6
4. Mobilization of financial resources. . . 19 6
B. Implications for action: guiding principles
and strategic themes . . . . . . . . . . . . 20-28 6
1. Integrated management as an overall
approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21-22 6
2. Water allocation policies to satisfy
basic human needs and promote
employment and income generation . . . . 23-24 7
3. Institutional reform: separation of
policy, regulatory and operational
functions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 7
4. Negotiation of shared transboundary
water resources. . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 8
5. Improved information management and
information flows. . . . . . . . . . . . 27 8
6. Progressive financing of all
water-related services, including
irrigation and drainage and sanitation 28 8
IV. Strategic actions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29-49 8
A. Promoting ownership and participation of
key user and interest groups . . . . . . . . 30 8
B. Promoting productivity gains and
sustainability through enhanced regulation
and the use of economic instruments. . . . . 31 9
C. Promoting sound sectoral policies and
improving sectoral coordination. . . . . . . 32-36 9
1. Water supply and sanitation: a major
international effort towards
universal coverage . . . . . . . . . . . 33 9
2. Water and health . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 9
3. Water and food security. . . . . . . . . 35 10
4. Water for industry . . . . . . . . . . . 36 10
D. Strengthening the enabling environment . . . 37 10
E. Strengthening information management and
promoting the penetration and flow of key data 38 11
F. Management of hydro-meteorological
uncertainty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 11
G. Mainstreaming environmental concerns . . . . 40-43 12
1. Integrating land and water resources
management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 12
2. Protecting water quality and preventing
water pollution. . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 12
3. Incorporating freshwater management in
overall ecosystem protection and
management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 12
H. Financing water supply and sanitation to
meet basic human needs and wastewater
treatment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44-47 13
I. Starting a process of nationally owned
diagnosis and obtaining consensus
and commitment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 14
J. Building balanced and sustainable capacity
in water management. . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 14
I. Introduction
1. The comprehensive assessment of the freshwater
resources of the world (E/CN.17/1997/9), which was
submitted to the Commission on Sustainable Development
at its fifth session and to the General Assembly at its
nineteenth special session, concluded that currently about
one third of the world's population lives in countries that
are experiencing moderate-to-high water stress, and by the
year 2025 as much as two thirds of the world's population
could be living under similar levels of water stress. The
implications for developing countries are evident from the
fact that a full three quarters of the population living under
conditions of moderate-to-high water stress amounting
to 26 per cent of the total world population are located in
low-to-lower middle income countries. There is reason to
fear that by 2025, countries in those income categories and
experiencing those levels of water stress could amount to
47 per cent of the total world population. Water stress of
a different kind but just as serious is found in countries
located in arid and semi-arid areas, including much of
sub-Saharan Africa, which are characterized by water
shortages in spite of low levels of water use even relative
to low availability, due to a lack of financial resources,
technical expertise and institutional support. The
assessment concludes that water shortages and pollution are
causing widespread public health problems, limiting
economic and agricultural development and harming a wide
range of ecosystems. Those problems may threaten global
food supplies and lead to economic stagnation in many
areas of the world. The result could be a series of local and
regional water crises, with serious global implications.
2. The present report has been prepared with a view to
facilitating the intergovernmental dialogue called for in
paragraph 35 of the Programme for the Further
Implementation of Agenda 21, which was adopted by the
General Assembly in its resolution S-19/2 of 28 June 1997.
The report highlights key issues requiring urgent attention,
and identifies starting points for taking strategic action for
sustainable development in the context of the
recommendations contained in chapter 18 of Agenda 21 and
emanating from other international water conferences (see
also E/CN.17/1997/17/Add.1, sect. VI).
II. Problem clusters: identification of
areas for action
3. Water quality is somewhat more amenable to policy
choice since raw water and wastewater can be treated. In
the face of a widening gap between demand and supply in
terms of both quantity and quality, what is entirely
determined by policy is the approach to water resource
management and the subsequent planning of investment in
water infrastructure. To date, most approaches at the
national level have been supply led and authority over the
allocation of the freshwater resources has been held
ultimately by the State through declarations of public
interest and the use of public funds. That style of
intervention is proving unsustainable, particularly in
developing countries with burgeoning populations and
limited financial resources.
4. As societies' demands for water supplies grow and
become more concentrated in urban areas, competition for
freshwater between economic sectors is increasing in many
countries, particularly in arid and semi-arid zones.
Competition is particularly intense between sectors looking
for large volumes of low-quality water (irrigated
agriculture) and those looking for small volumes of high-quality water.
Disputes over limited resources have and will
continue to develop between agricultural, industrial and
urban users unless water management measures to prioritize
household water supply are taken.
5. The need for integration and orderly management of
sectoral issues thus remains essential. Three sectoral uses
stand out as being of particular importance: drinking water
supply and sanitation, water for agricultural production, and
the utilization of clean and efficient technologies for the use
of water in industrial production. Each of those uses
generates demand for a different type of water: irrigated
agriculture will generally use untreated water, industry may
demand bulk supplies to be treated to varying standards and
water-supply business requires acceptable bulk supplies
that it can then treat to potable retail standards. In addition,
three principal non-sectoral issues stand out: progressively
degraded hydro-environments, chronically undervalued
water resource assets and serious institutional weaknesses.
