A global action plan is urgently needed to resolve the world’s growing water and sanitation crisis, and South Africa can help establish one, says the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
“[However], when it comes to water and sanitation, the world suffers from a surplus of conference activity and a deficit of action,” it warns in its latest Human Development Report, titled Beyond Poverty: Power, Poverty and the Global Water Crisis, launched in Cape Town on Thursday.
Referring to global meetings, such as the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development and the World Water Forum in Mexico City earlier this year, the report says there has been a proliferation of conferences dedicated to water.
“Yet it is difficult to avoid the conclusion … there is a very large gap between the ministerial declarations and conference communiqués, and practical strategies to achieve water and sanitation for all.”
The UNDP estimates more than a billion people around the world are denied the right to clean water, and 2,6-billion lack access to adequate sanitation.
It warns that in terms of meeting Millennium Development Goal targets for sanitation, only two regions in the developing world — East Asia and Latin America — are on track. “The sanitation target will be missed by 430-million people, with 74 countries off track.”
The report says the water target will be missed by 234-million people, with 55 countries off track.
On the agenda
Briefing the media ahead of the launch of the report, its lead author, Kevin Watkins, said the UNDP hopes South Africa can help in getting a global action plan on to the agenda of the Group of Eight (G8) countries.
He also warned it is up to the continent’s political leadership to ensure aid promised Africa last year at the G8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, actually materialises. The agreement includes a commitment to give an extra $25-billion in aid to the continent by 2010.
“[There was] a commitment to double aid to sub-Saharan Africa by 2010; it’s important that the G8 are held to account on this,” Watkins said, responding to a question.
However, most G8 countries — with the exception of Japan — have understated the importance of sanitation and water in their aid programmes. “Most donors do not prioritise water and sanitation in a serious way — it accounts for 5% of total aid flows, which is, frankly, too low.”
It is also clear some G8 donors are “not on track” to meet the targets.
“At the same time I think one also has to be honest and balanced about this, and say many countries in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia have not themselves prioritised water and sanitation.
“It’s not fair to expect the G8 to compensate for leadership deficits in other countries; this has to be a partnership. One of the reasons water and sanitation doesn’t figure in the Gleneagles agreement is many governments in Africa have not really pressed the issue in their relationships with donors. The donors have not actually been sent a clear signal,” he said.
Part of the problem is about political leadership in regional bodies in sub-Saharan Africa.
“I really believe that South Africa has an absolutely critical leadership role to play here … we’re very hopeful that you will be backing our call for a global action plan … and trying to get this on the G8 agenda,” he said.
The Human Development Report says a concrete timetable will be central to a global action plan to “increase aid to water and sanitation by $3,4-billion to $4-billion annually”.
Sub-Saharan Africa will be a focal point for the plan, not only in mobilising additional aid, but also in putting water and sanitation at the heart of the Africa strategy adopted by the G8 at Gleneagles, it says.
SA human development ranked
South Africa has been ranked 121st on the UNDP’s latest human development index (HDI), also released in Cape Town on Thursday. This is one position below Equatorial Guinea and one above Tajikistan on the 177-country-long scale.
The HDI, released annually, measures the state of human development in a country through indices calculated from life expectancy, adult literacy and school enrolment rates, and income. It is based on the most recent reliable data from UN partners and other official sources.
According to the index, South Africa’s overall score is 0,653 on a scale that has a high of 0,965 (Norway) and low of 0,311 (Niger).
South Africa falls into a group of countries categorised on the index as achieving “medium human development”.
Many of its neighbours to the north do not fare so well. Of the 31 countries at the bottom of the index — in the “low human development” category — 28 are from Africa south of the Sahara.
The data in the index is mainly from 2004.
The HDI gives life expectancy at birth in South Africa as 47 years; adult (15 and older) literacy as 82,4%; and GDP per capita as $11Â 192. It says the country’s combined gross enrolment ratio for primary, secondary and tertiary schools is 77%.
The top-scoring African countries in the index are the Indian Ocean island nations of Seychelles and Mauritius, which made it into the “high human development” category, ranking 47th and 63rd respectively.
According to the HDI, the country with the lowest life expectancy at birth is Swaziland. A child born in that country in 2004 could expect, on average, not to live many months past his or her 31st birthday (31,3). Next is Botswana (34,9), followed by Lesotho (35,2), Zimbabwe (36,6) and Zambia (37,7).
In comparison, a child born in Japan in that year has a life expectancy of 82,2 years.
The report attributes low life expectancy in sub-Saharan Africa mainly to Aids. — Sapa
On the net
Human Development Report website