S t r at eg i e S 1 5 2
Water Sector Strategy
Water Sec tor Strategy
Content
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2
3
Purpose and Scope of the Strategy
4
1.1
1.2
4
4
The Importance of the Water Sector and Challenges
in the Partner Countries
5
2.1
2.2
5
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5
Importance of the Water Sector
challenges in the Partner countries
Principles and Objectives of Development Cooperation
in the Water Sector
3.1
3.2
3.3
3.4
4
Purpose of the Strategy
Scope of the Strategy
general Framework for Development cooperation
Sector-Specific goals
the Human rights Dimension
Sector-Specific Principles
3.4.1 Integrated Water resources Management (IWrM)
3.4.1.1 core elements
3.4.1.2 objectives
3.4.1.3 conflicts Between the Various objectives
3.4.1.4 guidelines for the Implementation of IWrM in Development
cooperation
3.4.2 Multilevel approach
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10
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Lessons Learned from Development Cooperation
in the Water Sector
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Target Groups, Partners, Instruments and Fields of Action
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5.1
5.2
5.3
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21
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target groups
Partners
Instruments
5.3.1 Multilateral and european Development cooperation
5.3.2 Bilateral Development cooperation
5.3.3 Support for Non-governmental organisations/actors
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5.4
Fields of action
5.4.1 reforming the Framework conditions in the Water Sector
and Water resources Management
5.4.2 Water for People: Water Supply and Sanitation
5.4.3 Water for Food
5.4.4 Water for ecosystems
5.4.5 Water for other Purposes
5.4.6 Special areas: Flood Management and Dams
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1 Purpose and Scope of the Strategy
1.1
PurposeoftheStrategy
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1.2
ScopeoftheStrategy
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2 the importance of the Water Sector and
Challenges in the Partner Countries
2.1
ImportanceoftheWaterSector
“Clean water and sanitation can make or break
human development. They are fundamental to
what people can do and what they can become
– to their capabilities. Access to water is not just
a fundamental human right and an intrinsically
important indicator for human progress. It also
gives substance to other human rights and is a
condition for attaining wider human development goals”.
Source: HumanDevelopmentReport006:
Beyond scarcity: Power, poverty and the global
water crisis, UNDP, 2006.
Water is an essential element for life on earth.
the problems of water pollution, scarcity/ excess
and major fluctuations in water availability,
all of which are increasing in severity in many
countries, have an impact on human health, food
availability, and economic and social development. Poor countries are especially hard hit by
poor water quality, inadequate supply, droughts
or floods as their institutions are weaker and they
have fewer financial resources to meet these challenges. it is also the poor who suffer particularly
from water-related problems, e.g. because they
lack access to clean water, cannot afford medical
treatment for waterborne diseases, live in areas at
risk from floods and mudslides, or because their
agricultural systems are entirely dependent on
erratic rainfall.
Water also plays a key role in crisis prevention
and conflict management. Water can worsen
crises, but it can also act as a catalyst for cooperation between countries and between actors
within individual states.
interdependencies exist between the types of use
described below. Often, several types of use are
reliant on a single resource. Water is generally
used several times in a usage cascade, during
which its quality may deteriorate. these interdependencies, and therefore also water competition
and conflicts, become more apparent as scarcity
and water quality problems intensify. Furthermore, larger interventions in one sector invariably have a knock-on effect on other types of use
and must therefore be monitored carefully.
Water for People
Drinking water supply, basic sanitation, and wastewater and waste management are key prerequisites for a life in dignity. they prevent many of
the diseases which impair quality of life, impose
financial burdens on households and limit their
income-generation opportunities.
in many countries, it is the task of women and
girls to carry home the drinking water for their
families. Often, they spend many hours a day
fetching water – with ensuing impacts on their
health, schooling, vocational training, and
income-generation opportunities. Waterborne
diseases within the family may also take up more
of women‘s time as they are the main caregivers
when family members fall sick. Women and girls
according to the World Health organization, 80 percent of diseases in
the developing world are caused by unsafe water, poor sanitation and
a lack of hygiene education.
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therefore benefit especially from improvements
in water supply and sanitation, as this can reduce
the physical burden and amount of time spent
fetching water, caring for the sick, disposing of
wastewater, and dealing with domestic hygiene.
With more time available, women are able to pursue other activities, including income generation.
in addition, many girls can only attend school
once appropriate sanitary facilities are provided.
Drinking water supply accounts for around 10
percent of global water consumption. in rural
areas, drinking water withdrawal often does not
inflict stress on the resource situation. in today‘s
expanding urban centres, however, it has a major
impact on the quality and quantity of surface
water and groundwater. in particular, contamination of watercourses due to poor wastewater and
waste management can cause irreversible damage
if the environment‘s pollution absorption capacities are exceeded.
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A
A
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Water for Ecosystems
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Water for Food
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and therefore the value put on them, increase
significantly.
The Importance of Flood Management
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Water for Other Purposes, Including Energy
Besides food security, the availability of water
is an important basis for all other productive
activities. Water is essential for commerce and
industry, where it is used as a medium (e.g. as a
solvent), coolant or mode of transport in most
production processes. according to UNeSCO,
industrial uses currently account for about 20
percent of global water consumption, and this is
likely to increase to 50 percent by 2020. in some
countries, tourism is also responsible for a large
percentage of water consumption.
Water is also an important resource for energy
production, especially via hydropower plants.
thermal power stations require water for cooling
during operation or as a conveyor of heat energy.
