Water and Equity in Africa The Liquidity Crises of the Poor

Water and Equity in Africa The Liquidity Crises of the Poor Presentation by Bob Munro Ninth World Water Congress Montréal, Québec, Canada September 3, 1997

CONTENTS 1. Water and Equity in Africa 1 2. Equity-Led Policies for Sustainable Development in Africa 2.1 Agenda 21 and sustainable development in Africa 1 2.2 Growth, equity and sustainable development 2 2.3 Main goals for equity-led growth 2 2.4 Integrating EIA3 in decision-making 3 3. The Fair Share Water Strategy in Africa 3.1 Equitable use of water resources 3 3.2 A fair share for the poor majority 4 3.3 A fair share among competing uses 4 3.4 A fair share for the environment 4 3.5 A fair share among riparian countries 6 3.6 A fair share for local communities 6 3.7 A fair share for smaller projects and technologies 6 3.8 A fair share of capacity building 7 3.9 A fair share for women and children 7 3.10 A fair share for future generations 7 4. Implementing the Fair Share Water Strategy in Africa 4.1 The UN System-Wide Special Initiative on Africa 7 4.2 The Fair Share Water Goals in the Special Initiative 7 4.3 Priorities of the UN Water Working Group 8 4.4 The Crucial Key: Who decides? 9 4.5 Directions for Needed Change 9 4.6 Applying the Fair Share Water Strategy in the SADC region 10 Selected references on water and sustainable development 10 Bob Munro is the Managing Director of XXCEL Africa Ltd. Since 1985 he has lived and worked in Afri-ca as a senior adviser on development planning and environmental management for African govern-ments, SADC and UN agencies. Recent assignments include the new SADC Regional Policy on Equi-ty-Led Growth for Sustainable Development and the Fair Share Water Strategy. He is a former UN of-ficial in the Economic Commission for Europe (1971-75), a Director-General in the Canadian govern-ment (1975-79) and Special Adviser for the OECD (1979-86), UN Centre for Human Settlements (1979-87), United Nations Environment Programme (1979-present) and World Commission on Envi-ronment and Development (1984-87). Contact: Box 63786, 00619 Nairobi, Tel 254-20-4183045, Tel+Fax 254-20-4183055, Mobile: 254-722-878787; e-mail: [email protected]

1. WATER AND EQUITY IN AFRICA THE LIQUIDITY CRISES OF THE POOR

1. In Africa the poor majority of people lack ‘liquid assets’ in both cash and water. Their ‘liquidity cri-ses’ are mutually destructive. The lack of reasonable access to safe water undermines their health, productivity and incomes while their barely or below subsistence incomes limit their access to suffi-cient and safe water. Moreover, the poor majority in urban slums often pay higher prices and a far higher part of their household budgets for water than the privileged minority in elite residential areas. The poor also pay a high price in time and calories lost in carrying water and in high rates of diseases and deaths caused by too little or contaminated water.

2. As water is delivered to the urban minority at a third or less of the price already paid by the poor majority, why are the poor still largely ignored? One key factor is that many African governments face their own ‘liquidity crises’ in cash and water. Another is that national decision-makers and their local and expatriate technical advisers don’t live in poor communities. Yet another is that water is frequently mismanaged or unmanaged, especially that larger part of Africa’s water resources shared by two or more countries.

3. The main reason is that water in Africa is unevenly distributed by nature and unfairly allocated by man. Although a few African countries enjoy high annual averages of water per person, many others already or will soon face water stress or scarcity conditions. By 2010 an estimated 400 million people will be living in 17 or more water scarce countries. Their lack of water will seriously undermine food production, economic growth, environmental conservation and the sustainability of development.

4. Whether abundant or scarce, the key policy issue is how available water is protected, managed and allocated. Although water policies have been a key feature of national plans and development aid for decades, they have still largely failed to reach, involve and help the poor majority. Despite achievements in such areas as flood control, irrigation and hydropower, overall water policies cannot be considered a success when more than half the population - over 300 million people - still lack rea-sonable access to sufficient and safe water.

