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

IMPLEMENTATIONOF TARGETS UNDERTHE AFRICANWATER VISIONAND THE MILLEN-NIUM DEVELOPMENTGOALSAfrican countries are more than ever before involvedin tackling the issue of integrated waterresources management which they are resolvedto improve in line with the targets of the MDGs,at both the national and subregional levels andthrough international partnerships. In doingthis, they have given a pride of place to waterand sanitation in their socio-economic developmentstrategies, and expressed their determinationat the Pan African Implementation andPartnership Conference on Water, held in AddisAbaba from 8 to 13 December 2003 under theauspices of the African Ministers’ Council onWater (AMCOW) and the UN Water/Africa.The conference brought together 45 Ministers incharge of water, environment and housing andabout 1000 national delegates and participantsrepresenting key stakeholders, intergovernmentalorganizations, cooperation development partnersand non-governmental organisations (NGOs).The Conference provided a platform for Africancountries, the international community andUN agencies to reaffirm their commitment tosolving Africa’s water crisis and to collectivelyimplementing the actions proposed on water bythe Africa Water Vision, the Water Agenda ofthe New Partnership for Africa’s Development(NEPAD), the WSSD targets and the MillenniumDevelopment Goals (MDGs). The actionsinclude such targets as reducing by halve theproportion of people without sustainable accessto safe drinking water and without access to basicsanitation by 2015, and developing integratedwater resources management (IWRM) and waterefficiency plans by 2005. Figures 15.1 and15.2 show the targets set for water supply andsanitation (UNEP, 2003).The thematic sessions were dedicated to thechallenge areas, including: water, sanitation andhuman settlements; water and food security;protecting ecosystems and livelihoods; water andclimate; financing water infrastructure; integratedwater resources management (IWRM); waterallocation; water wisdom; and water governance.Each session came out with recommendationswhich were discussed at joint plenary sessionsof ministers and stakeholders. One of the mainoutcomes of the conference was the presentationto and adoption by the ministerial segment ofthe conference of subregional project portfolios.These projects were prepared through nationaland subregional consultations and meetings tofollow-up on the recommendations of WSSDFig. 15.1: Improved Fig. Water 15.1: Improved Supply Target Water in Supply Africa Target by 2015 in Africa by 2015Population300000250000200000150000100000500000West Africa Central Africa East Africa Southern Africa North AfricaIMPLEMENTATION OF TARGETS UNDER THE Africa Water Vision AND THE MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALSData Source: UNEP, 2003Sub RegionServed Pop. 2000 Unserved Pop. 2001 Served Pop. 2015 Unserved Pop. 2015 Target Pop. 2001-2015359