A. Access to urban and rural water supply
and sanitation services
6. In spite of efforts during the International Drinking
Water Supply and Sanitation Decade, about 20 per cent of
the world population lacks access to safe water and about
50 per cent lacks access to adequate forms of sanitation.
Current trends in the provision of services remain
insufficient to achieve full service coverage in the near
future. For sanitation in particular, the Water Supply and
Sanitation Collaborative Council meeting held in November
1997 at Manila, the Philippines, concluded that at present
rates of progress, the world cannot achieve full service
coverage by the year 2100. Breakdowns in public health as
a result of insufficient coverage and the poor operation and
maintenance of existing water supply systems are now
frequent, though rarely reported until spectacular rates of
epidemiological transmission occur. The problem of water
supply and sanitation is particularly acute in dense urban
areas, where construction has overtaken the rate at which
reticulated supply systems and sanitation services can be
installed economically and within the financial capacity of
municipalities. Many large towns and cities in developing
countries experience chronic losses of pressure in piped
water distribution systems and high leakage rates when
subjected to pressure. Combined with a lack of sufficient
water treatment, the ingress of polluted soil and
groundwater into such systems has become a major source
of water-borne disease and poses serious threats to public
health.
7. Rural communities are generally well dispersed
within a watershed and have intimate links with small-scale
catchments and aquifers, although there is evidence that
those localized sources are becoming increasingly polluted
from pit latrines and waste heaps. As to the rapidly growing
peri-urban communities, they remain ignored by reticulated
urban systems that may have been designed many years
before the location and rate of growth was anticipated.
Consequently, peri-urban communities are often thrown
back onto highly localized sources of water that are
severely contaminated due to the concentration of
habitation with rudimentary sanitation arrangements and
unregulated industrial activity.
B. Water for sustainable food production
and rural development
8. The water demands of irrigation schemes to satisfy
grain production take up the bulk (about 85 per cent) of the
world's mobilized water resources. Many schemes are
operating well below their design levels because of poor
operation and maintenance, as well as inequitable
distribution, with tail-enders always receiving smaller
allocations than designed. Lack of drainage often leads to
waterlogging and salinity, taking land out of production and
further degrading surface and groundwater.
9. The concept of national food security loses much of
its significance in an increasingly global economy. Water
resources need not necessarily be allocated to the
production of food if they can be used more profitably in
other sectors of the economy, thereby generating the
necessary income to import food products. Accordingly,
countries are striving to make a transition from food self-sufficiency, in
which the country is wholly dependent on
domestic production, to food self-reliance, in which both
domestic and international markets are used to supply the
requirements. However, the transition from an agricultural
to an industrial economy needs to be carefully managed if
serious social inequities and geographic dislocations are to
be avoided. Rural communities in developing countries that
depend on subsistence agriculture are closely linked with
small first-order catchments and the water, biomass and soil
resources that they contain. Such linkage dominates
subsistence and economic productivity through cash crops
cultivation and livestock rearing but does not tend to appear
in national economic budgets until water resource
availability declines and remedial intervention is required
to avoid starvation and migration.
C. Growth in the demands and impacts of
industrial use
10. The potential for water conservation and the use of
clean technologies to manage demand and minimize the
environmental impact of effluent disposal is high when
industrial sectors are well regulated, with access to capital
and technology. Unfortunately for many developing
countries and economies in transition, the push to allow
industrial sectors to grow has left environmental regulation
behind. That situation, combined with a lack of access to
capital and clean technology, has resulted in insignificant
investment in wastewater treatment, with downstream users
being forced to internalize the costs of treatment.
D. Degraded environments
11. The continued neglect of water resources
requirements for ecosystems in terms of both quantity and
quality is having devastating consequences for natural
capital, aquatic biodiversity and human health. That type
of breakdown is communicated down the water and
sediment cascades, having an impact well beyond the
original source of the degradation and even into coastal
marine environments. As pressure for farm land increases,
the impact on mountain and forested areas mounts and the
ability of those catchment areas to buffer runoff to
watercourses and recharge areas is compromised.
Superimposed on environmental degradation is the impact
of climatic variability, which determines the range of
hydrological responses to extreme climatic events (droughts
and floods). The linkages of water to biodiversity and land
degradation, particularly in arid and semi-arid zones, are
also significant. In particular, groundwater plays a pivotal
role in buffering the effects of drought. However, the
increasing contamination of groundwater, overpumping
well beyond replenishment rate, and the unplanned
depletion of fossil groundwater systems are threatening
many urban centres, particularly in arid and semi-arid
zones.
12. The balance between environment and development
needs to be founded on a clear understanding of the
environmental systems and the resources that they can
furnish without compromising their overall long-term
integrity. The economic implications of environmental
degradation and ignorance of climatic variability can
account for significant percentages of gross domestic
product in lost productivity. However, their direct costs are
often internalized by downstream users and their long-term
economic implications (including in situ values) and over-utilization are
rarely factored into long-term marginal
costing for investment in infrastructure.
E. Undervalued water resources
13. The economics of water resources rarely influence
water policy, even in water-short regions. As a result, the
principal asset the water resource base remains highly
undervalued and readily used without much concern for its
value to others, the structural role of water in the economy
and its in situ value as an environmental asset.
