PRESS CONFERENCE BY SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION CHAIR

Press Conference by sustainable development commission chair

The Commission on Sustainable Development had to act as a watchdog and honestly evaluate how much had been done to deliver safe water and basic sanitation to the poor, Børge Brende, Chairman of the Commission’s twelfth session, said at a Headquarters press briefing this afternoon.

Currently, the situation was dire.  For example, one out of every three people in the world lacked basic sanitation.  Additionally, one out of every six did not have access to safe water.  It was not just individual people who depended on water.  Industries did, as well.  In fact, 90 per cent of water was used for irrigation.  Thus, in order to ensure better access to clean water, better management was needed.  After all, because water–borne diseases accounted for most patients in the developing world, if the international community failed to meet its water and sanitation targets, it would also fail to meet health targets.

Stressing the importance of integrated water management plans, he lamented that many countries had not completed them.  That was problematic, because people needed to discuss things like what sort of water was needed for which type of irrigation.  Subsidies for the poor also needed to be addressed.  In that context, he urged developing countries to embark on a decade of implementation.  For their part, donor countries should deliver their promised levels of official development assistance.

Asked about the private sector’s role in water and sanitation, he said governments now knew that they had the responsibility to provide water and sanitation for their citizens.  Acknowledging that the business community had expressed a desire to be involved, he maintained that a strong and transparent regulatory framework was needed.

Fielding a question about the importance of integrated water management plans, he answered that such plans were necessary because they balanced economic, social, and political needs.  Citing faulty Soviet attempts to turn Central Asia into a cotton-growing region, he explained that, because no integrated plans had been followed, the Aral Sea was now shrinking dramatically.

Told that developing countries needed access to new water-related technologies, he responded that, during the 1980s, Western firms had built many modern toilets in the developing world.  Now, however, most of those facilities were not working because of poor maintenance and the lack of spare parts.  The problem could have been avoided if local people had been consulted.  In short, new technology was important, but knowledge also had to be built from the bottom up.

Asked about how increasing levels of official development assistance could help, he answered that solid management was just as important.  That would promote better allocation of the resources already being devoted to solving water-related problems.  Declaring that developing countries had to take some responsibility themselves, he lauded Uganda for factoring water-related concerns into its poverty reduction strategy papers.  He also stated that countries sometimes had to charge their citizens for water, even if they did not want to.  After all, if people had to pay for their water, they would be less likely to waste it.

Before concluding, he said the Commission could not talk about macro issues that fell under the jurisdiction of the General Assembly.  What it could do, however, was serve as a watchdog, enhance policy-making, and provide a forum where best practices could be discussed and shared.

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