Global Dialogue on Nanotechnology and the Poor ... - Nanowerk

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nanotechnology, water, & development Table 2 shows the average reported construction costs of different types of water supply facilities.The variations between regions are to some extent the result of differing water resource endowments, unit costs for construction, and levels of service offered.The figures are rough estimates and tend to vary widely because costs are significantly affected by factors such as population density and ease of access of water sources. Table 2: Costs of Water Supply in Different Regions 1990 – 2000 (USD per Person Served) Latin America Facility Africa Asia and the Caribbean House connection 102 92 144 Stand post 31 64 41 Borehole 23 17 55 Dug Well 21 22 45 Rainwater 49 34 36 Source: WHO and UNICEF, 2000. [1.3] Poverty and Water An increasing number of the poor—rural and urban consumers, rural producers, and agricultural workers—are coming to view access or entitlement to water as a more critical problem than access to food, primary health care, and education. The typical urban household uses water for drinking and sanitation. Rural areas use water for a wide range of purposes, such as irrigation, domestic use, home gardens, trees and other permanent vegetation, livestock, fishing, harvesting of aquatic plants and animals, and a variety of other enterprises such as brick making. ‘‘ Poor people depend on water in four key ways: as an input into production, to sustain livelihoods, for the maintenance of health and welfare, and to ensure ’’ ecosystem integrity. 23 Munasinghe, Water, op. cit. The quantity of water is as important as the quality in terms of its impact on human well-being. 23 Water quantity and quality are linked because water scarcity leads to declining water quality and pollution, which has an adverse impact on the poor. As water is withdrawn from agriculture, more attention must be paid to the management of irrigation systems, to water needs for domestic and health purposes, and to other consequences like the impact on the environment. Ensuring that poor communities have access to water resources has become widely equated with ensuring that the basic needs of the poor are met, which in turn is interpreted as ensuring safe and affordable drinking water and sanitation, as is enshrined in the MDGs. Poor people depend on water in four key ways: as an input into production, to sustain livelihoods, for the maintenance of health and welfare, and to ensure ecosystem integrity. 24 There are also indirect effects. Water as an Input into Production and Livelihoods Water resources are vital inputs into productive activities. Agriculture is the basis of rural economies. About 35% of the world’s populations depend on agriculture, ranging from 3% in Europe and America to 80% in Africa and 45 – 65% in Asia. 25 Agricultural viability is closely linked to reliable access to water, both from irrigation and rainfall. Improvements to existing irrigation systems have great potential for improving the livelihoods of the poor, provided that they have access to land and water. Agricultural water has helped meet rapidly rising demand for food and contributed to the growth of farm profitability and poverty reduction as well as to regional development and environmental protection.The main challenge is to continue meeting these needs despite an increasingly constrained water resource base.The intense development of surface and groundwater irrigation has caused the remaining opportunities to harness new resources to be fewer and more expensive. In developing countries, the irrigated area more than doubled over the last 40 years. 26 However, the pace of irrigation development has slowed significantly. Most countries now face environmental and social constraints to expansion. Actions such as rainwater harvesting, improved access to groundwater, and improvements to on-farm water management can bring dramatic and sustainable benefits to farmers who depend on rainfed agriculture. However, on their own, these measures are often inadequate.Watershed and forest protection at the community level must be integrated. There are many smaller productive activities that depend on water as a key input, including fishing; tree and garden cultivation; livestock raising; small-scale manufacturing such as pottery, brick making, and tanning; and services such as laundering. Water is also vital for many types of manufacturing and other larger economic activities that provide employment for poor people, particularly in cities.The poor often rely on these production activities as their main livelihoods or to supplement their incomes and overcome their lack of assets such 24 M. Munasinghe, “Sustainomics: Framework and Applications for Making Development More Sustainable,” Munasinghe Institute for Development (MIND), Colombo, 2006; and M. Munasinghe, “Sustainable Water Resources Management and Planning (SWAMP),” Paper to the International Water Association Conference, Dubai, August 1994. 25 FAOSTAT website, 26 World Bank, Re-engaging in Agricultural Water Management: Challenges and Options,World Bank,Washington, DC, 2006. 11
