OUTREACHINF3DAY1
OUTREACHINF3DAY1
OUTREACHINF3DAY1
Water: The bloodstream of the green economy Water and the Future We Want
out reach.
29 May 2012
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Note from the Editors Water and the Future We Want Water: The bloodstream of the green economy Sustainable development and poverty eradication demands a waterproofed Rio+20 WWFs freshwater goals and priorities for Rio+20 The ocean system: natural, intangible heritage of mankind How infrastructure can work for the poor and the environment In future, we want less talk and more action at field level Commitment to human rights essential for ensuring true sustainable development Top UN officials stress need for concrete commitments
Outreach is a multi-stakeholder publication on climate change and sustainable development. It is the longest continually produced stakeholder magazine in the sustainable development arena, published at various international meetings on the environment; including the UNCSD meetings (since 1997), UNEP Governing Council, UNFCCC Conference of the Parties (COP) and World Water Week. Published as a daily edition, in both print and web form, Outreach provides a vehicle for critical analysis on key thematic topics in the sustainability arena, as well as a voice of regional and local governments, women, indigenous peoples, trade unions, industry, youth and NGOs. To fully ensure a multistakeholder perspective, we aim to engage a wide range of stakeholders for article contributions and project funding.
Stakeholder Forum Stakeholder Forum Stakeholder Forum Stakeholder Forum Stakeholder Forum Jessica Wolf Design Stakeholder Forum Stakeholder Forum
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Karin Lexn Steven Downey Flavia Loures Stuart Orr Lis Martin Derek Kim
Stockholm International Water Institute Global Water Partnership WWF WWF Progressio Progressio
Shrikant Daji Limaye Peter Bosshard Marta Lobo Isabella Montgomery Paulo Magalhes
Ground Water Institute, India International Rivers Freshwater Action Network Freshwater Action Network Cesnova/FCSH
If you are interested in contributing to Outreach, please contact the team (gmacdonald@stakeholderforum.org or acutter@stakeholderforum.org) You can also follow us on Twitter: @Earthsummit2012
MEETING
DATE OF DISTRIBUTION Tuesday 29th May Wednesday 30th May Thursday 31st May Friday 1st June Saturday 2nd June
THEMES Water and Oceans Forests Private Sector Green cities and sustainable infrastructure Energy
Tuesday 29th May Third round of 'informalinformal' negotiations on the Zero Draft of the Outcome Wednesday 30th May Document (New York) Thursday 31st May Friday 1st June
RIO+20
We renew our commitment made in the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation (JPOI) regarding the development and implementation of integrated water resources management and water efficiency plans. We encourage cooperation initiatives for water resources management in particular through capacity development, exchange of experiences, best practices and lessons learned, as well as sharing appropriate environmentally sound technologies and know-how.
Who could ask for more? But watching the informal informals can be depressing, as country after country slices and dices the text, making us wonder if well lose the good stuff while they fight over the small stuff. What will remain? Who knows, but if you look at the list of priority/key/thematic issues nearly every one of them is related to water making its management a pre-condition for meeting those challenges (health, energy, food, education, disaster risk reduction, poverty eradication, etc.). Its likely that governments will be urged (yet again) to accelerate progress towards water access and management. There are the usual fights over water supply, sanitation and the human right to water, but no one seems to disagree about the importance of improving water resources management. This is a no-brainer. Economic prosperity depends on not exclusively, of course the sustainable management of water resources. There isnt enough space to go into a history of how harnessing the productive aspects of water (and minimising its destructive elements) contributed to the economic development of the now-developed world. It did, but at a price: environmental destruction. And it took the environmental movement which some might claim was born, internationally, at the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment in 1972 to get the world thinking about ending the sacrifice ecosystems in the name of economic growth. We do learn from the mistakes of the past because, today, the goal is to balance the imperatives of robust economic growth and the needs of a growing population against the ecological necessity to conserve our planets most precious resources land, air and water, according to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in a 23rd May 2012 New York Times op-ed piece.
