COMMISSION ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT CONSIDERS EXPERIENCE OF STATES IN FRESHWATER MANAGEMENT
Press Release
ENV/DEV/466
COMMISSION ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT CONSIDERS EXPERIENCE OF STATES IN FRESHWATER MANAGEMENT
19980420 Hears Reports by China, Zimbabwe, VenezuelaEffective water management required comprehensive governmental action to address the needs of all in society, the Commission on Sustainable Development was told this afternoon as it continued its consideration of strategic approaches to freshwater management, hearing of the national experiences of China, Zimbabwe and Venezuela.
S. Mtetwa, Director of Water Resources of the Ministry of Rural Resources and Water Development of Zimbabwe, said his country faced serious water scarcity owing to population growth and inefficient usage. In addressing the situation, the Government had acknowledged the need to include all water users in the formulation of water management plans. Sound water management must be based on proper control, close monitoring, improved efficiency and reduced pollution. Efforts taken by Zimbabwe included reforming its Water Act to improve access to water for all people.
Eduardo Buroz, a member of the Consultative Council of HIDROVEN, a national water management body of Venezuela, said his county took a holistic approach to the management of water, treating it as a rare and renewable resource. The State worked to ensure that water was made available equitably to all in society.
Challenges facing water management in China included yearly increases in water demand, lack of financial resources, water pollution and a need for flood protection, said Liang Ruiju, President of the China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research. Measures to address those issues included the institution of government regulations and investment in water resource infrastructure.
Also this afternoon, Kenneth Ruffing, Officer-in-Charge for the Division for Sustainable Development, introduced reports on the transfer of technology, capacity-building, education, science and awareness-raising. The Commission decided to take up those issues on Thursday, 26 April.
The Commission will meet again at 10 a.m. tomorrow, 21 April, to consider the role of the industry in sustainable development.
(more) Commission Work Programme
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The Commission on Sustainable Development met this afternoon to continue its discussion of freshwater management. The Commission is charged with monitoring the implementation of Agenda 21, the programme of action adopted at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED). (For background information, see Press Release ENV/DEV/465 of 20 April.)
The Commission is also expected to consider the issues of capacity- building, education and public awareness, science for sustainable development and the transfer of environmentally sound technology. It had before it a report of the Secretary-General on the subject (document E/CN.17/1998/6).
The report states the global community has a reasonable sense of what needs to be done with respect to capacity-building. The main challenge is now in implementation -- learning to use capacities that already exist, developing new ones and building the trust, incentives and willingness to collaborate. Measures to build the capacity for sustainable development include the protection of resources and resource management, changes in resource pricing, tax policy and revenue distribution, and greater participation and citizen empowerment through education and awareness campaigns.
Among the key priorities cited for action in capacity-building are opening the process to include a full range of national actors, reforming the judicial system in many countries to ensure compliance and guidance for national participants and creating a monitoring and evaluation process that is less donor-driven.
The report states that the Commission can lend its support to capacity- building by encouraging the international community to reinforce the idea that countries at any level of development can make genuine progress in building such capacity, provided that the process is driven by national commitment and ownership. It can encourage funding agencies to give greater support to capacity-building activities; encourage countries to learn from each other's experiences and adopt approaches that move away from command-and-control techniques towards more experimentation; and encourage countries to increase their own capacity through cost-effective subregional cooperation.
On the question of education, public awareness and training, the report states that education is now widely acknowledged as a means to prepare people to engage with governments, business and industry, and to support changes in governance and the marketplace. It is also recognized as a driving force for changing values and mind-sets, which can in turn lead to behavioural change.
Among actions recommended with respect to education and sustainable development are: clarifying the concept and key messages of education for
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sustainable development; reviewing national education policies and reorienting formal educational systems; incorporating education into national strategies and action plans for sustainable development; and educating to promote sustainable consumption and production patterns. The report also recommends the strengthening of partnerships for education through public/private cooperation, involvement of the scientific and technological community and programmes for youths.
On science for sustainable development, the report states that each country must possess the scientific capability needed to master its own path to sustainable development. However, a majority of developing countries fall short of that objective; their national investment in higher education in science and scientific institution-building should be increased. Specific attention should also be given to capacity-building relating to the development of national science and technology policies and systems of innovation.