5. A new approach to water policy is needed as a crucial and integral part of the new agenda for sustainable development in Africa. To the economic and environmental factors already dominant in water and other policies, a third must now be added. That crucial missing link is equity.

2. EQUITY-LED POLICIES FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA

If the poor sometimes behave in a way that degrades the environment it is not because they choose to do so. They only do so when they have no other choices... Agenda 21 must provide a new basis for a new deal for the majority of poor people and countries in order to secure and sustain our common future. SADC Report to 1992 Earth Summit, 32

6. After more than a decade of largely unsustainable development in Africa, the economic prospects of most countries and the livelihoods of most people are threatened by environmental degradation. Today most African countries face a complex set of demographic, economic, agricultural, energy, technological and institutional transitions for moving toward development that is economically, socially and environmentally sustainable.

7. Unsustainable development in Africa has largely been driven by economic and sectoral policies which are too narrowly conceived and focused. They particularly neglect the adverse impacts on the poor majority and the environment. Conventional 'react-and-cure' responses cannot keep up with the escalating pace and scale of environmental degradation.

8. Moreover, none of the national environment and resource management agencies in Africa have enough staff or funds to tackle the problems effectively. To make the transition from unsustainable to sustainable development in Africa, environmental concerns need to be fully integrated into the policies and decision-making of all major economic and sectoral Ministries.

2.1 Agenda 21 and sustainable development in Africa

9. At the 1992 Earth Summit, more than 50 African countries joined over 100 other countries in

Water and Equity in Africa 2 The Liquidity Crises of the Poor

adopting Agenda 21 which integrated environment and development issues in a new policy framework and action plan. Agenda 21 became and remains the world’s most comprehensive set of recommen-dations and guidelines for moving toward sustainable development at the national, regional and global levels. It contains 38 main policy goals to be tackled through 131 priority programmes with more than 2,500 recommendations for national and international action.

10. In their joint report to the Earth Summit, eleven southern African countries appealed for an Agen-da 21 which would provide "a new basis for a new deal for the majority of poor people and countries". Neither the approved text nor subsequent implementation of Agenda 21 achieved that objective. In Agenda 21 "Combating Poverty" is just one of 38 goals. "Enabling the poor to achieve sustainable livelihoods" is one of 131 priority programmes with only 33 out of the over 2,500 recommendations for action.

11. In Africa, "Combating Poverty" and "Enabling the poor to achieve sustainable livelihoods" are the overriding goals and priorities. For crucial water supply and sanitation services as well as a range of key economic, health and human development indicators, many African countries fall well below the averages for other developing countries and the world. To make Agenda 21 operational in Africa, a crucial third link must be integrated throughout the new 'environment and development' agenda. The critical missing link in Agenda 21 is ‘equity’.

12. Throughout Africa the poverty of the poor majority is the main cause and consequence of envi-ronmental degradation which continues to undermine future economic development. Although the poor majority suffer first and most in this destructive cycle, the poor are not the problem. The water management and other national development and international aid policies which fail to reach, involve and benefit the poor majority are the main problem.

2.2 Growth, equity and sustainable development

13. Major changes are needed in key national economic and sectoral policies, including water and other environmental management policies, to achieve greater equity for sustainable development with-in and among African countries. Previous economic, industrial or export-led development strategies have largely failed to produce significant improvements in the economic growth of most African coun-tries or in the welfare of the poor majority of people.

14. Growth strategies which fail to improve the lives and livelihoods of the poor majority are not so-cially or even politically sustainable. Growth strategies which degrade the environment and resource base needed for future development are not ecologically or even economically sustainable. Growth strategies which are not economically, socially and environmentally sustainable are not and should not be called ‘development’.

15. Accelerated economic growth is still urgently needed throughout Africa. Without economic growth, greater equity will be difficult to achieve as there will be few or no benefits to share. Without growth there will be no additional financial resources for tackling the already large backlog of environ-mental degradation. Without economic growth and greater equity, poverty-driven environmental deg-radation will continue to escalate.

16. Economic growth is not at issue. At issue is the kind and content of that growth. Future economic growth in Africa must become more equitable, less polluting and more efficient in the use of energy, water, forests and other natural resources. New national and international equity-led growth strategies are needed to provide "a new basis for a new deal for the majority of poor people and countries in or-der to secure and sustain our common future".

