JANUARY IN FOCUS
 WWDR2 online in Spanish
Expo Zaragoza 2008, in close collaboration with WWAP, translated and published the 2nd World Water Development Report, ‘Water, a Shared Responsibility’ (WWDR2, 2006) in Spanish.
The triennial UN World Water Development Report is a joint undertaking of 24 UN agencies comprising UN-Water in partnership with governments and other stakeholders, and coordinated by WWAP. It presents a comprehensive picture of freshwater resources in all regions and most countries of the world as it tracks progress towards the water-related targets of the UN Millennium Development Goals and examines a range of key issues including population growth and increasing urbanization, changing ecosystems, food production, health, industry and energy, as well as risk management, valuing and paying for water and increasing knowledge and capacity.
The Spanish version was launched in Zaragoza, Spain, on 12-13 December 2006 and is now online! The 1st WWDR is now also available online in Spanish.
:: WWDR2 in Spanish
:: WWDR2 in English
:: WWDR1 in Spanish
:: WWDR1 in English
WWAP NEWS
14 December: ‘Water, a unique Resource’ bridge pavilion press conference
The concept and content of the ‘Water, a unique resource’ bridge-pavilion was presented to the press on 14 December 2006 in Zaragoza, Spain. The bridge-pavilion will be designed for Expo Zaragoza 2008 by Ralph Appelbaum Associates, following WWAP’s conceptual script, as part of the International Exposition on Water which will be held in Zaragoza from 14 June to 14 September 2008.
The pavilion’s objectives are to introduce water as a human right, explain why it is such a unique resource to a large audience, and introduce the public to governance processes while motivating them to get involved. The pavilion will present many themes, such as:
- water in the planet
- offer and demand, an unstable equilibrium
- water stress and water crisis
- water governance and water as a human right.
:: Read more
Beginning of WWAP’s external evaluation for 2000-2006
The 1st meeting for WWAP’s external evaluation took place at UNESCO headquarters in Paris, France, on 18 and 19 December 2006. The evaluation will be coordinated by Professor Miguel Medina, of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Duke University (USA). Mr. Alaphia Wright, of UNESCO’s external evaluation office, Mr. Andras Szöllözi-Nagy, Director of UNESCO’s Division of Water Sciences, Mr. Carlos Fernández-Jáuregui, WWAP deputy-coordinator, and Mr. Toshihiro Sonoda, WWAP programme officer, also attended the meeting, during which the evaluation process was initiated. The evaluation will cover WWAP phases 1 and 2, from 2000 to 2006.
25 January: UN-Water task force on IWRM monitoring and reporting meets in Paris, France
The UN-Water task force on Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) monitoring and reporting is currently focusing on a pilot initiative to develop and test the use of water accounting and a comprehensive system of outcome indicators of IWRM in developing countries.
Some members of the task force, namely Mr. Niels Henrik Ipsen, director of the United Nations Environment Programme Collaborating Centre on Water and Environment (UNEP/UCC), Mr. Palle Lindgaard Jørgensen, Head of the World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre for Water and Health, Mr. Carlos Fernández-Jáuregui, WWAP Deputy coordinator, and Mr. Engin Koncagül, WWAP Case studies programme officer, met on 25 January 2007 to discuss the implementation of an IWRM monitoring system within the framework of the forthcoming 16th cycle of the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD 16). Together they agreed on a common approach for the CSD 16 questionnaire elaborated for IWRM reporting at national level, taking into account comments from case study countries in which it was tested.
WWAP CASE STUDIES
Future case studies for WWDR3
The government of Turkey has expressed its interest in developing a case study for the next United Nations World Water Development Report (WWDR). The case study would focus on the water situation in Istanbul and serve to illustrate water-related challenges and their solutions in a large metropolitan area. The General Directorate of State Hydraulic Works (DSI) and the Turkish Water Foundation (Su Vakfı) will coordinate and develop this case study together.