RIO+20
RIO+20
Sustainable development and poverty eradication Lis Martin and Derek Kim demands a waterproofed Rio+20
Progressio
Water is an essential part of sustainable development, a fundamental resource that underpins both life and livelihood. 2.8 billion people live in areas facing water scarcity. Whilst there is enough freshwater for the needs of everyone on earth, many people around the world are chronically short of water, an issue of poor management. This is of particular concern for small-scale farmers who rely on this water to feed a third of the worlds population. Yet the poorest and most marginalised are often at particular disadvantage when there is competition over water resources. The Rio+20 negotiations and final Outcome Document must recognise this reality and agree action. In the Co-Chairs text, the centrality of water to sustainable development and references to its interlinkages with food, agriculture, energy, gender, consumption and production are currently strong and fairly comprehensive. In the inevitable (and unenviable) task of shortening the document, the focus on water, be it for drinking, sanitation, food or business, must remain strong. In the fight to eradicate poverty, this particular theme must not be watered down, and water must be central to discussions around Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Progressios work with the National Water Authority in Yemen seeks more equitable and sustainable management of natural resources, especially in the context of changing climate, resource scarcity and environmental degradation. In recent years the Hodeidah governorate has experienced widespread introduction of groundwater pumps and of modern spate infrastructure. But huge obstacles are still to be overcome: the loss of access to traditional spate irrigation networks, a shift from production of water efficient subsistence crops like sorghum to water intensive cash crops like bananas, changes in patterns of land ownership, changes or abandonment of traditional water rights structures, failure to implement water laws, over-abstraction of groundwater (at the expense of downstream users), sea water intrusion of coastal fresh water aquifers (also related to groundwater over abstraction) and a lack of serious management interventions. The impact of all this has been growing levels of poverty, food insecurity and malnutrition. Our experience demonstrates that good water management is vital to sustainable development. Management that recognises the needs of the local people and gives voice to their concerns through meaningful, active participation. At Progressio we believe that all water users should have a say in the management of the water on which they depend for lives and livelihoods. Community- and ecosystembased management which recognises local knowledge and has poor people (especially women) at the centre of decision-making, will go a long way to ensuring improved water management, local water sustainability and lower environmental impacts. Local interventions are key. Yet water management in Yemen, as with many countries around the world, has traditionally been tackled using a top-down approach. Progressios work in Yemen therefore makes a concerted effort to be bottom-up, with an emphasis on participation and consultation at the grassroots level. Of course there are contradictions. At the heart of donors work on water in Yemen is the aim to expand water use and supply for all sectors. At the same time, this needs to be balanced with the imperative of water conservation. That balance becomes difficult to address when considering the cross-cutting nature of water. Any change in water management will affect numerous sectors and, in turn, these sectors must be reformed to comprehensively address the water issue. Fundamentally, better-integrated water resource management requires the participation of all stakeholders, most of all local communities. In Yemen, the political crisis has overshadowed sustainable development issues in general and the critical water issue more specifically. It remains a significant challenge to get both sustainable development and water resource management back on the agenda of fragile states. But Rio+20 is a chance to share some new ideas for sustainable models. Sustainable development is not just The Future We Want, it is the future we need. In short, Rio+20 and the Green Economy must be truly waterproof. The worlds poorest people depend on it for their food, their livelihoods and their futures
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Derek Kim is a Progressio development worker embedded in the National Water Authority in Yemen. Lis Martin is Progressios Environment Policy Officer. Progressio is an international development charity working in 11 countries across the world. Want to talk water with us during Rio+20, or even get Derek Kim to speak at your side event? Email lis@progressio. org.uk. And check out Progressios latest publication, Water and Development: An essential guide
RIO+20
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RIO+20
RIO+20
How infrastructure can work for the poor Peter Bosshard and the environment
Policy Director, International Rivers Kikwit is a town of almost one million people in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Its inhabitants have no access to electricity. Because the water pumps are no longer working, they have no access to clean water either. In the 1990s, the town made the news due to an outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus, which was encouraged by the poor sanitary conditions.