nanotechnology, water, & development as land. Actions to sustain and expand these activities will often cost very little and can have significant and immediate benefits for the poor. Recognizing this potential requires a different approach to the provision of water supplies to households and communities by acknowledging its significance for production as well as consumption by the poor. Water for Health and Hygiene The health and welfare conditions of the poor, especially of vulnerable groups such as children, the elderly, and women in general, are closely connected to the availability of adequate, safe, and affordable water supplies.Worldwide there are an estimated 4 billion cases of diarrhea each year, causing 2.2 million deaths, mostly among children under the age of five. 27 Around 200 million people suffer from schistosomiasis, millions have been blinded by trachoma, and many more are affected by malaria, cholera, and other diseases where poor water management is a major causal factor.Toxins in groundwater such as arsenic and fluoride are an emerging threat in regions such as South Asia.These diseases have major consequences for poor people through their effects on nutrition, physical and mental development, the costs of health care, and the loss of productive potential. Improving the quality and quantity of water could significantly reduce the adverse health and welfare impacts of poor water supply and sanitation. Role of Ecosystems in Supporting Livelihoods of the Poor The flow and quality of water is critical for the viability of the ecosystems through which the poor gain access to the natural resources that are often the basis of their livelihoods. Even where water is not a direct input into production, other natural resources, such as forests, fish, or grazing lands that are contingent on the viability of ecosystem processes, depend on the flows of water. Although rarely monetized and often ignored, these goods are significant for the rural poor throughout the developing world. Indirect Effects It is widely recognized that there are tangible economic benefits to health and income that result from better access to clean water. However, water resource system planners in developing countries have overlooked other ways in which water may influence health and income among the urban poor. In such vulnerable groups, the high costs of water may further undermine health and labor productivity, both directly through its impact on nutrition and indirectly through its impact on housing size and quality as well as residential density, especially in urban slums. Failure to account for the full range of economic, social, and environmental benefits associated with improvements in water supply may lead to underestimation of returns to investment. [1.3.1] Sustainable Livelihoods and Water ‘‘ For many rural communities, access to natural resources such as water is vital to activities that ’’ are key parts of their livelihoods. Poverty is complex and multifaceted and reflects both the material and the nonmaterial conditions of people’s lives; it has social, economic, and environmental dimensions.The concept of sustainable livelihoods is a flexible and dynamic approach that provides a basis for understanding the relationship between poor communities, their local environment, and external socioeconomic, environmental, and institutional forces. A livelihood comprises the capabilities; assets, including both material and social resources; and activities required for a means of living. 28 A livelihood is sustainable when the individual can cope with and recover from stresses and shocks while maintaining or enhancing capabilities and assets both now and in the future and not undermining the natural resources base. 28 It is predominantly the poor of the world who depend directly on natural resources through cultivation, herding, collecting, or hunting for their livelihoods.Therefore, for such livelihoods to be sustainable, the natural resources base must be maintained. 30 For many rural communities, access to natural resources such as water is vital to activities that are key parts of their livelihoods. Water security suggests that people and communities have reliable and adequate access to water to meet their different needs, are able to take advantage of the opportunities that water resources present, are protected from water-related hazards, and have fair recourse when water conflicts arise. [1.4] Water and Sustainable Development [1.4.1] Basic Concepts of Sustainable Development World decisionmakers are looking for new solutions to many critical problems including traditional development issues such as poverty as well as newer challenges like worsening environmental degradation. The sustainable development approach is becoming increasingly accepted as a potential response following the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, the adoption by the United Nations of the 2000 Millennium Development Goals, and the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg. 31 The sustainable 27 WHO and UNICEF, Water, op. cit. 28 D. Carney (ed.), Sustainable Rural Livelihoods, Department for International Development, London, 1988. 29 Ibid. 30 J. K. Rennie and N. Singh, Participatory Research for Sustainable Livelihoods, International Institute for Sustainable Development,Winnipeg, 1996. 31 World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), Our Common Future, Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK, 1987; and UN, Agenda 21, United Nations, New York, 1993. 12
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