Water for people.pdf - WHO Thailand Digital Repository

T H E W O R L D ’ S W A T E R C R I S I S : F I T T I N G T H E P I E C E S T O G E T H E R / 5 0 9of land equipped for irrigation is foreseen. Water withdrawals foragriculture, presently at 70 percent of all abstracted water, areexpected to increase by 14 percent until 2030, with irrigation wateruse efficiency improving by an average 4 percent.Some 22 percent of the world’s water withdrawals are forindustry, and this is forecast to grow to 24 percent. Globalization –with its accompanying relocation of labour-intensive industries – iscreating high water demand in areas that do not have the necessaryabundance. High-income countries are deriving more value per unitof water used than lower-income countries. Effluent discharges towater bodies have been reduced in high-income countries, but loadshave risen substantially in middle- and low-income countries.Two billion people have no electricity at all, and 2.5 billion peoplein developing countries, mainly in rural areas, have little access tocommercial energy services. Hydropower has been the mostsignificant source of energy from water, and it contributes 7 percentof total energy production worldwide and one fifth of electricityproduction. Over the last ten years, the development of newhydropower capacity has kept pace with the overall increase in theenergy sector, and it is likely that it will continue to do so for theforeseeable future. Water is likely to contribute to the expansion ofelectricity coverage through large-scale hydropower and thermalcooling in urban areas. Unless they are brought into supply grids, thegreatest potential in rural areas lies in small-scale hydropower.In response to these challenges to life and well-being, watermanagement continues to seek practical solutions to mitigating risk,sharing water, valuing water, ensuring the knowledge base andgoverning water effectively. But risks continue to mount and areexerting a heavy toll. Deaths due to natural disasters totalled at least40,000 in 1998 and 50,000 in 1999, with 97 percent of all thesedeaths in developing countries. More people are now affected bydisasters than ever before – up from an average of 147 million peryear (1981–90) to 211 million per year (1991–2000). Economiclosses from all disasters amounted to US$70 billion in 1999,compared with US$30 billion in 1990. A dramatic shift is encouragedaway from reactive approaches and reliance on failing engineeringsolutions, towards alternative and more sustainable risk reduction.A number of common mechanisms have been implemented withincountries at an operational level for intersectoral sharing. There hasbeen expanded involvement in the management of international water,including the 1997 UN Convention on the Law of Non-navigational Usesof International Waters. Despite the potential for dispute, the record ofcooperation between countries overwhelms the record of acute conflict.The different ways of valuing water are now recognized, yet thisremains a controversial issue. There is a growing acceptance of theneed for full cost recovery in water services, but this must be donein a way that safeguards the needs of the poor. Valuing water hasbecome critical to optimizing investment and obtaining viable privatesector participation in the efforts to raise the needed projectedinvestments of US$180 billion per year until 2025.Efforts are being made to extend the knowledge base amongthe general populace through formal and informal education, publicawareness and the media. Recent advances in information andcommunication technologies (ICT) have made it easier to secure theknowledge base in its many dimensions. But developing countries,with the greatest need for the benefits of ICT in overcominggeographic and economic isolation, are hindered by lack of access.Unless this gap, the so-called digital divide, is narrowed, it will alsoperpetuate its own vicious cycle of isolation, ignorance and nonparticipationin development and decision-making.It is said that the water crisis is a crisis of governance. Specifictargets for national action programmes, appropriate institutionalstructures and legal instruments originally set to be in place by2000 have not yet been fulfilled in many instances. At thecommunity level, empowerment and self-reliance have shownthemselves effective in improving services for the poor. Partnershipswith the private sector have also improved services whenaccompanied by effective regulation. But capacity to regulate islacking. Remedying the situation requires a long-term commitmentto education and training. Stakeholders must be willing and able toparticipate in decision-making and be recognized as key players insolving water resource problems. Where none exists, an institutionalcapacity must be created to regulate water questions and providean enabling framework. The water sector remains seriouslyunderfinanced, although new funding initiatives announced at theWSSD suggest that the situation could improve. Many hope that theprivate sector can fill this gap and contribute more. Debt relief, inwhich macrogovernance is proving to be a major determinant, hasbegun releasing funds in support of development targets.Regional dimensionsThe regional perspective offers another view of the global picture,highlighting certain regional disparities, as shown in figure 23.2.Seen through this prism, the various challenge areas and otherpieces in the puzzle reveal a different and sometimes surprisingprofile. In certain parts of the world the different challenges areactually compounded.AfricaWith only 64 percent of the population with access to improvedwater supply, Africa has the lowest proportional coverage of anyregion of the world. The situation is much worse in rural areas,where coverage is 50 percent compared with 86 percent in urbanareas. Sanitation coverage in Africa is also poor, although Asia haseven lower coverage levels. Currently, only 60 percent of the Africanpopulation has sanitation coverage, with 80 percent and 48 percent