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

These recommendations were further emphasizedat the Ministerial Conference on DrinkingWater and Environmental Sanitation (Noordwijk,1994). In the face of the predicted increasein freshwater stress across the globe, estimatedto affect about two thirds of the world populationby the year 2025, the First Water Forum(Marrakech, 1997) established the World WaterCouncil and entrusted it with developing aWorld Water Vision for 2025. Consequently, theWorld Commission on Water for the 21 st Centuryencouraged the formation of continental,regional and national commissions to formulatetheir respective visions.Global, continental, regional and national watervision documents with their respective frameworkfor action were presented at the 2 nd WorldWater Forum (The Hague, 2000) and the MinisterialConference also at The Hague at the sametime. Many outputs from the Second WorldWater Forum were capped by two documents,the Vision and the Framework for Action. TheVision messages for a water secure world• A holistic, systemic approach relying on integratedwater resources management must replace thecurrent fragmentation in managing water.• Participatory institutional mechanisms must be putin place to involve all sectors of society in decision-making.• Fresh water must be recognized as a scarce commodityand managed accordingly.• Full-cost pricing of water services with targetedsubsidies for the poor.• Fresh water must be recognized as a basic need,with adequate access ensured for the poor.• Incentives for resource mobilization and technologychange are needed.• Institutional, technological and financial innovationis needed.• Private investment and community action.• Political will is needed – going beyond Dublin andRio.• Governments are key actors – as enablers andregulators.• Behavioural change is needed by all - no morebusiness as usual.first of these, “A water secure world - Vision forWater, Life, and the Environment in the 21 st Century”was prepared by the World Commission onWater, and was accompanied by a detailed Visionreport from the Vision Management Unitentitled “Making Water Everybody’s Business”.The second output was the Global WaterPartnership’s report “Towards Water Security: AFramework for Action”, which is based on the visionmaterial and focuses on the steps involvedin moving from vision to action. The MinisterialConference, aimed at mobilizing official governmentalsupport to counter global water predicamentswith political action, welcomed the Visionand Framework for Action documents. The Ministerscame out with a Ministerial Declarationon Water Security in the 21 st Century, includingseven key challenges to achieving water security.Ministerial Declaration – The main challenges• Meeting basic needs: Recognizing that access to safe and sufficientwater and sanitation are basic human needs and are essentialto health and well being, and to empowering people,especially women, through a participatory process of watermanagement;• Securing food supply: Enhancing food security, particularly of thepoor and vulnerable, through more efficient mobilization anduse and more equitable allocation of water for food production;• Protecting ecosystems: Ensuring the integrity of ecosystemsthrough sustainable water resources management;• Sharing water resources: Promoting peaceful cooperation anddeveloping synergies between different uses of water at all levels,whenever possible, within and, in the case of boundary andtrans-boundary water resources, between States concerned,through sustainable river basin management or other appropriateapproaches;• Managing risks: Providing security from floods, droughts, pollutionand other water-related hazards;• Valuing water: Managing water in a way that reflects its economic,social, environmental and cultural values for all its uses,and to move towards pricing water services to reflect the costof their provision. This approach should take account of theneed for equity and the basic needs of the poor and the vulnerable;and• Governing water wisely: Ensuring good governance, so that theinvolvement of the public and the interests of all stakeholdersare included in the management of water resources.INTERNATIONAL AND AFRICAN MILESTONES29