2.3 Main goals for equity-led growth

17. Equity-led growth strategies which put the focus of development on the poor majority of people and countries are needed to accelerate the transition toward sustainable development in Africa. By shifting the focus to people rather than projects or technology, equity-led growth shares many of the goals of the sustainable human development approach pioneered by UNDP as development of the people for the people and by the people.


18. The 1996 SADC Summit of Heads of State and Government approved a new ‘Policy and Strat-egy for Environment and Sustainable Development’ in southern Africa based on the equity-led growth approach. Other African countries such as Kenya have incorporated key elements of an equity-led growth approach in their national development plans. In both the SADC and Kenyan cases the three main goals are:

(a) To accelerate economic growth with greater equity and self reliance;

(b) To improve the health, income and living conditions of the poor majority;

(c) To ensure equitable and sustainable use of the environment and natural resources for the benefit of present and future generations.

19. The three goals constitute one agenda for action. None are achievable without the other two. Moreover, none are achievable without significant changes in international trade and debt policies. Without more equitable international economic arrangements, most African and other developing countries have limited scope and little hope for achieving sustainable development.

2.4 Integrating EIA3 in decision-making

20. Throughout Africa the largely separate policies and programmes for economic reform, social pro-gress and environmental improvement must be increasingly integrated in a single agenda and strate-gy for sustainable development. That new agenda needs to be reinforced by incorporating impact as-sessments in policies and decision-making processes in three key respects:

(a) Assessing the likely environmental impacts of economic policies and activities;

(b) Assessing the likely economic impacts of environmental policies and measures;

(c) Assessing the likely equity impacts of both economic and environmental policies.

21. The use of economic, environmental and equity impact assessments (EIA3) in all key policy sec-tors will not make decision-making easier. But it will improve the chances of getting better decisions by compelling decision-makers to assess and defend their choices in terms of their economic, social and environmental impacts and sustainability.

22. Although there are few absolutes in public policy at least one should prevail throughout Africa: if an EIA3 review of a proposed policy or programme reveals that it will not lead to at least some im-provement in the living conditions and prospects of the poor majority, then a sustainable alternative must be found that does. For water resource policies and management in Africa, the fair share water strategy provides a sustainable alternative.

3. THE FAIR SHARE WATER STRATEGY IN AFRICA

A major threat to our lives is one of UNEP’s top concerns: clean water. The Mathare river is heavily polluted and dangerous. We can’t use it without getting sick. We must buy our clean water. When water is scarce we get less and pay even more. Then during the rainy season we are surrounded for weeks by too much water which is contaminated by piles of uncollected garbage. Then even more kids get sick and die, especially from diarrhoea. Maurice Njoroge, a youth from the Mathare Valley slums in Nairobi, speaking at the open-ing of the Ministerial session of the UNEP Governing Council in February 1997

3.1 Equitable use of water resources

23. Throughout Africa and especially in areas of water stress or scarcity, the dominant challenge for policy makers and planners is the equity issue of ensuring everyone gets reasonable access and a fair share of safe water. For decades the poor majority in Africa got far less than their fair share. Today more than half of the people in Africa still lack reasonable access to safe water and sanitation. Current statistics suggest that those in cities generally have greater access than in rural areas. However, those statistics combine the urban rich and urban poor in a single average and disguise the harsh re-ality of the urban majority in large slums who lack reasonable and affordable access to safe water.


24. The urban poor also pay an unfair price for their small share of water. As most buy their water in small containers, the urban poor often pay four to ten times more per litre than the metered rates of their wealthier neighbours. Although they get far less than their fair share of water, the poor make good use of what they get. By circumstance and choice, the poor are experts in conserving and recy-cling water through multiple uses.