They propose the concentration of investment in large private sector projects such as big dams and transport corridors that can transform whole regions. They have identified the Inga hydropower scheme on the Congo River as an exemplary project for their new approach. At a cost of $80 billion, this project would produce electricity for export and perpetuate the DRC's energy divide in the process. The strategy of the World Bank and G20 will generate contracts for global corporations, financing deals for big banks, and opportunities for politicians to cut ribbons and bag some kickbacks along the way. Yet by hoping that social and economic development will trickle down to poor people such as the inhabitants of Kikwit, it ignores the lessons of past experience. A new report by International Rivers demonstrates that a different approach is available. Most rural poor in Africa and South Asia the epicenters of global poverty live closer to local sources of renewable energy than to the electric grid. The International Energy Agency proposes that 70% of the investment needed to provide energy for all should go into local mini-grids and off-grid solutions such as micro hydropower, solar, and wind. The cost of these technologies has fallen rapidly in recent years. Highquality solar lanterns light family homes and charge cell phones at less than half the cost that poor consumers pay for dirty kerosene and candles every year. Yet new technologies are often not available in rural areas, even if they are affordable. This is where the World Bank and other donors should come in. Promoting clean, decentralised energy solutions will not only provide access for people that have been left in the dark for too long, it will also boost local economic sectors such as agriculture, agricultural processing and tourism all important for broad-based job creation. In addition, it will significantly reduce the social and environmental footprint of energy projects. By diversifying and decentralising supply, the same approach will make energy sectors more resilient to the vagaries of climate change. It will also strengthen the institutions of local governments and civil society, which are often overwhelmed by large, top-down infrastructure projects. This is the kind of sustainable development which the Rio+20 Summit should support
Kikwit is not located at the end of the world. It lies underneath the power lines of the Inga dams on the mighty Congo River. Yet the electric current that hums overhead is not meant for poor people. It is exported to the mining companies in the southern Katanga province. Over the past decades, billions of dollars have been invested in the DRC's power sector. They have created a stark energy divide: 85% of the country's electricity is consumed by energy-intensive industries, while 94% of the population has no access to electricity. There can be no prosperity without infrastructure. But infrastructure has many faces: it supplies water to poor communities and irrigates golf courses, builds local access roads and bridges to nowhere. The example from the Congo Basin demonstrates that infrastructure investment can bypass poor people completely for the benefit of powerful interests. Globally, more than one billion people live without access to clean water, sanitation, and electricity. Infrastructure has once again become a buzzword of the international development debate during the Rio+20 process. The World Bank and the powerful G20 have prepared new strategies for the hardware of development.
MORE INFO
The new International Rivers report is entitled, Infrastructure for Whom? It can be downloaded from www.internationalrivers.org/infrastructureforwhom.