In its proposals for action, the report suggests that countries, in particular developing countries, should define national strategies, policies and plans for the purpose of ensuring the development of science and improved research management. Measures to address the shortcomings of higher education in science in many developing countries include undertaking a comprehensive rehabilitation of research and teaching infrastructures in universities; increasing bilateral and multilateral donor cooperation within each country; establishing university/industry partnerships; and putting modern information technologies in place to ensure easy access to libraries and other information centres.
With respect to the transfer of environmentally sound technology, the report states that the development and dissemination of new technologies contributes to the increased production and introduction of goods and services, as well as to production processes that are more resource efficient and less polluting. In general, however, increased production and consumption is outpacing the introduction of cleaner technologies, contributing to continued deterioration of the global environment. In order to promote improvements in eco-efficiency, there is a need for further development of measurement methods, environmental performance indicators and technology benchmarking, including the assessment and adoption of new and cleaner technologies.
Regarding policies for promoting the transfer of environmentally sound technologies, the report cites a need to strengthen technology cooperation. That can be done by developing relevant guidelines or codes of practice for governments and by creating partnership initiatives that take account of economic opportunities and the capacities of the developing countries. Other policies for promoting the transfer of technologies include: increasing the
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transfer and dissemination of technologies that result from publicly funded research activities; and developing national technology strategies that, among other things, strengthen research and development capacities and improve the capacity for technology transfer.
Additional information on those four topics are contained in three other reports of the Secretary-General (documents E/CN.17/1998/6/Add.1, Add.2, Add.3), and in a report of an expert meeting on environmentally sound technologies (document E/CN.17/1998/12). Those documents were also before the Commission.
Country Reports on Freshwater Management
LIANG RUIJU (China), President of the China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, said his country's 2,800 billion cubic metres per annum of total available water resources was equivalent to 2,300 cubic metres per capita, or approximately 25 per cent of the world average. Total water usage was about 500 billion cubic metres, the largest portion of which came from groundwater. Municipal, industrial and domestic use accounted for about one fifth of all water used, and more than half was used for irrigation.
Flood control was a major concern in China, he said. Since 1981, many water-related regulations had been instituted. Water and soil conservation projects were under way, but control of man-induced erosion due to mining, stone pitting, capital construction, road building and destruction of forests and grasslands was not effectively or resolutely controlled. As a result, control in a specific area was likely to result in overall destruction of larger areas, as in the Yangtze River Valley, where since 1950, eroded land had grown to three times the area of land under control.
Specific issues for China relating to freshwater management included the yearly increase in water demand, lack of financial resources, water pollution, soil erosion, waste of water and inadequate water management and flood protection, he said. Measures to address those issues included the institution of supporting regulations and policies by the State Council and ministries, improvement of the drinking water supply, investment in construction of the water resources infrastructure, promoting the industrialization of the water sector, transforming governmental responsibility from the project level to the macro-management level, control of water pollution and participation in international cooperation.
In response to a question by the United States on whether the allocation of revenue for water management in China had improved, Mr. Ruiju said that efforts were under way to address the situation.
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S. MTETWA, Director of Water Resources of the Ministry of Rural Resources and Water Development of Zimbabwe, said there were three main forces in his country that conspired to create water scarcity: natural depletion of water; population growth and increased use; and unequal distribution of access to water. While those factors led to decreased supply, the management of that supply also faced problems. Problems with water management had arisen from: budgetary constraints, which resulted in less government support for infrastructure development; reduced human resources in the ministry responsible for water management; recurrence of drought in the past decade; the building of dams, which had resulted in inefficient water usage and waste; and uncontrolled groundwater use.
He said that the Zimbabwean public, however, was beginning to become more aware of the issue of water management. The droughts experienced over the years had contributed immensely to the realization that water contributed significantly to both social and economic development. In order to improve the water situation, the Government had acknowledged that there should be some emphasis on the need for the formulation of water management plans by local and expert groups; that there was a need for sound water management based on proper control, close monitoring, improved efficiency and reduced pollution; and that government financial resources made it difficult to implement water development schemes at the required pace.
