Water
and its related aspects of hygiene and sanitation will seal the success of many
of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): access to food, poverty
eradication, gender equality and education to name a few. There can be no real
absolute improvements in the later if water remains insufficient. Recently, Germany and the
World Food Program have pledged to eradicate hunger by 2030. How can this be possible without water to
irrigate, clean and cook food products, not to mention water needed to maintain
life stocks? Is this even realistic in poor areas impacted by climate change? Truly,
we need to set clear priorities in what must come first on the international
development agenda.
Unique
in its global political dimension, the 7th Edition of the World
Water Forum is organized by South
Korea in April 2015. In its previous
editions the Forum was often seen as a platform promoting state-run water
projects and advertising “best practices” or public development programs. Hence,
the Forum has often been viewed as a show room for state actors. However, in the face of sobering and pressing international
water challenges, see for instance the new UNESCO World Water Development
Report, the Forum needs to depart from political status quo and take the lead
regarding three cardinal points:
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| Courtesy World Water Council @ worldwatercouncil.org |
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| Courtesy UNESCO @ unesco.org |
First,
the Forum must actively seek to get those that ultimately provide water services and
deliver drinking water to all sectors on board: small and medium companies, water
utilities and spare parts producers to share their concerns, co-design and
produce tailor-made and low-cost water infrastructure. In fact, the UN and various
stakeholders have drafted very ambitious SDGs for water, hygiene and sanitation (Goal 6) to be achieved in no less than 15 years. In order
to meet those universal and quantifiable targets, the Forum should launch
regional working groups linking up local businesses from the water sector,
civil society representatives with public servants to trigger applied
discussions on how to best solve local problems and present concrete regional
recommendations before, during and after the Forum.
Second,
the Forum should be an open platform for testimonies, critics and diverging
point of views from water users experiencing the daily water crisis. During the
last 2012 World Water Forum, in France,
the only place to meet and hear the alarm call of farmers, community
representatives, women and minority groups suffering from the water crisis was
at the unofficial side event or “Alternative World Water Forum”: a civil
society initiative organized for civil society.
For many people around the world the World Water Forum remains a vitrine
organized by public authorities for public authorities. Yet, the Forum must become the place for all
water users to voice their concerns on the international stage.
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| Courtesy United Nations @ sustainabledevelopment.un.org |
Third,
the Forum ought to coordinate with other high level environmental summits such
as the climate change and sustainability summits. For instance in Lima 2014 and in Copenhagen 2009, member states have pledged financial help for least developed and developing countries to adapt to climate change, via National
Adaptation Plans. As such, part of those
adaptation funds will be channelled to non conventional supply technologies
(efficient irrigation, flood control, desalination etc.). The Forum can help to tailor low-cost
technologies more systematically and get political commitment on critical
issues such as technology transfer and awareness-raising. This will be of great help to realistically
plan and implement the framework agreements of future environmental summits.
Political
commitment to fast-track related summits; more openness and inclusion towards civil society and the
water industry; those are but a few points to guarantee overall coherence and generate
the extra momentum needed for the World Water Forum to effectively contribute
to world peace and human development: without
safe drinking water, proper hygiene and sanitation for all, the Sustainable
Development Goals won’t be sustainable!
RB