25. The poor majority rarely share in the benefits of large scale water supply, sanitation, irrigation or hydropower projects which dominate investments in the water sector in most African countries. The poor are either not connected to the water and electricity supply systems or cannot afford the prices charged. Moreover, the poor are often displaced by large-scale water projects, are exposed to water borne diseases spread through badly managed irrigation systems, suffer impaired health because of industrial and agrochemical pollutants or sustain serious losses in their livelihoods due to reduced flows (e.g. floodplain farmers) or increased siltation (e.g. riverine fishermen).

26. In October 1995 UNEP convened a meeting of top African water experts who agreed the domi-nant challenge for policy makers and planners for the next decade is the equity issue of ensuring that everyone gets reasonable access and a fair share of safe water. The experts proposed to pursue a ‘fair share’ water strategy at the national, sub-regional and regional levels with the following priorities.

3.2 A fair share for the poor majority

27. The main political, economic, social and environmental goal for African governments for the next decade is to ensure that the poor majority in urban and rural areas get their fair share of safe water and water based services. Their water and water based needs must also get a fair share of national and local authority budgets. In the 1992 ‘African Common Position’ for the Earth Summit and the post-Rio ‘African Strategies for the Implementation of Agenda 21’, the ‘Efficient and Equitable Use of Water Resources’ is a top priority. In both cases it is preceded by food security. However, food cannot be produced without adequate water. People also die sooner from lack of water than lack of food. Many of the other priority issues on Africa's sustainable development agenda are water related or water de-pendent. Water scarcity and recurring droughts are also major causes of mass migrations and instabil-ity within and among African countries.

3.3 A fair share among competing uses

28. A fair share allocation of water among competing uses and users, especially agriculture, industry and households, also deserves high priority on Africa's new water and sustainable development agenda. Estimates on average water withdrawals in Africa are 88% for agriculture, only 7% for house-holds and a mere 5% for industry. As water is widely underutilized in Africa with most countries using less than 4% of their available water resources, increasing water supply to meet rising demand is the most obvious and sometimes the only option considered by governments.

29. However, protecting, conserving and making more efficient use of water deserves far higher prior-ity in the future plans and budgets of governments. As agriculture already dominates the water sector in Africa, making irrigation more efficient is a major goal for moving toward sustainable water use. For industry and cities, with proper incentives for water protection and efficient use they can reduce their use, pollution and costs of water, create more room for new water demand and postpone or avoid the need for expensive new dams, wells or treatment plants. As new water supply projects usually cost more per unit of water than existing supplies, water conservation and efficiency measures can help governments reduce expenditure or release funds for other human development projects.

3.4 A fair share for the environment

30. Human self-interest and survival requires that aquatic species, habitats and ecosystems also get their fair share of water.


SAFE WATER AND SANITATION IN AFRICA Source: UNDP, Human Development Report 1995 Countries Safe Water Sanitation By Access Access Access No Access Access Access Access No Access Main % total % urban % rural millions % total % urban % rural millions Groups 1988-93 1988-93 1988-93 1988-93 1988-93 1988-93 1988-93 1988-93

South & East Africa (14) 50 77 41 107.0 38 62 31 112.4 Angola 41 71 20 5.8 19 25 15 8.0 Botswana 89 100 77 0.1 55 91 41 0.6 Ethiopia 25 91 19 37.7 19 97 7 40.8 Kenya 49 74 43 13.0 43 69 35 14.5 Lesotho 47 59 45 1.0 22 14 23 1.5 Malawi 56 97 50 4.5 60 30 81 4.1 Mozambique 22 44 17 11.5 20 61 11 11.8 Namibia 52 98 35 0.7 14 24 11 1.2 South Africa ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... Swaziland ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... Tanzania 50 67 46 13.6 64 74 62 9.8 Uganda 31 58 28 13.3 57 94 52 8.3 Zambia 53 70 28 4.1 37 75 12 5.5 Zimbabwe 84 95 80 1.7 40 95 22 6.3