The Ministry of the Environment of Estonia also confirmed that it intends to continue its collaboration with WWAP during WWAP Phase 3 and the production of WWDR3. Estonia has worked with WWAP from the start and contributed to the first two WWDRs by providing case studies through which it shared its experiences on water related issues concerning Lake Peipsi/Chudskoe-Pskovskoe.
The 3rd report should be launched during the 5th World Water Forum, in Istanbul, Turkey, in 2009.
Water and energy in La Plata River Basin
The La Plata River Basin is the fifth largest river system in the world and has enormous economic and social importance for the region. It covers an extensive part of central and northern Argentina, southeast Bolivia, almost all the southern part of Brazil, the whole of Paraguay and a large part of Uruguay.
Basin countries share the common vision of sustainable development through bilateral and multilateral cooperation in utilising the extensive surface and groundwater resources in an optimal fashion. Growing population and industrialization necessitate an increase in energy production. So far, approximately 60% of an estimated hydropower potential of 92,000 MW has been put to use, and the production of hydropower has become a regional priority. Hydropower development projects are not only national in character. Riparian countries have implemented joint projects such as the Salto Grande (Argentina and Uruguay), Itaipú (Brazil and Paraguay) and Yacyretá (Argentina and Paraguay) dams to further improve their energy production.
More than 90% of the energy used by Brazil comes from hydropower, the greater part of which is generated by dams on the Paraná River and its tributaries. By taking into consideration the environmental and social impacts that the dams cause, a financial compensation tax has been placed on the hydroelectric sector for the utilization of water resources. By law, 6% of the value of the electric energy produced is channelled back to the areas where the facilities for energy production are located or areas that have been flooded due to the dam reservoirs. Furthermore, a certain percentage of these funds is allocated to the Ministry of Environment for the implementation of the National Water Resources Management System.
The above is adapted from the La Plata River Basin case study, an extract of which was included in the case study chapter of the 2nd United Nations World Water Development Report, 'Water, a Shared Responsibility' (WWDR2, 2006).
:: Read more about the La Plata case study
:: Read more about the WWDR2 Case Studies
WWAP PARTNERS
Children share their views on water with ministers
‘Children's Letters to Ministers’ is the result of a Water Network of the Mexican Academy of Sciences, developed with UNESCO’s collaboration. The Network organized talks at grammar schools in Central Mexico and the kids responded by either writing a letter or sending a drawing or painting, conveying their messages of hope, suggestions, and frustrations.
The objective was to share the children’s views on water with the Ministers participating in the 4th World Water Forum (Mexico, March 2006). The letters, compiled and translated in the publication ‘Children's Letters to Ministers’, are now available online, as is ‘Children’s Letters to Scientists’, which was published in 2005.
:: Children’s Letters to Ministers [PDF format - 5.45 MB, in English and Spanish]
:: Children’s Letters to Scientists [PDF format – 2.76 MB, in English and Spanish]
New UNDP report: ‘Making Progress on Environmental Sustainability: Lessons and recommendation from a review of over 150 MDG country experiences’
Today, the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) serve as the framework for sustainable development by setting concrete goals and targets to tackle poverty and promote human development. Together, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) have been working to support countries in sound environmental management and, in particular, on achieving MDG 7 on environmental sustainability. They have jointly launched a Report, ‘Making Progress on Environmental Sustainability: lessons and recommendations in over 150 country experiences’. It is clear from this analysis that most counties are not yet on track to reach MDG 7 by 2015 and that throughout the world, countries are facing similar challenges both in tailoring MDG 7 targets and indicators to their national context, and in strengthening monitoring capacities and systems.
The Report is part of a wider ‘toolbox’ of services designed by UNDP to help developing countries prepare national plans to reach the MDGs on time.
:: Read more
:: Access the full publication [PDF format – 3.88 MB]
17-19 January: 1st Meeting of the Parties to the Protocol on Water and Health, Geneva, Switzerland
The Protocol on Water and Health is an international legally binding instrument that entered into force in August 2005 under the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes (Water Convention). It aims to protect human health and well-being by improving water management and preventing, controlling and reducing water-related disease. The 1st meeting of the Parties to the Protocol on Water and Health took place at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, on 17-19 January 2007.