14. Although many countries have policies that prioritize
categories of water use, particularly in times of shortage,
very few have implemented regulations or incentives
designed systematically to use water in an economically
efficient manner. Water tariffs rarely reflect long-run
marginal costs, let alone full economic pricing, including
opportunity costs and pollution charges. Consequently, all
types of water remain undervalued in economic terms and
the associated water services severely underpriced. That
miscalculation continues to result in profligate use within
some sectors notably agriculture and chronic shortages
to meet basic human needs. More importantly, there is no
clear economic signal sent to competing sectoral users or
to the state organizations responsible for regulating
freshwater resource use and allocating resources among
economic sectors.
F. Weak institutional and regulatory
frameworks
15. Water institutions in many developed and developing
countries remain relatively weak, unable to command
regular budget allocations and deprived of the policy
instruments and management tools to implement sound
water management. The failure of institutions to implement
progressive policies is often linked as much to a lack of
public awareness and consensus as to lack of financial
resources. In reaching out to diverse and diffuse national
populations, even well crafted technocratic solutions have
failed to make the expected impacts when not accompanied
by serious attempts to involve consumers in urban and rural
areas. Many spatial disparities are evident at subnational
levels, with remote regions and districts lagging behind the
central zones of economic activity in terms of water service
provision. The weakness is reinforced by the tendency to
mix policy-making, regulation and operational functions
in single institutions.
III. Key issues in freshwater management:
implications for policy choices and
management options
A. Current gaps in freshwater management
1. Overall lack of awareness of the scope and
function of freshwater management
16. Overall awareness of the hydro-environmental limits
to water resource mobilization is generally poor. Political
commitment and public education to promote resource
protection and conservation except in countries with
limited options is inadequate. Indeed, awareness of water
issues is usually only heightened in times of extreme
shortage or dramatic degradation in quality, with little
attention given to long-term preventive measures.
2. Absence of explicit linkages with socio-economic
development
17. The explicit linking of water issues to human
development and economic productivity is generally
lacking both in terms of national policy declarations and
supporting legislative and administrative support. One of
the most important consequences of that gap is the
extremely low importance attached to the integration of
physical and socio-economic information.
3. Declining capacity to assess the availability and
variability of water resources
18. The effective assessment and management of water
resources, including the prevention and mitigation of water-related disasters,
is not possible without adequate physical
and socio-economic information flows. Yet the capability
to provide accurate water quality and quantity data is
deficient in many countries. For years, the capacity of
hydrological offices in developing countries, particularly
in Africa, has been declining in terms of operation and
maintenance and the extent of hydrologic networks. Few,
if any, developing countries have a significant capability
for water quality monitoring. In addition, the fragmentation
of national organizations dealing with water resources
assessment and the lack of integration of hydrological and
land-use data, as well as of economic and demographic
data, severely limit the usefulness of existing information.
The possibility of climate change increases uncertainty
concerning the variability in the distribution of water
resources. The trends in hydro-environmental behaviour
induced by climatic variability and current consumption
patterns are now posing unprecedented problems for water
resource managers, making their tasks increasingly
complex.
4. Mobilization of financial resources
19. The mobilization of financial resources to develop,
utilize and manage water resources is lagging behind actual
sectoral needs. The annual total investments required for
the effective assessment, development and utilization of
water resources, including wastewater treatment, greatly
exceed the capacity of Governments and the international
community under current patterns of financing. According
to the World Bank, the overall level of current investment
in water-related infrastructure in developing countries
amounts to US$ 75 billion annually, with about US$ 15
billion being allocated for hydropower, US$ 35 billion for
irrigation and drainage, and US$ 25 billion for water supply
and sanitation. The financial resources necessary to achieve
full water supply and sanitation coverage by the year 2000
are estimated to be more than three times the current rate
of expenditure. It is also proving very difficult to mobilize
financial resources for investment in wastewater treatment
and this will continue to limit improvements in water
quality. It is now clear that whatever approaches to regional
and local government are taken, Governments will never
be in a position to extend more services to local
underserved population groups from government budgets
alone. And although external support agencies have and
will continue to play an important role in generating
financial resources, that contribution will constitute only
a small percentage of the total requirements. Only the
adoption of pricing policies geared towards cost recovery
will enable the public and private sectors to generate the
financial resources needed for capital investment and for
operation and maintenance.
B. Implications for action: guiding principles
and strategic themes
20. Strategic approaches to freshwater management need
to be based on a set of principles if they are to work
progressively towards the goals of equity and sustainability.
Those principles and themes have evolved since the United
Nations Water Conference held at Mar del Plata, Argentina,
in 1977, through the ensuing set of international
conferences, including the 1990 New Delhi Global
Consultation on Safe Water and Sanitation, the 1992 Dublin
International Conference on Water and the Environment,
the subsequent elaboration in chapter 18 of Agenda 21 by
the United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development and the 1994 Noordwijk Ministerial
Conference on Drinking Water and Environmental
Sanitation, and now offer a guiding framework upon which
specific actions can be based. In addition, those principles
were reinforced or elaborated by other major recent United
Nations conferences, including the Global Conference on
the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing
States, held at Bridgetown, Barbados, in 1994; the World
Summit for Social Development, held at Copenhagen in
1995; the United Nations Conference on Human
Settlements (Habitat II), held at Istanbul in June 1996; and
the World Food Summit, held in Rome in November 1996.