Indian Ocean (4) 60 76 52 10.3 51 56 51 13.0 Comoros ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... Madagascar 23 55 9 10.3 3 12 3 13.0 Mauritius 97 98 96 ... 99 99 99 ... Seychelles ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Central Africa (10) 49 66 36 44.0 50 68 45 41.8 Burundi 57 99 54 2.5 49 71 47 3.0 Cameroun 50 57 43 6.1 74 100 64 3.2 Central African Republic 24 19 26 2.3 46 45 46 1.7 Chad ... 30 25 4.3 ... ... ... ... Congo 38 92 2 1.5 ... ... ... ... Equatorial Guinea ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... Gabon 68 90 50 0.4 ... ... ... ... Rwanda 66 75 62 2.5 58 77 56 3.1 Sao Tome & Principe ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... Zaire 39 68 24 24.4 23 46 11 30.8

West Africa (16) 52 67 47 105.6 35 63 25 119.5 Benin 51 66 46 2.4 34 42 31 3.3 Burkina Faso 56 51 72 4.2 25 88 15 7.1 Cape Verde ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... Coté d'Ivoire 76 70 81 3.1 60 59 62 5.1 Gambia ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... Ghana 52 93 35 7.7 42 64 32 9.3 Guinea 55 50 56 2.8 21 84 10 4.8 Guinea-Bissau 41 56 35 0.6 31 27 32 0.7 Liberia 50 93 22 1.4 ... ... 8 ... Mali 41 53 38 5.8 24 81 10 7.5 Mauritania 66 67 65 0.7 ... 34 ... ... Niger 59 60 59 3.4 14 71 4 7.1 Nigeria 36 81 30 65.4 35 40 30 66.4 Senegal 48 84 26 4.0 55 85 36 3.5 Sierra Leone 37 33 37 2.6 58 92 49 1.8 Togo 60 77 53 1.5 23 56 10 2.9

Arab States (8) 70 82 58 45.3 69 86 53 58.1 Algeria 68 85 55 8.4 79 96 60 5.5 Djibouti ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... Egypt 90 95 86 5.9 50 80 26 29.5 Libya 97 100 80 0.1 98 100 85 0.1 Morocco 54 92 14 11.7 65 95 38 8.9 Somalia 37 50 29 5.6 18 44 5 7.3 Sudan 48 55 43 13.5 75 89 65 6.5 Tunisia 99 100 99 0.1 96 98 94 0.3

Sub-Saharan Africa (44) 43 73 35 270.0 36 59 29 290.0 Africa (52) 62 73 45 315.3 52 67 36 348.1 All developing countries 69 88 60 1,290.0 36 69 18 ...


31. As the demand for water to meet human needs inevitably rises there is a high risk that nature will lose out. As elsewhere, the "damming, diverting and polluting of watercourses with little regard for the environmental services they provide and the services they support has wreaked havoc on the world's wetlands, deltas, lakes and riverine habitats".

32. However, "protecting water systems also depends on regulating the use of those critical areas of land that help moderate water's cycling through the environment.... Fortunately, many of the measures that can help safeguard water supplies also enhance crop production in upland areas. Terracing, mulching, agroforestry and planting vegetative barriers on the contour are just a few ways soil and wa-ter can be conserved while improving agricultural output."

3.5 A fair share among riparian countries

33. Countries must also get their fair share of safe water. With the exception of island states, most of the 'national' water resources in Africa are shared by at least two and often five or more countries. Yet few of Africa's over 50 international water basins are covered by effective agreements on fair use and environmental protection.

34. The uncoordinated exploitation of shared water is already causing significant adverse environ-mental, agricultural and social impacts in water basins. The unfair use or abuse of water must not be-come yet another source of conflict in Africa where a third of the countries already suffer from civil conflict with over 23 million refugees displaced in or outside their countries.

35. To ensure sustainable use as well as avoid serious conflicts over the unfair use or abuse of shared water resources, new and more effective agreements for managing shared water basins and measures for avoiding or resolving disputes over water are urgently need throughout Africa.

3.6 A fair share for local communities

36. For all of the above issues, local authorities, communities, user groups, women and youth must also have a fairer share and much larger role in the planning, development, management and protec-tion of water resources.

37. A recurring theme in the pre-Rio ‘African Common Position’, Agenda 21 and the post-Rio "African Strategies for Implementing Agenda 21" is the need to decentralize water management responsibili-ties to local authorities and increase the involvement of local groups and users in decision-making. With rising demand and increasing competition among various water uses and users, a community based and multi-stakeholder approach becomes crucial for ensuring decisions are both fair and effec-tive, especially in the many water stressed and scarcity areas in Africa where conservation and effi-cient use of water is often a matter of life or death.

