Framework for Action on Water and Sanitation

The paper provides a broad view of existing normative and programmatic frameworks, it highlights interlinkages with other sectors, identifies key gaps and challenges and highlights areas where further action is needed.

The paper states that what is urgently needed are adequate delivery mechanisms and a renewed commitment that could lead to an improved implementation of strategies on water for sustainable development at the national, regional and global levels. Towards this end major priority areas are identified where immediate actions are needed. Indicative targets for each action area are defined in relation to the MDG timeline, and key activities are proposed to meet these targets:

1) Halve by 2015 the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water.
2) Halve the proportion of people without sustainable access to improved sanitation.
3) Develop integrated water resources management (IWRM) frameworks, including integrated
coastal area and river basin management (ICARM), and prepare and implement water management action plans at the country level.
4) Accelerate water productivity gains in irrigated agricultural systems to contribute to food security, relieve environmental pressures and provide scope for water transfers to other important productive uses.
5) Safeguard human health, including reduction in the mortality rate (associated with lack of access to safe drinking water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene), by improving the quality of drinking water.
6) Strengthen disaster preparedness planning processes at the country level to protect the poor from the impact of water-related disasters (floods and droughts), particularly in low-lying countries and small island developing states.
7) Mobilize financial resources to meet the investment needs in the water sector.
8) Strengthen institutional and technical capacities of developing countries in the implementation
of IWRM, ICARM and water governance at the country level, including those dealing with the O&M of water schemes.
9) Protect the quality of surface and groundwater as well as of the aquatic ecosystems and coastal zones.

Forming and promoting new and innovative partnerships will be critical to meet the challenges articulated in this paper. The critical issue is how to translate the idea of partnership building from global or regional-level discussions and advocacy campaigns into local actions. A framework is proposed to facilitate this process. Steps to be taken: consultative process; definition of objectives; mobilisation of resources; implementation of partnership; tracking progress and results; scaling-up of partnerships and initiatives.

The paper ends with two annexes. The first annex provides a 30-year overview of the major conferences and international agreements that provide the broad background for today's water resources policies and decision-making. The second annex gives an overview of the wide involvement of different entities of the UN system in water-related and sanitation issues leading towards achieving sustainable development.

[The WEHAB (water, energy, health, agriculture and biodiversity) initiative was proposed by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan as a contribution to the preparations for the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD).]