Those principles are summarized below.
1. Integrated management as an overall approach
21. Integration of all water-related activities through a
mix of institutional and economic instruments is a key
requirement for addressing the goals of social welfare,
environmental integrity and economic productivity. In
striving to reconcile socio-economic demands with
available resources, three fundamental areas of action may
be recognized: (a) the pivotal role of participation and the
principle of subsidiarity, (b) the role of economics and
financing in driving productivity gains, and (c) the need to
protect hydro-environmental integrity and recognize
environmental limits. Addressing specific water issues
under each of these areas requires awareness and political
commitment. Awareness-raising must be matched by
incentives to change. Clear economic signals may do some
of this by, for example, informing consumers of current and
future costs or by indicating levels of profligate use. If it
is to be effective at all, a carefully orchestrated initiative
of public education, pricing policy and engagement of
consumer and interest groups needs to be considered.
22. An open, transparent and continuous process of
consultation and participation is essential if national water
resources are to be managed in an equitable and sustainable
fashion and resources found to extend water services to
those currently deprived of access to water and sanitation.
The role of regional and central government as policy
maker and provider of technical support must be
complemented by local (district level) government action
as a mobilizer or promoter of community-based
management to yield positive results in terms of health,
income generation and environmental protection.
2. Water allocation policies to satisfy basic human
needs and promote employment and income
generation
23. Failure to adapt to the finite nature of water as a
resource and to recognize its social and economic value is
leading to haphazard sectoral allocations in water, as well
as suboptimal impacts on employment and income
generation and the satisfaction of basic needs. An integrated
approach to the efficient and equitable development and
allocation of water resources requires the use of economic
and regulatory instruments designed to maximize social net
benefits. The use of market and non-market instruments to
allocate water resources has received much attention in
recent years. Although administrative solutions and the
rigorous application of laws and regulations are more
commonly used to allocate water, market mechanisms are
increasingly being introduced. The pricing of bulk and
retail water at somewhere near the long-term marginal cost
is becoming inevitable as subsidies become unrealistic or
are no longer found to be acceptable. Nevertheless, in
setting up tariffs, there is a need to accommodate those
sectors of the population that cannot afford minimum levels
of services. Pollution charges send economic signals to
users, encouraging wastewater treatment and reuse.
Informal markets in both bulk water and water services are
used by many rural economies in which transactions
between neighbouring farmers and transient demands and
supplies (agro-pastoral communities, for example) are
arranged. Such markets occur in an unstructured way and
can involve a degree of self-regulation, particularly in
semi-arid zones with long dry seasons. In some circumstances,
informal groundwater markets are proving unsustainable
as farmers seek to maximize agricultural output in the short
run. Formal market mechanisms have been used under
special circumstances in which infrastructure and regulation
allow the marketing of user rights and where the sectoral
competition is severe, such as between the agricultural and
urban sectors in California or in the case of Chile.
24. Regulatory and economic instruments also need to be
designed to maintain the overall stock of environmental
assets linked to freshwater. It is incumbent upon the
international community to demonstrate the full range of
tools that can be used to allow national policy makers to
select those that are most appropriate and for the use of
which consensus can be obtained. As countries review their
water legislation, the first thing that is usually examined is
enhanced regulation and enforcement. However, the
resources are rarely available to enforce detailed
regulations and standards. Legal and institutional
arrangements can perform an important enabling function
since they may significantly influence the manner in which
individuals, institutions and enterprises relate to natural
resources. Equally, the recognition of customary uses and
water rights can enhance trust in government activities and
programmes. Allowing socially and environmentally
acceptable transfers of water and land rights may also
encourage more productive uses.
3. Institutional reform: separation of policy,
regulatory and operational functions
25. The drive towards integrated management might
suggest the need for a government authority responsible for
all aspects of the hydrological cycle. However, experience
with water resource management demonstrates the need for
a clear separation of policy, regulation and operational
functions, the commercial autonomy of water service
utilities, and for adapting existing arrangements to promote
integrated water resources management at a technical level.
For that to happen, a policy dialogue to adapt mandates and
responsibilities has to be initiated. Despite the common
perception that the water utility business is currently being
deregulated as state monopolies are commercialized or
privatized, there is a need to reregulate to allow private
actors and financially autonomous water utilities to engage
in a fair and transparent commercial environment and
protect public and environmental interests.
4. Negotiation of shared transboundary water
resources
26. The recently agreed Convention on the Law of the
Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses (see
A/51/869) as well as existing regional agreements and
conventions provide the basis of negotiation. By addressing
individual national priorities within the framework of those
recommendations, it is expected that individual countries
can work towards mutually beneficial sharing
arrangements. Sharing key sets of data and agreeing on
social and economic principles often prove essential in
making progress in such negotiations.
5. Improved information management and
information flows
27. The demand for linked hydrological and socio-economic
information needs to be clearly established if
information gathering systems are to receive sufficient
support. Relevant and detailed hydrological and socio-economic
information is as much for planners and managers
as for policy makers and water users, and an adequate flow
of information is needed to alert planners to trends and
potential gaps.