38. Local user groups, women and youth can make major contributions in implementing prog-rammes and projects for developing, conserving and protecting water resources. Once engaged, local communities and users become more responsible and accountable for project performance. Few rural water projects have succeeded without direct public participation As reported by the World Resources Institute, many studies "have shown that when farmers actively participate in projects and have some responsibility for their operation, canals and other infrastructure function better, a greater proportion of the project area gets irrigated and crop yields rise."

3.7 A fair share for smaller projects and technologies

39. Smaller projects and appropriate technologies should get a fairer and much larger share of the water management and economic development budgets of governments. National water management programmes and budgets in Africa are often dominated by large scale irrigation, water supply, sanita-tion and hydropower projects whose benefits rarely reach the poor majority.

40. Many more small scale projects supported on a larger scale using practical and affordable tech-nologies have a far better chance of involving and meeting the needs of the poor majority (e.g. hand dug wells, micro dams, rainwater harvesting, moisture conserving land techniques), especially the ru-


ral poor in dispersed settlements and farms. Cost differences can be enormous. For example, at least 40 hand dug wells can be built for the cost of a single drilled borehole. According to the World Re-sources Institute, in much of sub-Sahara Africa "the use of simple, low-cost wells and pumps to tap shallow groundwater or local rivers and streams offers great potential to increase food production and cash income for farm families."

3.8 A fair share of capacity building

41. Education and training in the water sector should receive at least a fair share and preferably more of existing and new capacity building programmes. In the water sector in Africa there are already too many expatriate experts and too few local experts in conventional water management disciplines. As a precondition for sustainable use and management of national and shared water resources in Africa, many more local experts are needed in traditional fields such as hydrology, civil and hydraulic engi-neering, geology and meteorology as well as related technical areas such as irrigation economics, fisheries, limnology and pollution control. However, even higher priority should be given to the training of existing and many new experts in the community based, participatory and appropriate technology approaches for water management that now need to be rapidly expanded throughout Africa.

3.9 A fair share for women and children

42. Women and children constitute over 70% of the population of Africa but get far less than their fair share of water. The costs of too little or unsafe water are borne disproportionately by women and chil-dren who spend long hours and many calories collecting water, get less for drinking and personal hy-giene and suffer most from poor water quality and water related diseases. Future planning and deci-sion-making on the allocation and use of water must involve women and children more directly and ensure their needs are met.

3.10 A fair share for future generations

43. To be sustainable, development must meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Water resources management policies, plans and programmes should include measures to ensure future generations receive a fair share of water of sufficient quantity and quality to meet their needs.

4. IMPLEMENTING THE FAIR SHARE WATER STRATEGY IN AFRICA

The top priority within this effort should be to ensure a basic quantity of safe water for Afri-can citizens, and thereby promoting water equity. This ‘fair share’ approach advocates wa-ter equity across major uses and users, in national economic development plans and be-tween countries using shared water resources. The overall goal is to ensure reasonable access and a fair share at affordable prices for water for the poor majority of people throughout Africa. UN System Wide Special Initiative on Africa, 27.

4.1 The UN System-Wide Special Initiative on Africa

44. The UN System-Wide Special Initiative on Africa includes the ‘Equitable and Sustainable Use of Freshwater Resources’ and the ‘fair share’ approach to water resource management among its top priorities. The Special Initiative programme focuses primarily on changes in water policies, institutions and laws for bringing the poor majority from the margins to the centre of the sustainable water devel-opment agenda for Africa.

4.2 The Fair Share Water Goals in the Special Initiative

45. The Fair Share Water Strategy presented in the Special Initiative has five key goals and pro-gramme components:


(a) To assess all future national and international water policies, plans and programmes in terms of their economic viability, environmental sustainability and equity impacts. If the review indicates the policies, plans and programmes do not lead to at least some improvement in the living condi-tions and prospects of the poor majority, then a sustainable alternative must be found that does.

