Africa's water needs soaring

2003-03-17 14:06

Kyoto - Funding plans to supply water to Africa's poor and malnourished people poses a "massive challenge", compounded by the prospect of a war in Iraq, South African Water Minister Ronnie Kasrils on international conference here on Monday.

Kasrils said only strong commitments of aid would make it possible to improve conditions for the 300 million Africans who lacked drinking water and 500 million who didn't have water for sanitation.

"Financing the interventions required to meet these challenges is, in itself, a massive challenge," he said. "And, of course, the war clouds are gathering at this very time."

Kasril spoke at the World Water Forum in Japan at a meeting on developing national water policies to alleviate poverty in Africa.

The eight-day forum, which started on Sunday, aims to halve the number of people around the globe without access to water and sanitation - estimated at more than 2 billion - by 2015.

The United Nations has said this will cost US$180bn (about R1 460bn) a year in aid.

Eking out living in poverty

In Africa, however, falling aid and investment have meant little progress toward that goal, said African Development Bank vice-president Chanel Boucher.

Poverty and a lack of water are inextricably linked in Africa.

Of the world's 49 poorest countries, 34 are in Africa, many in the dry sub-Saharan region. More than 340 million Africans eke out a living in poverty, said Boucher.

Delegates and international donors at the water forum are expected to approve the establishment of a new funding agency, called the African Water Facility, that funnels grants from donors to countries - half of the continent - that can't qualify for water aid.

Canada, the Netherlands and France have already pledged US$6m for the facility's start-up.

Even if the money was available, few policy makers can agree on how best to spend it.

Anna Tibaijuka, executive director of Habitat and under-secretary-general of the United Nations, predicted that half of all the next generation of Africans would live in cities - many in slums - and that donors must place priority on making water affordable in urban areas.

In the slums of Nairobi, for example, many living on less than R9 a day pay as much as five to seven times more for a bottle of water than an American does, Tibaijuka said.

However, Egyptian water minister Mahmoud Abu-Zeid emphasised that funding should go to repairing leaky pipes and inefficient irrigation techniques, which account for 88% of all water used for agriculture.

To do that, countries must negotiate new treaties to share the continent's river waters.

The Nile River winds through 10 countries, but Egypt's control of much of the water through treaties has stoked resentment from its neighbours and countries upstream.

With about 70% of Africa's river basins crossing through at least two countries, there is more potential for tensions, said André Wiltzer, French minister for co-operation and Francophonie. - Sapa-AP

- SAPA