by Piyaporn Hawiset
26 March 2000
Delegates at the second World Water Forum in the Netherlands issued a pledge to safeguard water supplies in the 21st Century.
"Water resources, and the related ecosystems that provide and sustain them, are under threat from pollution, unsustainable use, land-use changes, climate change and many other forces," they said in a statement "The link between these threats and poverty is clear, for it is the poor who are hit first and hardest... together we have one common goal: to provide water security in the 21st Century."
But the forum has been criticised by many delegates for failing to address the real needs of the poor. The six-day conference, timed to end on World Water Day, brought together more than 4,000 delegates from 150 countries to discuss ways of improving water provision.
The Ministerial Declaration, issued on March 22, 2000, identified seven main challenges in meeting "basic needs" in water, including sharing water resources and making the price of water reflect the cost of providing it.
But it did not suggest a funding source, either by the public or private sector - an issue that had been heatedly debated throughout the forum.
According to the United Nations-backed World Commission on Water, investment in water would have to double to $180 billion a year to meet targets, and only the private sector can muster capital on this scale. But South African Director General of Water and Forestry Mike Muller said that poor people were unlikely to prove profitable to private companies.
"We can't expect the poor to pay the full cost of water as a condition for them to get access to what we believe is a basic human right," he said. It is estimated that a billion people worldwide already have no access to clean water, and two billion lack proper sanitation.
Averting water wars
If trends continue, half the people on Earth will not have access to clean water by 2025. According to the UN, the main conflicts in Africa in the next 25 years are likely to be about access to water, as countries fight for scarce resources. No specific reference was made to disputes arising from water issues in the Ministerial Declaration, other than a pledge to work within established international institutions to "strengthen water-related policies."
The third World Water Forum takes place in Japan in 2003.
World Water Day Marked in Vietnam
A meeting to mark the World Water Day (March 22) and the World Meteorology Day (March 23) was held in Hanoi on March 23 by Vietnam's General Department of Meteorology and Hydrology (GDMH). In his opening speech, GDMH General Director Nguyen Cong Thanh spoke highly of Vietnam's hydro-meteorology service's contributions to minimizing the consequences of natural disasters by keeping the community informed of weather patterns.
Addressing the meeting, Vietnam's Deputy Prime Minister Pham Gia Khiem stressed that global climate and environmental changes have seriously affected water resources - a vital factor for life and planetary development. He laid stress on the importance of the management and protection of water resources and the environment, saying that the Vietnamese National Assembly had passed the Law on Water Resources, and the government has approved the National Program on Rural Water and Environmental Hygiene and other relevant policies in order to supply safe water to more people.
"Water for the 21st century" is the theme of this year's World Water Day, while "World Meteorology Organization - 50 years" is the theme for World Meteorology Day, 2000.
United Nations Development Program Resident Representative Edouard A. Wattez pledged to continue assisting Vietnam's hydro- meteorology sector in applying the achievements of modern science and technology in weather forecasting till 2005. The meeting drew representatives from various ministries, localities, international organizations and foreign embassies in Hanoi.