(b) To assist governments to incorporate the 'fair share' approach in their national and inter-national water policies, plans and programmes and secure the active involvement of local communities and peoples in water management planning and decision-making.

(c) To assist governments to implement the 'fair share' approach and disseminate practical and af-fordable techniques for helping the poor majority get access to clean water in the shortest possi-ble time. In addition to some large scale projects what is now needed are many more small scale projects and appropriate technologies (e.g. hand dug wells, household water tanks, rainwater harvesting, etc.).

(d) To accelerate existing projects to emphasize and demonstrate the 'fair share' approach (e.g. the Zambezi Action Plan) and the advantages of community participation in water management plan-ning and decision-making.

(e) To assist governments to set up effective water basin agreements and institutions for avoiding or resolving disputes over equitable access and use of shared water resources.

4.3 Priorities of the UN Water Working Group

46. An inter-agency Water Working Group is responsible for coordinating implementation of the water programmes in the UN Special Initiative. Co-chaired by UNEP and the World Bank, the group includes other UN bodies such as the Department for Development Support and Management Services (DDSMS), the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Inter-national Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN Centre for Human Settlements (UNCHS), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations University (UNU), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

47. While continuing their ongoing and planned programmes in other African countries, the Water Working Group members identified Ethiopia, Mali, Mozambique and Uganda as well as the Zambezi River Basin for testing and demonstrating the effectiveness of concerted UN inter-agency action for implementing the water objectives in the Special Initiative.

48. The main goals of the new inter-agency programme for the targeted countries and Zambezi Basin include capacity building, information improvement and the identification and stimulation of invest-ments in water. The Water Working Group identified the following criteria for assessing progress in implementing the water objectives and programmes in the Special Initiative:

(a) The increased number of people with access to safe drinking water and sanitation;

(b) The increased acreage with irrigated agriculture;

(c) The number of countries with completed comprehensive freshwater assessments;

(d) The development of new approaches to water resources management focused on social equity, environmental sustainability and economic efficiency;

(e) The extent to which practical experience, best practices and the lessons of the past are incorpo-rated into national water policies;

(f) The number of governments implementing national and regional water resource management plans;

(g) The effectiveness of inter-agency and intergovernmental partnerships in meeting the water objec-tives in the Special Initiative;

(h) The level of new and additional financial resources mobilized to implement the water pro-grammes in the Special Initiative.


4.4 The Crucial Key: Who Decides?

49. Previous water management plans and strategies in Africa have been traditionally dominated by the largely technical issues of “What to do?” and “How to do it?”. But in increasingly water scarce Afri-can countries the key question is now “Who decides?”. And the key policy issues to be decided are “Who gets the water?” and “At what price?”.

50. At present the key water policy decisions are made by one or several Ministers (e.g. water, envi-ronment, agriculture, public works) with little or no expertise in water resources management who head departments with limited budgets, staff and political clout. Technical advice is provided by a gen-erally small crew of low paid national experts. The chronic shortfall in expertise is usually covered by highly paid expatriate experts from multilateral agencies and tied bilateral aid programmes. The na-tional and expatriate experts share a common feature: none live in the many poor rural and urban communities which lack reasonable access to safe water and sanitation.

51. As in most areas of public policy, politics plays a major role in decision-making in the water sec-tor. The greatest influence and pressures are applied by farmers, especially big farmers (e.g. cheap water for irrigated agriculture), by the business community (e.g. cheap water and energy for produc-tion) and by the urban elite (e.g. cheap residential water and electricity).

52. These three groups have been hugely successful. It’s not coincidental that water use in Africa is presently over 80% for agriculture, around 7% for domestic consumption and 5% for industry. It’s also not coincidental that their water is often highly subsidized. Despite the rhetoric on user pays/full cost recovery, estimated cost recovery is less than 20% for irrigation and only about 30% for drinking water services. While the biggest and favoured users pay lower and subsidized prices, it’s not coincidental that the poor majority pay the highest water prices and make the most efficient and conserving multi-use of the little water they get.