6. Progressive financing of all water-related
services, including irrigation and drainage and
sanitation
28. The financing of water (including irrigation and
drainage) and sanitation services can no longer be assumed
to be an exclusive role of the State, even though the public
interest in water and sanitation services is high. There is
clearly a great scope for the improvement of cost recovery
in water infrastructure and demand management of water
use at the national level. Governments and communities are
turning to alternative actors, such as autonomous public
utilities, large multinational companies who are prepared
to invest in urban infrastructure or small village
communities committed to improving their use and
management of limited water resources, to contribute
capital and expertise. As the fiscal pressure mounts for the
State to withdraw from direct investment in water services,
the transfer of operational responsibility and ownership to
various user groups requires careful planning. For larger-scale
investments in flood control, hydropower and
municipal supplies and wastewater treatment, State-controlled
corporations or State-guaranteed support
contracts to the private sector have become necessary.
Lessons learned from the uneven success of such public-private
partnerships have led to improvements in the forms
and methods of partnership and to the recognition of the
need for adequate regulation. This calls for a fresh
examination of the role of economic instruments, the
contribution of consultative and participatory processes, the
enabling functions of legislation and customary law and a
fundamental appreciation of the value of the physical
processes that bind hydro-environmental systems.
IV. Strategic actions
29. In dealing with a resource in which the public interest
is high and whose environmental role is vital, certain
principles of equity, transparency, efficiency and
sustainability should be respected. There is a need to
identify the starting points in a process of adaptation so that
well informed policy choices and management options can
be taken at the local, national and regional levels. This
process of adaptation and innovation is an iterative process
that needs constant revision as environmental and
socio-economic changes take place. It also needs to be able
to reconcile long-term visions for water management with
short-term realities that apply in specific countries and
regions.
A. Promoting ownership and participation of
key user and interest groups
30. The engagement of key user and interest groups,
including women, in rural and peri-urban zones,
municipalities, farmers, industrialists and
non-governmental organizations is necessary if such
stakeholders are to play their respective roles in progressive
freshwater management. If Governments are to disengage
from the centralized provision of services, then the burden
of responsibility for financing, operation and maintenance
of water infrastructure falls to the user groups. Conditions
for such participation requires the clear identification of the
actors, their rights and responsibilities in relation to water.
This will usually require the formulation of a water code
and a parallel process of open consultation and engagement
of stakeholders through public forums and meetings.
B. Promoting productivity gains and
sustainability through enhanced
regulation and the use of economic
instruments
31. The joint use of regulatory and economic instruments
needs to be promoted to create the conditions for the
productive and sustainable engagement of all economic
agents. Identifying stable water user rights and permitting
their transfer on open markets, subject to tests of beneficial
use, may be one way to formalize currently unstructured
water trading and create opportunities for productivity
gains through a more efficient use of land and water
resources. Formal negotiation and trading in water and
pollution at the basin level among industry, municipalities
and rural communities and users upstream and downstream
is more complex, but can be started once a clear picture of
environmental constraints and economic opportunities is
drawn up. Since most economies can no longer afford to
supply bulk and retail water in simple response to demand,
demand management will become more important. Water
efficiency gains in irrigated agriculture offer the best
opportunity for reducing demand for bulk water and high-quality
groundwater. Here, issues of land tenure and water
user rights need to be addressed in designing policy
reforms.
C. Promoting sound sectoral policies and
improving sectoral coordination
32. Sectoral imperatives need to be addressed within an
integrated framework, but the implementation of innovative
strategic approaches will occur within well defined sectoral
limits. The types of key sectoral actions that can be
considered are set out below.
1. Water supply and sanitation: a major
international effort towards universal coverage
33. As we look towards the start of the twenty-first
century, it has become painfully evident that nothing short
of a major initiative at the national, regional and global
levels will lead towards achieving the ultimate objective of
full water supply coverage in the early years of the new
century and generate the needed momentum towards the
provision of basic sanitation services. A starting point is the
speedy implementation of the recommendations contained
in the Action Programme of the Noordwijk Ministerial
Conference on Drinking Water and Environmental
Sanitation. Particular attention is drawn to the Conference's
recommendation concerning the need to undertake
resources assessments to produce an inventory of the
current situation, and to identify problems and constraints
in providing water supply and environmental sanitation
services. The Conference also recommended the
development, review or revision, by 1997, and the
implementation in the context of national sustainable
development strategies, consistent with Agenda 21, of
measures for drinking water and environmental sanitation,
taking into account the goals set by the World Summit for
Children. The Forward Looking Assessment on the
Implementation of the Action Programme on Drinking
Water and Environmental Sanitation (see
E/CN.17/1997/15) urged countries to review their policies,
giving increased priority to improving sanitation services
and focusing on five key components of sustainability
(social, environmental, institutional, financial and
technical). Specific actions recommended in this area
include:
(a) At the national level:
(i) Promotion of participation of local
communities, including women and the poor, and user
groups;
(ii) Development of urban and rural development
strategies for improving the incomes of the urban,
peri-urban and rural poor, together with the provision
of improved water supply and sanitation services;
(iii) Promotion of partnerships between the public
and private sectors, and between national and local
institutions;
(iv) Development of strategic approaches for the
provision of adequate financial resources for water
supply and sanitation improvements, including
economic mechanisms for promoting efficient water
use and cost recovery.
