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National High School Model United Nations 2015 HLPF 2.5 billion, 784 million people use a public or shared facility with other households; 732 million people have access to facilities that do not meet hygiene standards and the other billion practice open defecation. In other words, they have no sanitation at all. 63 Among the world regions with the lowest rates of coverage, SSA ranks the second lowest in terms of progress. 64 From 1990 to 2012, there was only a 6% change, leaving SSA currently with just 30% coverage in sanitation. 65 That means that only 147 million people in SSA gained access to improved sanitation services from 1990 to 2012, while in China alone 623 million people experienced improvements in that same time span. 66 These are alarming numbers that show the deep developmental inequities and challenges of the region. Consequently, SSA is not on track to meet the MDG 7C, as 36 of the 69 countries that were not on track in 2012 are located in SSA. 67 Thus, the world as a whole will not be able to meet the sanitation MDG target either, falling short by over half a billion people. 68 These discouraging figures show the urgent need to address the topic, especially since one billion people practice open defecation, which is severely unhygienic. It is thus the most pressing issue to address at the moment, with the international community unable to meet the MDG target until this aspect and the many others are addressed. Sustainable Access to Water and Sanitation for Development As it has been mentioned above, simply providing running water and toilet facilities does not constitute sustainable access to safe-drinking water and sanitation. That is the mere beginning of a process of development for people, societies, and states. The reason why it is so important to reach sustainable access to these two services is their great interconnection with development; without such access, development can be neither sustainable nor sustained. For at least a millennium, water has been the main vehicle for development. Sources of water conditioned the places where peoples settled, as well as the economic activities they pursued and ultimately, their survival. Today water plays an even more important role due to poverty, the increasing spread of water-related diseases, water scarcity, contamination, and climate change, making water vital for current sustainable development. To better understand the relationship between water, sanitation, and sustainable development it is important to understand what the concept of sustainability entails. It is generally agreed that sustainable development indicates inclusive economic growth that favors not only society, but the environment as well. 69 Therefore, in order to be sustainable, development should always focus on these three aspects of access, sanitation, and sustainability. 70 Finding a way to improve access to drinking water and sanitation should be addressed with these three elements in mind. For instance, in the economic field, !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 63 Progress on Sanitation and Drinking Water – 2014 Update. 64 Ibid. 65 Ibid. 66 Ibid. 67 Ibid. 68 Ibid. 69 Tracey Strange et al., Sustainable Development. Linking Economy, Society, Environment (Paris: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), 2008). Accessed 15 July 2013. http://www.oecdilibrary.org/docserver/download/0108121e.pdf?expires=1373922182&id=id&accname=guest&checksum=9E12E4440 A3314119ECF3D349794C5DD. 70 Ibid. - 15 -
National High School Model United Nations 2015 HLPF sustainability entails the appropriate use of available resources to achieve enduring and positive economic outcomes. This means taking advantage of and appropriately using the natural, economic, and human resources SSA has available. Since SSA is considered to be an economically developing region, access to drinking water and sanitation should be provided with the additional goal of positively impacting SSA’s economic growth. Therefore, that requires perceiving water and sanitation as tools for economic development, in addition to their more traditional definitions as human rights and basic services that must be provided. But how are water and sanitation tools for economic development? It may seem contradictory, but providing safe drinking water and sanitation brings more economic benefits than not providing them at all. The lack of sanitation and safe drinking water results in a loss of USD 260 billion annually in developing countries. 71 Providing water and sanitation can result in enhanced economic growth and development, as these services have the potential to earn enough revenue to operate facilities and even produce extra earnings for the investor. 72 For example, “for every dollar invested on sanitation and water, there is a five-dollar return and possible economic gains from universal sanitation and water are an estimated USD 170 billion USD per year.” 73 This return on investment for water services is more easily recovered than those from other services. Even the poor are willing to pay for such an important resource. In the slums of Lima, Peru, the poor paid three times more per month for 23 liters per capita per day from vendors, compared with the relatively wealthy, who used 152 liters per capita per day from the piped system. 74 Moreover, sustainable access to water and sanitation would stimulate the development of household commercial activities, small businesses and industries, and shops, among others. 75 This would result in enhanced employment, productivity, and ultimately more income. 76 On the other hand, societal sustainability is a key element that is often neglected. It encompasses the well-being of societies, good living standards, education, and social integration for endurable development processes. 77 It is a vital aspect since it is human capital that primarily drives the economy and development as a whole; reliable access to water and sanitation enables people to have dignified living conditions and increases their opportunities to improve their quality of life, greatly improving people’s health and wellbeing. This results in more resilient and reliable societies, with strengthened productive capacity and developmental drive and potential. 78 Hence, people have more opportunities and a higher chance to lead the lives they envision, which ultimately is the core of all human rights. 79 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 71 “United Nations Millennium Development Goals,” United Nations, accessed 21 July 2014, http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/endopendefecation.shtml. 72 D.A. Okun, “The Value of Water Supply and Sanitation in Development: An Assessment,” American Journal of Public Health 78, no. 11 (1988): 1463–67, accessed 30 June 2014, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1350240/pdf/amjph00250-0077.pdf. 73 “About,” SWA, accessed 22 July 2014, http://sanitationandwaterforall.org/about. 74 T.B. Adrianzen and G.G. Graham, ‘The High Cost Of Being Poor-Water,’ Arch Environ Health 28, (1974): 312-315. 75 Okun, “The Value of Water Supply and Sanitation in Development: An Assessment.” 76 Ibid. 77 Strange et al., Sustainable Development. Linking Economy, Society, Environment. 78 A Post-2015 Global Goal for Water. 79 Ibid. - 16 -
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