African Water Development Report 2006 - United Nations Economic ...

to serve the social concerns of the vast majorityof the rural and peri-urban populations of Africa,referred to as the “ecosystem people” by Reedand Wackernagel (Swatuk L.A. (2005). There isa general consensus that universal water supplyand sanitation services are socially desirable andvaluable because they represent a civilized wayof living collectively, and are important for humandignity. For example, in Ghana, poor ruralcommunities became more confident in receivingvisitors and talking to government officialswhen they are able to provide clean cups of waterto their visitors as the traditional Ghanaianhospitality requires and, in Tanzania, access towater allowed people to meet their religious dutieswhen they can wash up before praying ( JackMoss, 2003).scarce resources, leading to escalating environmentalcosts. The increasing gap in demand andsupply of water in the face of growing populationand economic development has thus become achallenge for sustainable development in developingcountries, especially Africa .The awarenessof this situation and the consistent calls onAfrican Governments to initiate actions to meetvarious international (MDG) and regional (AfricaWater Vision) targets have led most Africancountries to adopt integrated water resourcesmanagement strategies within national waterpolicies. This is a decisive turn from the fragmentedway of facing water problems to an integratedvision which will surely take into considerationthe value aspects of water the substance,the resource and water services.VALUING WATERThe aim of achieving economic development andgrowth has led to overuse and misallocation of295