As conflicts over water worsened, many people wonder where water would come from in the future, he said. Expanding water supply to one user now meant taking it away from another user later. To address water concerns, a major reform of water policy had been undertaken, which included repeal of the Water Act of 1976 and the formulation of a new one. The new Act would improve access to water for Zimbabweans, improve the management of water resources, strengthen environmental protection and simplify the Act and improve its administration.
Responding to a question by the representative of Sweden on how Zimbabwe was linking the environment and health, Mr. Mtetwa said his country was developing an environmental act that would cover all aspects of the environment, taking account of health and other factors. Right now, however, the issues were dealt with separately.
Responding to a question by the representative of Lesotho on the Water Act of 1976, he said there were so many aspects of the old Water Act that no longer applied to the current water situation that the Government found it was easier to repeal it and create a modern and updated law.
The representative of Egypt asked what government agencies controlled water management in Zimbabwe. Mr. Mtetwa said there were a number of small
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authorities and agencies that addressed water management, but the Government intended to merge those small authorities under one water-management system.
Had all the sources of water been developed in Zimbabwe? the representative of India asked. Mr. Mtetwa said all the sources had not been developed. The search for and utilization of water sources was limited by financial constraints.
The representative of Nicaragua asked if there had been any assistance from developed countries in improving the water situation in Zimbabwe. Mr. Mtetwa said there has been little help from the international community in developing water resources or cleaning up polluted water. The efforts to improve water resources has been done by the Government of Zimbabwe.
Asked by the representative of Bangladesh about community groups which met to discuss water management, Mr. Mtetwa said such groups reported to the water authority and brought their concerns to the Government, which acted on those concerns.
Asked by the representative of Kenya if there had been investment in water resources by the private sector, Mr. Mtetwa said that in some cases farmers would allow their water supply to be used for a certain amount of time for municipal purposes.
EDUARDO BUROZ (Venezuela), Member of the Consultative Council of HIDROVEN, a national water management body, said his country's hydrogeologic methods had been imported from the Iberian peninsula. Basically, there was a holistic approach to management of water, which meant that it was treated as a rare and renewable resource. The State was the guarantor for making sure that equitable water use was made available to all in society. The State reserved the right to make decisions over the sectoral pattern of water use, which meant that concessions were required but that some water was beginning to fall into the domain of the private sector.
Protection of water was a matter of territorial management, he said. Conservation and holistic management were based on the quality and quantity of the resource available in an area. Controlling the catchment basins had become a high priority in Venezuela's economic and social policy. The management of water involved the adoption of State plans and the definition of special administration structures.
The major hydrographic imbalance across the country meant that the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources had to control water, he said. The trans-sectoral management of water was stressed. It had been carefully planned that national laws, institutions and programmes did not infringe on sectoral considerations. There was centralization at regional and local
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levels, however, and national authority did not allocate the ultimate resource use, even though it determined approaches to such issues as supporting wetlands, the biological life in rivers and navigation.
In Venezuela, the State did not seek to abandon its regulatory role. However, certain changes had been made with regard to drinking water and sanitation to make certain they were sustainable. Fundamental policy changes included transferring some operations to the private sector, attracting capital, allocating public funds and extending the use of multilateral credits to the private sector. A new juridical framework had also been developed, defining the machinery for the rational use of water, as well as the environmental management plan.
The important lesson was to try different approaches and to cut losses early if those approaches did not work, he said. People were willing to change for higher quality, but there were institutional resistances to be overcome. Protection of human resources would be supported, particularly if it provided training and job opportunities for people in water management.
The representative of Sweden asked about the movement of water from one part of the country to the other and about the provision of water for the poor. Mr. Buroz said that 85 per cent of demand for water was in the north, while 85 per cent of supply was in the south. Water, therefore, had to transferred across the country. On the second question, he said the Government provided direct subsidies to the poorest in society so they could meet the cost of the water.
The representative of Kenya asked how many people were unable to pay for water. Mr. Buroz said his country recognized the need of the poor to have water services. There was a system in place by which those who had greater financial resources paid more for water. Also, the country made sure subsidies went to the neediest in society.
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