RIO+20
In future, we want less talk and more action at field level Shrikant Daji Limaye
Director, Ground Water Institute, India and Project Leader, UNESCO-IUGS-IGCP Project GROWNET
In many low-income countries including India water resources mismanagement, water shortages for irrigation and drinking water supply, loss of forest cover, degradation of watersheds by soil erosion, high input costs in agriculture, crushing debt, and finally, erratic climate resulting in frequent crop failures, are causing the suicides of thousands of farmers every year. At the same time, meetings are held each year with ministers, policy makers, bureaucrats, international organisations, donors and NGO representatives to deal with the above issues. If the promises made at these meetings in the two decades since the first Rio Summit had been fulfilled to considerable extent, we could have seen happier farmers. But the discussions, interactions, interventions and analyses of the same problems over and over again have unfortunately not resulted in a vast growth in resultoriented actions at field level to reduce the impact of water scarcity and famines. The Rio+20 Conference is focusing on The Future We Want. Water resources being at the base of the pyramid of food security, environment and energy, this article insists on the urgent need for action on water resources at the field level. IWRM (Integrated Water Resources Management) is the foundation, especially in low-income Countries, for:
small streams for water storages to promote recharge to ground water. These are the actions at field level which should start at the watershed of a first order stream and progressively cover larger watersheds. All the above actions comprise the bottom-up contribution to IWRM provided by farmers and villagers at the grass-root level, while top-down contributions would be provided by Governments by ensuring availability of funds, creating a suitable infrastructure, providing a legislative framework and promoting the role of NGOs for liaison between the Government schemes and village community. NGOs in turn would encourage active participation of village women, especially in forestation of watersheds and in drinking water supply schemes, so as to improve their quality of life. The improvements brought about by Watershed Development and IWRM in rural scenarios are multi-fold. Villagers are employed locally in watershed development works and the farmers produce more food. Through forestation, the total biomass output of the watershed increases, resulting in better environment and increased income. Irrigational development in the watershed provides employment opportunities for landless labourers. Farmers establish their own cooperative societies for agroinputs and marketing of agro-output. Safe drinking water obtained from bore wells with hand-pumps, improves rural health and reduces the number of days lost in illness. There is a thus a positive impact on family income. So, let us move from meetings, lectures and analyses to application and actions at the grassroots level, on the scale of a mini-watershed. If we delay, there is a danger of moving from analysis to paralysis
1. Sustainability of water resources; 2. Maintainance and improvement of ecosystem services; 3. Food security; 4. Safe drinking water supply from ground water so as to
improve rural health;
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RIO+20
Commitment to human rights essential for ensuring true sustainable development Marta Lobo and Isabella Montgomery
Freshwater Action Network
Civil society networks have welcomed the Special Rapporteur on the Human Right to Safe Drinking Water and Sanitations open letter calling on states to recommit to the human right to water and sanitation at Rio+20 in the run up to the third round of informal informal negotiations.
We have read the statistics again and again, 783 million of people do not yet have access to affordable water, a fifth of the worlds population lives in water stress regions, 2.5 billion people live without having access to safe toilets and basic hygiene facilities, 4,000 children die each day from diseases like diarrhoea and dysentery caused by unsafe water and poor sanitation. The figures for these fundamental building blocks of human development are appalling and estimated to worsen over the coming years, as a result of the different conflicting uses and overuses of water. In Catarina de Albuquerques open letter on 24th May, the Special Rapporteur called on states to maintain their support for this fundamental human right and its explicit inclusion in the Rio+20 outcome document, adding: It is clear that a commitment to water and sanitation without the recognition of the human right to water and sanitation is insufficient to achieve the future we all want. The recognition of the human right to water and sanitation guides us to prioritize the un- and under-served and to ensure non-discrimination. The original Zero Draft of the Outcome Document included text that underline[s] the importance of the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation as a human right that is essential for the full enjoyment of life and all human rights (para. 67). In the first and second rounds of informal-informal negotiations on the Zero Draft held in New York in March and April/May, some states suggested alternative language that does not explicitly refer to the human right to water and sanitation, despite the fact that it has been already recognised as a human right under international law, including by the General Assembly and the Human Rights Council in 2010, where UN member states reached consensus. Because human rights prioritise those most in need, Freshwater Action Network which represents southern civil society networks advocating to increase access to water and sanitation services for poor and marginalised communities believes that rights should provide a basis for development of equity indicators for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) being discussed as part of the post-Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) framework to be proposed at the Rio Summit. We support the Special Rapporteur's recommendation that: A sustainable development target for water and sanitation should aim at achieving access to safe and affordable drinking water and sanitation for all without discrimination, in sufficient quantities to protect human health and dignity, particularly for the most marginalized. Civil society organisations and human rights experts the world over agree on the importance of human rights to ensure a future where every single individual enjoys access to safe drinking water and sanitation. Now, on the first day of the third round of informal informals, we are calling loud and clear with a united voice: States must recommit to the human right to water and sanitation to achieve true sustainable development.
1. Download a QR code reader on your phone 2. Open the QR code reader 3. Take a picture of the QR code with your phone's camera
RIO+20
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