The Hindu Business Line : Stockholm meet to discuss water, sanitation-related developments

THE annual World Water Week, scheduled to be held from August 21 in Stockholm (Sweden) would showcase concrete illustrations of how problems of poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy, environmental degradation and gender inequality could in large measure be solved with water and sanitation as the key entry points.

Timed just weeks in advance of the United Nations' five-year review of progress towards meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the annual World Water Week in Stockholm will examine the two primary ways of meeting future water and sanitation related development needs - the "soft" path and the "hard" path.

Experience has shown that both paths - often through astonishingly simple projects and participatory approaches - can give results: The "soft" path: The Central American Hand-washing Initiative supported by USAID, UNICEF, the World Bank and five countries in the region demonstrated that effective partnerships among government departments, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), women's groups, the private sector and the media can contribute to effective hygiene promotion and behavioural changes that are essential to combat diarrhoeal disease and create public awareness.

The "hard" path: Improved water storage capacity makes national economies more resilient to rainfall variability and boosts economic growth. In Kenya, improved resilience to the effects of floods and droughts could make its GDP grow annually at a rate of at least 5% - 6% - the amount needed in order to start effectively reducing poverty - rather than the current 2.4% annual growth rate.

"In many cases, a mix of `hard' approaches such as technology and `soft' tools such as community participation may be needed." says Mr Anders Berntell, Executive Director of the Week's host, the Stockholm International Water Institute.

"Tailoring solutions to situations will be a key focus during the week." Water - the Key to Socio-Economic Development and Quality of Life Facts don't lie: poor countries with access to improved water and sanitation services enjoyed an annual average growth of 3.7% GDP; those without grew at just 0.1%. Over 1,300 leading experts on water, sanitation, environment and development issues - from more than 100 countries - will meet in Stockholm to present concrete cases of just how such gaps can be bridged.

With more than 60 organisations and programmes convening or co-convening workshops, seminars and side events, the international "consensus" coming out of the World Water Week in Stockholm has an indirect effect on decision-making in different fora, internationally and nationally.

Among the collaborators intensifying their involvement in 2005 are the European Union (EU), through the EU Water Initiative, the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council and UN-Water, the forum that brings together the 24 different UN agencies and programmes working with water and sanitation.

Many issues will be discussed during the week, among them climate variability, corruption, financing, gender equity, large-scale infrastructure, sanitation, water pollution abatement and more. Participants in Stockholm will include experts from businesses, governments, the water management and science sectors, inter-governmental organisations, NGOS, research and training institutions and United Nations agencies, according to a press statement by the organisers of the weeklong meet.

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page