Over a billion lack clean water
2006-03-10 13:13
Anthony Mitchell
Nairobi - Environmental degradation, poor management and a burgeoning population has produced some of the worst water shortages in the world in sub-Saharan Africa, exacerbating poverty and disease, according to a UN report on Thursday.
Indeed, around the world, mismanagement, limited resources and environmental changes have combined to deny 1.1 billion people access to safe water, the report said. The report was compiled by 24 UN agencies who say it is the most comprehensive assessment to date on the planet's freshwater supplies.
Globally, diarrhoea diseases and malaria kill around 3.1 million people, according to the UN, which said 1.6 million could be saved if provided with safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene.
Poor nations are losing as much as eight percent of their gross domestic product due to environmental degradation. Water pollution in China alone cost the country $1.7bn in lost industrial income in 1992.
In Kenya, improved resilience to droughts and floods by better water management and preparedness could see the country's gross domestic product increase as much as 6%, the report states.
Drought creating hunger crisis
Drought is creating a hunger crisis in Kenya and elsewhere in East Africa.
"Good governance would certainly reduce the impact of drought," said Salif Diop, head of the water unit in the early warning and assessment division of Unep.
"Deforestation, overgrazing, not managing lakes; all those are factors that aggravate drought."
Water use has increased six-fold during the last century, double the rate of population growth. More water is needed for food production, which must grow by 55% to meet food needs by 2030. But private investment in water services is declining and financial resources for the water sector are stagnating, the report found.
The 584-page report will be presented at the Fourth World Water Forum in Mexico City next week. It says better management, not only by governments but also local authorities, the private sector and civil society is critical.
"Good governance is essential for managing our increasingly stretched supplies of freshwater and indispensable for tackling poverty," said Koichiro Matsuura, director general of the UN educational and cultural body, Unesco.
Investment in water also pays massive dividends, the authors argued. It is estimated 322 million working days a year are lost - worth $750m - because of poor water and sanitation. Meeting global targets to provide clean water and sanitation would yield time and convenience savings of US$7bn and US$340m in health care costs.
- AP