53. It’s time for a reality check by African decision-makers and the water experts who advise them. As reported by the Earth Council in a recent global study on Subsidizing Unsustainable Development, “aquifers are being drained, rivers are drying up, more than a billion people still don’t have access to safe water, and vast tracts of irrigated land are being lost to salinity; over all, water is being lost in flood proportions and used inefficiently and for low-value purposes.” And what are African govern-ments and their aid partners doing? Their policies and budgets often perpetuate and subsidize this economic, social and environmental tragedy for their countries and the poor majority of their people.

4.5 Directions for Needed Change

54. Ignoring their conventional caveat of “other things being equal”, economists often defied gravity and made water run uphill if that is where the higher returns were. However, as the poor majority still lack reasonable access to safe water, other things haven’t been equal for decades in the water sector in Africa. Many large scale water projects claimed to help the poor but too often the local communities and people became the project victims rather than beneficiaries.

55. A crucial starting point for needed reform is to make fundamental changes in the decision-making processes for water management. Water policy in Africa has largely benefited the few at the expense of the many because the few dominate the decision-making process. With increased water scarcity, decision-making for managing water systems in Africa is no longer a job primarily for engineers but must increasingly involve many others such as diplomats, ecologists, sociologists and especially the local communities and people themselves. To better assess and fairly decide the many new trade-offs involved, far more of the planning, decision-making, funding and accountability should be decentral-ized and delegated to the local authorities, communities and users directly involved.

56. Another key starting point for change is to make far greater use of water demand management to complement tradition supply-oriented approaches in order to tackle the most important policy and po-litical challenge: the equitable reallocation of water among different users and uses. New unit measures and equity-led approaches need to be developed and applied such as basic livelihood and lifeline water supply at affordable prices for the majority of people. Greater use needs to be made of economic instruments to reform current water pricing and incentive measures and move toward fairer and sound pricing policies to promote conserving and efficient use as well as generate new revenue to expand water services.


57. New goals and targets for measuring success are also needed. Water pollution abatement poli-cies became more effective by going from end-of-pipe approaches to upstream changes in production processes and technologies to avoid pollution. For water supply the direction for change is in the other direction, from the present largely start-of-pipe focus and measures to end-of-pipe delivery and effi-cient use (e.g. how many have reasonable and affordable access to safe water, incentives for con-serving and cost-effective use, etc).

58. Unless major changes are made in existing water and related economic and sectoral policies, and especially in how decisions are made and who makes them, those policies will become a signifi-cant contributing factor in water scarcity and rising political, social and economic instability in many Af-rican countries.

4.6 Applying the Fair Share Water Strategy in the SADC Region

59. In August 1996 the SADC Summit of Heads of State and Government adopted a new Policy and Strategy for Sustainable Development in southern Africa, including the ‘fair share’ approach in the wa-ter sector. To achieve the crucial water resource management objectives in this new SADC policy and in the UN Special Initiative on Africa, UNEP and SADC are now discussing how best to implement the Fair Share Water Strategy as a priority for cooperation during 1997-2000. The proposals under con-sideration include:

(a) To develop, test and apply EIA3 guidelines and tools for major economic and sectoral policies, planning and decision-making, starting on a pilot basis with the water sector;

(b) To develop, test and apply ‘fair share’ principles, guidelines and indicators for the equitable and sustainable use of shared water resources in the SADC region.

60. In sum, UNEP is committed to working closely with African countries and other key global, re-gional and sub-regional organizations to apply the Fair Share Water Strategy on two inter-linked tracks: UNEP and UN system support to developing and implementing the main components of the Fair Share Water Strategy; and testing and applying the fair share water principles and approaches in key countries and shared water basins, with priority to those regions and countries facing existing or imminent water-scarce conditions.

61. The results of the initial work in the SADC region will provide a practical basis for adapting and extending the Fair Share Water Strategy to other countries and regions in Africa. These new ‘fair share’ policies and measures are urgently needed to meet the SADC challenge at the 1992 Earth Summit to provide a new basis for a new deal for the poor majority of people and ensure equitable and sustainable use of Africa’s critical water resources.

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Documents

Water and Equity in Africa The Liquidity Crises of the Poor