FRESHWATER

Water is the most important resource on the Earth. It is essential to all living things and therefore more vital to sustainable development than any other resource. Despite the fact that our planet is mostly covered with water, less than 5% is freshwater, and an even smaller portion of about 9,000 cubic kilometres is available for the world's renewable freshwater supply. Water has always been treated as an infinite resource and has been rapidly used up or degraded. The unequal distribution of water adds to the problem. About 40% of the world population in 80 countries, most of them in Asia and Africa and the majority of whom are women, are suffering from extreme water shortages. Drought has become a prevailing feature of life for many Africans, most notably sub-Saharan. Elsewhere entire streams are redirected to water giant monocultures, resulting in lowering groundwater levels and desertification of once fertile areas - often for satisfying northern over-consumption.

Due to population pressure and increasing pollution of water resources, the availability of freshwater resources will decline rapidly. Only two out of five people have access to clean water supplies - the WHO reports that at least 30,000 deaths every day are caused by contaminated water and poor sanitation; five million children die annually from diarrhoeal diseases. The rapid growth of urban areas particularly in southern parts of the world results in extreme negative impacts on water quality, as sewage systems are widely unknown. For example, India is said to have 70% of its total surface water polluted.

By today, 1.7 billion people have no direct access to freshwater, and this number is said to double within the next 25 years. As resource scarcity and resource degradation increase, water supplies may well become a cause for conflict with negative impacts particularly on the livelihoods of the poor. Competition for water resources between countries may increase and should be addressed by the international community.

THE DEBATE

In its Millennium Declaration, the General Assembly of the United Nations declared that unsustainable exploitation of water resources would be stopped by developing water management strategies at regional, national and local levels. These strategies would promote both equitable access and adequate supplies. The number of people without access to safe drinking water is pledged to be halved by 2015.

The problem was addressed at the UN International Conference on Freshwater, held in December 2001 in Bonn, Germany. A focus of the conference was to identify practical solutions and implementation strategies to deal with the emerging water crisis. The conference aimed to be part of the preparation process for the WSSD and to build on experiences from implementing Agenda 21 (Chapter 18), as well as from results of the World Water Forum and other past and forthcoming conferences on the way to Johannesburg. [ S E E  A L S O Freshwater Conference ]

WHAT NEXT?

The future availability and quality of water is one of the key issues of global concern. The UN states that "At the highest political level, there needs to be recognition that water and sanitation are basic needs and rights". The international community needs to ensure that the poorest have access to sufficient quantities of clean freshwater resources as a significant component of rural livelihoods throughout the world but of particular importance in areas subject to drought, in terms of food security. Governments need to identify obstacles in the implementation of Agenda 21 (Chapter 18).

NGOs have been urging not to address water as a sectoral issue but to deal with it in conjunction with other issues such as poverty, energy or agriculture, but also with overarching aims such as the conservation of freshwater ecosystems and intact water cycles with its biodiversity that in return deliver water resources for the people.

As agriculture is a major culprit for the degradation of freshwater resources, it must become more water efficient also ensuring that the right crops are grown under the given ecological conditions, questioning current production patterns and the debt issue that forces developing countries to grow agricultural products for the developed countries in dry regions with high water input instead of relying on native crops for domestic use.

The German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU) e.g. has suggested to adopt a 'World Water Charter' in which the signatory countries commit themselves to improve water supplies, to safeguard the human right to a basic supply of clean water and to foster competitive elements in water resource management. The human right to a basic supply of clean water should also be given due emphasis by interpreting the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights accordingly. The WBGU researchers also recommend that individuals be granted legal rights of appeal in this regard.