(b) At the regional and global levels:
(i) Strengthening of regional and international
cooperation for the exchange of information on
national experiences in water supply and sanitation
improvements, by establishing or strengthening
clearing house mechanisms to promote the sharing of
successful experiences and water technologies;
(ii) Assistance to Governments, at their request, in
creating an enabling institutional and legislative
environment for the effective contribution of public
and private utilities to the provision of water supply
and sanitation to urban and rural communities.
2. Water and health
34. With water a primary agent in maintaining human
health and transmitting disease, the imperative remains to
manage all freshwater sources to maintain chemical and
biological quality within minimum acceptable standards.
This can only be realized if adequate attention is paid to the
treatment and management of wastewater from all sectors.
Key actions that will work towards protection and
improvement of water quality include:
(a) At the national level:
(i) Priority for sanitation, including the provision
of safe excreta disposal services at relatively low cost,
and education on personal hygiene;
(ii) Mitigation and disaster preparedness in order
to ensure prompt action to limit adverse effects on
health.
(b) At the regional and global levels:
(i) Monitoring of bacteriological and parasitic
water-borne diseases at the basin level;
(ii) Prevention or minimization of the
contamination of water by heavy metals and other
chemicals.
3. Water and food security
35. The management and use of water resources for
agriculture needs to be seen in the context of competing
demands for the resources, and of the fact that more than
500 million people throughout the world, particularly in
developing countries, do not have enough food to meet their
basic nutritional needs. In pledging their political will and
their common national commitment to achieving food
security for all and an ongoing effort to eradicate hunger
in all countries, the participants at the 1996 World Food
Summit stressed the need to achieve increased food
production, including staple food, within the framework of
the sustainable management of natural resources and the
eradication of poverty. There is a clear imperative to
improve the efficiency of water use in irrigated agriculture
and to assess the opportunity cost of continuing such large
allocations to the sector. The sector maintains a strong
programme of international research and development in
water use, but the economic benefit from the allocation to
the sector needs to be re-evaluated in a broader, cross-sectoral
perspective. To do so, key actions recommended include:
(a) At the national level:
(i) Promotion of policy reviews about the amount
of water countries allocated for food production as
compared to other uses, taking into consideration
trade options of food in the global market;
(ii) Introduction of measures to improve the
technical efficiency of agricultural water use,
including close monitoring of irrigation system
performance, re-use of wastewater and promotion of
adaptive technological research and development;
(iii) Promotion of environmentally sound
aquaculture;
(iv) Consideration of adequate policy mixes,
including market incentives to reduce wastage,
promote stakeholder participation and use water
resources development to reduce poverty;
(v) Development of integrated approaches to water
use in rainfed and irrigated agriculture;
(vi) Promotion of efficient water allocation,
including charging systems for efficient water use,
cost recovery policies to provide secure sustained
efficient operations and maintenance of irrigation
systems, taking into account the satisfaction of basic
human needs and global food security.
(b) At the regional and global levels:
(i) Promotion of regional cooperation for food
production and trade;
(ii) Promotion of a clearing house mechanism for
sharing successful experience and technologies in the
provision of water resources for food production.
4. Water for industry
36. As industrial demand grows and pressure for a
modification of intersectoral allocations mounts, the need
to pre-empt growth in chemical pollution will become more
and more apparent. Key actions that need to be considered
in regulating industrial use include:
(a) Promotion of clean technologies through
information, regulation and incentives;
(b) Promotion of environmental auditing within
specific industrial sectors;
(c) Formulation and implementation of economic
instruments, such as pollution charges and incentives for
introduction of cleaner technologies.
D. Strengthening the enabling environment
37. As stressed in the report of the 1992 International
Conference on Water and the Environment, recognizing the
need for a central mechanism capable of ensuring the
coordination of national, social and economic interests, the
role of Governments needs to be reviewed to ensure that
users, local institutions and the formal and informal private
sector can play a more direct part. A key aim must be to
improve accountability to the public. The levels at which
management decisions can be taken and problems solved
will vary widely from country to country and case to case.
In any given situation, however, water resources should be
managed at the lowest appropriate levels. Specific actions
recommended include:
(a) At the national level:
(i) Review of existing institutional arrangements
with a view to determining the existence of
institutional fragmentation and to ensuring proper
linkages with socio-economic decision-making
processes;
(ii) Clarification of legislation concerning land and
water rights, taking into account customary law;
(iii) Development of regulatory frameworks,
providing an enabling environment for the effective
participation of the public and private sectors.
(b) At the regional and global levels:
(i) Cooperation among international watercourse
States in their harmonious development;
(ii) Promotion of regional water resources
development and use strategies in the context of
regional economic and social development policies
and strategies.
