EXPERTS HOLD TALKS ON GLOBAL WATER INITIATIVE

Press Release
ENV/DEV/461

EXPERTS HOLD TALKS ON GLOBAL WATER INITIATIVE

HARARE, 30 January -- Over 120 experts on freshwater resources from around the world ended four days of talks here today with recommendations that could form the basis of a global initiative to conserve and protect freshwater.

The meeting was the first in a series set for the next few months to address the world's growing water crisis, leading up to talks at the sixth session of the Commission on Sustainable Development in late April. Governments gave this issue highest priority at the "Earth Summit+5" special session of the General Assembly last June, based on an alarming report showing that by 2025, two thirds of the world's people will live in countries facing moderate to severe water stress unless action is taken.

Among the expert group's recommendations are that governments establish national water policies to ensure efficient and equitable allocation of freshwater for health, basic human needs and food security. While noting that full costs have to be covered in order for water providers to remain financially viable, the experts proposed that subsidies for specific groups, particularly the poor, might be needed in some countries. International cooperation to support national action was seen as very important in such areas as finance, technology and training.

The group stressed the need for sustainability and recognition of the role of ecosystems in water management, and strongly recommended the involvement of all stakeholders at all levels and transparency in policy decisions and management of the resources. In many countries, women, who play a key role in providing and safeguarding domestic water, need to be empowered and included in water management schemes.

Closing the meeting, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Rural Resources and Water Development, Zimbabwe, Finnie Munyira, said that it was now evident that water was a resource whose problems defied political boundaries, and consequently solutions

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would require global cooperation and mutual assistance. The Harare meeting, organized by the United Nations, was hosted by the Government of Zimbabwe with sponsorship from the European Commission and the Governments of Denmark, France, Ireland, Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

Governments will take up the expert group's recommendations at the Commission's intersessional working group on freshwater from 23 to 27 February in New York. They will then seek to build consensus at a ministerial-level International Conference on Water and Sustainable Development, to be held in Paris from 19 to 21 March, sponsored by the French Government. It is hoped that elements of an international initiative can be agreed upon at the Commission's session, which runs from 20 April to 1 May, in New York.

The 1997 Comprehensive Assessment of the Freshwater Resources of the World, prepared by the United Nations and the Stockholm Environment Institute for the Earth Summit review session, found that:

-- By 2025, two thirds of the world population -- close to 5.5 billion people -- will live in countries in which efforts to achieve economic growth and social progress are likely to face serious problems, given the continuation of current water usage and management policies.

-- Water use has been growing at more than twice the rate of population increase during this century.

-- In 1995, 20 per cent of the world population did not have access to safe drinking water and 50 per cent lacked proper sanitation.

-- At any given time, approximately one half of the people in the developing world are suffering from a sickness associated with unclean water.

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