Water for people.pdf - WHO Thailand Digital Repository

2 0 / S E T T I N G T H E S C E N EThe World’s Water Crisis2. Securing the food supply: enhancing food security,particularly of the poor and vulnerable, through the moreefficient mobilization and use of water and the more equitableallocation of water for food production.3. Protecting ecosystems: ensuring the integrity ofecosystems through sustainable water resources management.4. Managing risks: providing security from floods, droughts,pollution and other water-related hazards.5. Sharing water resources: promoting peaceful cooperationand developing synergies between different uses of water at alllevels, whenever possible, within and – in the case of boundaryand transboundary water resources – between concernedstates, through sustainable river basin management or otherappropriate approaches.6. Valuing water: managing water in a way that reflects itseconomic, social, environmental and cultural values in all uses,with a move towards pricing water services to reflect the costof their provision. This approach should account for the needfor equity and the basic needs of the poor and the vulnerable.7. Governing water wisely: ensuring good governance, so thatthe involvement of the public and the interests of all stakeholdersare included in the management of water resources.The seven challenges from The Hague represent a major turning pointin the development of water policies, but they are not the final word.Indeed, work has continued since The Hague in further defining thekey challenges that face water policy-makers, and will continue overthe coming years. Work undertaken within the preparation of thisreport has identified a further four challenges for the future.8. Water and cities: acknowledging that urban areas areincreasingly the focus of human settlements and economicactivities, and that they present distinctive challenges to watermanagers.9. Water and industry: focusing on industry needs and theresponsibility to respect water quality and take account of theneeds of competing sectors.10. Water and energy: recognizing that water is vital for allforms of energy production, and that there is a need to ensurethat energy requirements are met in a sustainable manner.11. Ensuring the knowledge base: reflecting that good waterpolicies and management depend upon the quality ofknowledge available to decision-makers.The report does not follow the order of these challenges, insteadopting to concentrate on two main issues in the water arena – ‘needs,uses and demands’, and ‘management’. The challenges are reorganizedwithin these two parts. Taken together, the eleven challenges highlightthe elements essential to defining a compelling policy agenda. Now it iseverybody’s business to turn these challenges into specific policies andactions that reflect their differing needs and priorities, and the potentialavailable to them in different places at different times.There has been active development of these basic principlessince the meeting in The Hague in March 2000. The Germangovernment hosted an International Conference on Freshwater inDecember 2001, again with widespread participation and activedebates on key water issues. The Ministerial Declaration produced atthis meeting stressed the contribution that water management canmake to reaching the Millennium Development Goals. Issues offinance, governance, gender and capacity development wereemphasized. The Conference as a whole identified five ‘keys’: actionsthat were seen as essential to moving the water debate forward.These keys relate to the water security of the poor, decentralization,partnerships, sharing water and governance. The MinisterialDeclaration also emphasized the importance of mainstreaming waterrelatedissues in the preparation of the 2002 WSSD in Johannesburg.This theme was again taken up during the preparations for theSummit. Kofi Annan, the Secretary General of the United Nations,stated his conviction that water should be one of the key issuesdebated at the Summit. The Netherlands Crown Prince, WillemAlexander, an influential voice in the debate on water, produced apaper called ‘No Water, No Future’ as his contribution to the WSSD.The Prince’s introductory statement underscores the links betweenwater resources and sustainable development:The World Summit on Sustainable Development shouldreaffirm the importance of achieving water security andadopt targets and actions that will allow us to meet thischallenge jointly. In this context, I would even daresaythat if nations cannot manage their water resources,Sustainable Development remains a faraway dream.The Fourth Prepcom for the WSSD in Bali in May–June 2002 definedthe context within which issues such as water management mustbe considered:Poverty eradication, changing unsustainable patterns ofproduction and consumption and protecting andmanaging the natural resource base of economic andsocial development are overarching objectives of, andessential requirements for, sustainable development.(CSD, 2002, p. 1)The WSSD reaffirmed the existing Millennium Development Goal onwater provision and agreed on a new goal on improved sanitation.This is of great significance, as it is the first time that the key issue