E. Strengthening information management
and promoting the penetration and flow of
key data
38. A clear rationale for strengthening information
management must be made. The respective technical and
economic departments and government agencies may be
able to start combining data sets with existing resources
through regular collaborative meetings and exchanges, but
need to be given clear reasons and instructions for doing
so. Establishing the demand for data to justify an adequate
provision of flow of financial resources may need to
involve the proactive marketing of data to key decision
makers. Specific actions recommended in this area include:
(a) At the national level:
(i) Assessment of existing data collection and
information management systems to ensure that they
meet management and decision-making requirements,
are cost-effective and client-oriented;
(ii) Strengthening or development of strategic
approaches to data gathering and requirements, in
terms of water quantity and quality (both surface and
groundwater) and water use, in relation to national,
regional and local developmental and environmental
objectives;
(iii) Establishment of information management
systems capable of integrating, analysing and
disseminating physical and socio-economic data for
decision-making;
(iv) Strengthening of local capacity and
participation in monitoring and assessing water
resources in order to enable local people and decision
makers to understand the options available for
development.
(b) At the regional and global levels:
(i) Establishment of regional data, research and
training centres in support of national requirements
and for the monitoring and analysis of regional issues
concerning the sustainable development of water
resources;
(ii) Strengthening global water information
networks to compile data on water quality and
quantity and water use, and to support ongoing efforts
in the collection and dissemination of data and
information as related to integrated river basin
management;
(iii) Assistance by industrialized countries,
international organizations and aid agencies in the
transfer of information management technology and
evaluation of observational networks, and assistance
in capacity-building in developing countries and
economies in transition;
(iv) Periodic updating by the United Nations
agencies, in cooperation with other organizations,
including non-governmental organizations, of
comprehensive global and regional assessments of
freshwater resources.
F. Management of hydro-meteorological
uncertainty
39. The need to cope with hydro-meteorological extremes
and climatological shifts requires clear operational and
planning guidelines based on present understanding of
events and reasoned projections. The key actions that can
be recommended are:
(a) At the national level:
(i) Implementation of national drought
management strategies;
(ii) Formulation or updating of flood protection
operational guidelines;
(iii) Formulation and execution of measures to
protect the integrity of land and water ecosystems, in
particular in the case of small island developing
States.
(b) At the regional and global levels:
(i) Promotion of integrated basin drought and flood
management strategies;
(ii) Mobilization of resources for data gathering and
analysis;
(iii) Assessment of possible impacts of climate
change.
G. Mainstreaming environmental concerns
40. The explicit incorporation of freshwater management
in overall environmental policy is critical to maintain the
stock of environmental assets and associated economic and
environmental services, and should include the following
set of thematic interventions.
1. Integrating land and water resources
management
41. Specific actions recommended include:
(a) At the national level:
(i) Promotion of integrated land and water
management within the framework of national
development plans, and study the linkages between
regional economic development programmes and
integrated river basin management;
(ii) Control of the use of fertilizers and pesticides
to minimize non-point pollution sources and promote
integrated pest management through appropriate
regulatory and economic instruments.
(b) At the regional and global levels:
(i) Development of river basin action plans,
especially for high-priority risk basins, including
their rivers, lakes and aquifers, to integrate land-use
planning, especially in upstream regions, with water
management and conservation; coordinate the
activities of provincial, national and international
agencies; and address transboundary issues;
(ii) Support for the implementation of the United
Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, in
those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or
Desertification, particularly in Africa; the Convention
on Biological Diversity; and the Convention on
Wetlands of International Importance Especially as
Waterfowl Habitat (Ramsar Convention).
2. Protecting water quality and preventing water
pollution
42. Specific actions recommended include:
(a) At the national level:
(i) Promotion of economic mechanisms based upon
the polluter-pays principle;
(ii) Strengthening or promotion of local
participation in pollution control efforts;
(iii) Formulation and implementation of basin action
plans to address transboundary pollution issues and
to initiate contingency plans to control accidental
spills;
(iv) Promotion of integrated approach to quantity
and quality components of water resources
management;
(v) Integration of land-use management and
sustainable water management.
(b) At the regional and global levels:
(i) Establishment of links to the recommendations
of the Global Programme of Action for the Protection
of the Marine Environment from Land-based
Activities;
(ii) Recognition of freshwater, coastal and marine
environments as a management continuum;
(iii) Implementation of actions to protect upstream
areas (mountains and forests) in order to preserve
water quality downstream, recognizing the important
link between land management and water quality.
3. Incorporating freshwater management in
overall ecosystem protection and management
43. Specific actions recommended include:
(a) At the national level:
(i) Promotion of national environmental valuation
and accounting;
(ii) Assessment of the water requirements of natural
systems, including wetlands, to maintain integrity for
sustained productivity;
(iii) Formulation of strategic action plans for the
protection and management of aquatic ecosystems,
within the framework of the conventions on
biological diversity and desertification, the Ramsar
Convention and the Global Environment Fund
operational programmes;
(iv) Promotion of local involvement in efforts to
protect ecosystems.
(b) At the global and regional levels:
(i) Strengthening of regional cooperation in efforts
to protect ecosystems of transboundary rivers, lakes
and wetlands;
(ii) International cooperation to promote water
conservation and recycling, pollution prevention and
control, and environmentally sound agricultural and
industrial practices.