During their first meeting, the Parties reviewed and adopted the work programme for the period 2007-2009 and agreed on legal documents. Among the key issues discussed were the development of a mechanism to facilitate the preparation of international assistance projects and the coordination between donors and recipient countries; surveillance of water-related disease and response systems; the human right to water and equitable access to safe drinking water; water supply and sanitation and climate change adaptation strategies; and public awareness and capacity building.
:: Read more
New European Directive for cleaner groundwater
On Tuesday 12 December 2006, on the second day of their Plenary in Strasbourg, France, the members of the European Parliament approved a new legislation that should improve the cleanliness of water by much stricter measures against pollution by preventing ‘hazardous substances’ such as cyanide, arsenic, biocides and phytopharmaceutical substances seeping into the water.
The scope of the directive was broadened so that its aim will now be to protect groundwater ‘against pollution and deterioration’ and not only ‘against pollution’. Member States will be required to take ‘all measures necessary to prevent inputs into groundwater of any hazardous substances’.
The measure is particularly important as in many areas groundwater is the largest source of public drinking water and the most sensitive freshwater resource. Member States will have two years to transpose the directive into national law, it should therefore take effect from early 2009.
:: Read more
FACTS AND FIGURES ON LA PLATA RIVER BASIN
- With over 100 million inhabitants, close to 50 major cities, 75 large dams and an economy that represents 70% of the per capita GDP of 5 countries, La Plata River Basin has enormous economic and social importance for the region overall.
- Due to a series of economic crises affecting the countries of the basin, rising poverty remains the most important social issue to be addressed. Given limited funds allocated, meeting safe water and sanitation needs of the people, and especially the poor, is a big challenge.
- People with low incomes often live in informal settlements established in marginal areas where safe water and sanitation infrastructure is either insufficient or non-existent, increasing the percentage of people suffering from diseases that stem from a lack of water and sanitation.
- Access to safe water and sanitation varies significantly between urban and rural areas in the La Plata Basin. In all the countries, urban areas have better access to safe water and sanitation services than rural areas. In fact, between 70 and 99% of the urban population has access to safe water and 82 to 95% has access to sanitation services.
- Meanwhile, in rural areas between 13 and 93% of the population have access to safe water and 35 to 85% have access to sanitation services.
- The proportion of irrigated land to the overall agricultural area is relatively low, varying between 0.3% (in Paraguay) to 16.8 % (in Uruguay). A large part of fertilizers and pesticides used in farming are carried by runoff into watercourses.
- Pollutants and heavy metals from mining operations and inadequately treated urban sewage are other causes of environmental concerns in the basin. Increased tourism is also leading to overfishing, damage to flora and fauna and the illegal exportation of endangered species. In the last few decades, rapid population growth, road development, expanding agricultural frontiers, mining and large-scale hydraulic engineering (including dams, waterways, and irrigation projects) have resulted in a decrease in the overall quality of the basin environment and created ongoing problems, such as siltation of waterways and reservoirs, intense deforestation and degradation, tropical forest loss and fragmentation of the rainforests of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay.
- There are substantial underground water resources in the La Plata River Basin. The Guaraní Aquifer System (GAS), for example, is one of the world’s most important fresh groundwater reservoirs, due to its extent and volume. It underlies portions of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, stretching over an area of approximately 1.2 million km², with almost 15 million inhabitants. The capacity of the GAS is estimated at around 40,000 Km³.
- A joint project is currently under way to support GAS countries in implementing a common institutional framework for managing and preserving the GAS. The project also aims to expand and consolidate the current knowledge base through monitoring and evaluating water resources, in order to promote stakeholder participation in decision-making and control pollution..
:: Facts and figures taken from the 2nd United Nations World Water Development Report, 'Water, a shared responsibility' (WWDR2, 2006).
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