H. Financing water supply and sanitation to
meet basic human needs and wastewater
treatment
44. It is clear that the overall level of current investment
in water infrastructure is insufficient to meet basic human
needs and acceptable levels of socio-economic
development. As mentioned above, the current rate of
expenditure in water supply and sanitation is estimated to
be only a third of the amount required to achieve full
coverage. While official development assistance (ODA) is
an important source of water sector finance in the poorest
countries, in most developing countries the bulk of
investments required to develop, upgrade or maintain water
resources infrastructure will have to come from national
sources. In order for that to happen Governments need to
foster an enabling environment that encourages investments
from both public and private sources, and to formulate and
implement pricing policies for greater cost recovery,
efficient allocation of water and water conservation, taking
into account the country's level of development. In
addition, Governments need to allocate a significantly
higher proportion of their budget expenditures to public
investments in water supply and sanitation with a view to
increasing the rate of coverage considerably. That is
particularly true in the case of sanitation (and sewage
treatment), which is not only lagging behind water supply
coverage but also has more limited opportunities for cost
recovery.
45. Nonetheless, given the insufficient rate of investment
in water-related infrastructure in developing countries, and
as clearly stated in the Programme for the Further
Implementation of Agenda 21 (see General Assembly
resolution S-19/2, annex), ODA remains an important
source of external funding for many developing countries,
particularly the least developed countries. It can thus be
considered as essential for the effective implementation of
Agenda 21 since it cannot always be replaced by private
capital flows. ODA can play an important complementary
and catalytic role in promoting economic growth, and may
in some cases play a catalytic role in encouraging private
investment and where appropriate all aspects of
country-driven capacity-building and strengthening.
46. The 20/20 initiative agreed upon at the World Summit
for Social Development at Copenhagen called for an
agreement on a mutual commitment between interested
industrialized and developing country partners to allocate,
on average, 20 per cent of ODA and 20 per cent of the
national budget, respectively, to basic social services,
including water supply and sanitation. Current United
Nations Children's Fund estimates suggests that developing
countries, on average, are spending only about 13 per cent
of government budgets on basic social services, and that
about 10 per cent of ODA is spent on basic social services.
There are many opportunities for innovative financing
arrangements for water development, with risks spread
among a broader range of beneficiaries and stakeholders.
A move towards full cost recovery by guaranteeing the
commercial and managerial autonomy of water services is
one essential element of financially sustainability. The key
actions in that process are:
(a) At the national level:
(i) Identification of all potential actors at local and
regional levels to ensure that all possible sources of
expertise and finance can be tapped;
(ii) Strengthening of the role of the Government at
various levels, as a provider of development
financing for specific development projects and as a
provider or guarantor of credits to public and private
ventures;
(iii) Development of criteria and approaches to
pricing policies related to the provision of water
resources and demand management, taking into
account basic human needs, cost recovery
requirements, allocation efficiency, internalization
of environmental costs and benefits, and other socio-economic
considerations;
(iv) Development of public-private partnerships to
improve efficiency of water provision and to tap
private investments for the expansion or improvement
of water infrastructure.
(b) At the regional and global levels:
(i) Fulfilment by industrialized countries of their
commitments to reach the accepted United Nations
target of 0.7 per cent of gross national product as
soon as possible;
(ii) Formulation of regional financing strategies,
involving regional financial organizations in
partnership with other international organizations and
the private sector;
(iii) Coordination of international financial resource
flows in the form of direct grants and loans in
concessional terms to developing countries, in
particular the least developed countries, in addition
to the mobilization of the private sector.
47. Mobilizing finance for wastewater treatment can be
initiated not only through punitive environmental and
public health regulation but also through the imaginative
use of information exchange and partnering with
communities, municipalities and industry. New low-cost
techniques for small-scale sewerage and treatment are
currently available, including the use of pond systems. For
industry, net savings may be possible if relatively small
investments are made in clean technologies. In water-scarce
regions, municipalities may be able to enter into wastewater
reuse profitably if pricing policies reflect long-run marginal
costs.
I. Starting a process of nationally owned
diagnosis and obtaining consensus and
commitment
48. A compelling case for the integration of water
management into the national development process and
cross-sectoral programme formulation must be made at a
high level and endorsed at all levels. The first step for such
an initiative may be a diagnostic assessment of current
physical and socio-economic circumstances surrounding
water, predictions of trends in consumption patterns and the
formulation of feasible solutions. Such a start needs to be
nationally owned and internalized if it is to lead to sustained
national commitment to change and reform. External
support from specialized United Nations agencies,
multilateral agencies, bilateral agencies and international
non-governmental organizations can be sought when they
are able to support the process financially and offer specific
advice and peer review in their areas of comparative
advantage.
J. Build balanced and sustainable capacity
in water management
49. The water managers of the future will have to be
much more multidisciplinary to cope with new policy
agendas and operational procedures. Not only the
traditional hydrologists and hydraulic engineers but also
biologists, accountants, environmentalists, economists and
social scientists will all have important roles to play in
advancing sustainable freshwater management. Key steps
in building such capacity are:
(a) Assessment of present and future national
capacities in the above broad range of disciplines, and
specification of future training needs;
(b) Implementation of a long-term training
programme to keep a critical stock of human resources in
place;
(c) Establishment of human resources management
programmes for enhancing employment opportunities and
remunerating water management professionals in line with
other sector professionals.
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Date last posted: 8 December 1999 15:15:30
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