Hydropower is likely to become increasingly
important in the context of the global climate
change debate, as it is often a cheap renewable
energy resource, which generally causes far fewer
negative environmental impacts than other
energy sources. Harnessing the energy contained
in wastewater and human excreta through the
use of heat pumps or via methane production can
also make a contribution to energy supply.
The Importance of Dams
Dams are important for flood protection, irrigation, drinking water supply and renewable
energy production. in light of population growth,
economic development, climate change and,
to some extent, the still untapped potential of
hydropower, dams can offer useful opportunities
for development in many areas. in the past, however, many dam construction projects had devastating social and environmental impacts and
also proved to be unprofitable. there are often
alternatives to large dam construction, e.g. better
rainwater harvesting, small-scale dams, artificial
groundwater recharge, demand management, etc.
2.2
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ChallengesinthePartnerCountries
“In many countries water governance is in a state of
confusion: in some countries there is a total lack of
water institutions, and others display fragmented
institutional structures or conflicting decisionmaking structures. In many places conflicting
upstream and downstream interests regarding
riparian rights and access to water resources are
pressing issues that need immediate attention; in
many other cases there are strong tendencies to
divert public resources for personal gain, or unpredictability in the use of laws and regulations and
licensing practices impede markets and voluntary
action and encourage corruption.”
Source:ThendUnitedNationsWorldWater
DevelopmentReport:Water – a shared
responsibility, World Water assessment Programme,
New york, 2006.
Water crises can be triggered by hydrological
factors but generally have institutional and socioeconomic causes as well; indeed, these may be the
primary factors. a major cause of water shortage,
pollution and inadequate access to water services
and sanitation is the lack of, and misallocation of,
public funds to finance investment and maintain
infrastructure. Other major factors are poor
resource management and ineffective legislation,
regulation and planning. Hydrological and institutional weaknesses and under-funding often occur
in combination and are mutually reinforcing.
neglected. if they are considered at all for the
expansion of water services, local households are
in some cases unable to afford the charges for
connection to the system.
if local residents meet their drinking water needs
from natural sources, their health may be at risk
from waterborne diseases. Furthermore, women
and girls in particular may have to shoulder the
considerable physical and time burden associated
with fetching water from natural sources. Wastewater and human excreta from sewers, cesspits
and people defecating in the open air further
impair the living environment and the water supply of the poor.
When drinking water is supplied from house connections, yard taps or public water points, high
prices may be charged for the water. However, if
people have no connection to a water supply system or access to a natural source, they may have
to purchase water from private water vendors,
often paying even higher prices and putting their
health at risk if these sources are not monitored
effectively by the state.
Water Scarcity on the Increase
Inadequate Provision for poor Population
Groups
Hydrological conditions in the partner countries
vary very widely: some of them have large volumes of water available, whereas others have to
contend with acute regional or seasonal water
scarcity. However, supply bottlenecks are generally not just a hydrological problem but are often
caused by poor general and sector governance
and inadequate resource management.
Despite major advances since 1990, around
1.1 billion people worldwide still lack access
to a safe drinking water supply and more than
2.6 billion people lack access to adequate sanitation. the poor in rapidly growing urban peripheries, rural settlements and the margins of small
and medium-sized towns and cities are especially
hard hit. the development of these areas is often
Overall, water scarcity is noticeably increasing
due to the inadequate response by water sector
actors and strategies to high population growth,
rapid urbanisation, industrial development and
the expansion of irrigated agriculture, generally
with negative impacts on soils and watercourses
(groundwater, rivers and lakes). Overexploitation
of water resources causes a drop in the water
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table and increases salt water intrusion in coastal
aquifers. it may also reduce the ecologically
necessary residual water flow in watercourses to
below minimum requirements, causing environmental problems such as lakes drying out, deltas
silting up, etc.
agement and the operation of water treatment
plants are not a political priority.
G
Water scarcity is often coupled with short-term
water excess, even in countries where water is
generally scarce. Drought destroys vegetation
cover and causes hardening of the soil, thereby
reducing its water-holding and thus its buffer
capacities. as a result, droughts are followed by
floods and vice versa.
Water as a Source of Conflict
A
Water Pollution on the Increase
Worldwide, 90 to 95 percent of the wastewater
from industry and households is discharged untreated into watercourses. Microbial contamination of water resources by domestic wastewater
has increased substantially. there is also contamination from fertilisers and pesticides used in agriculture. as a result, in some partner countries,
making water resources available for use entails
high and rising costs of water treatment. increasing pollution is also accelerating the degradation
of ecosystems (e.g. loss of biodiversity) and reducing their environmental performance. Unless it is
coupled with wastewater management, the urgently needed expansion of water supply systems
can worsen the often already problematical hygiene conditions at local level, while freshwater
resources and aquatic ecosystems are put at risk
from the increase in the volume of wastewater. in
many cases, the available financial resources are
inadequate, and investments in wastewater man-
Due to the rising demand for water for all types
of use and their strong interdependencies,
freshwater competition within and between the
individual types of water use is intensifying in
many water-scarce countries and regions. it is
becoming increasingly difficult to guarantee the
water supply to the urban centres as well as to
agriculture and industry, especially during periods of drought. the main areas of conflict are the
competition between drinking water supply and
agricultural irrigation, and between the urban
and rural water supply systems.
However, lines of conflict may also transcend
national borders. For example, within transboundary river or groundwater catchment areas,
there is often great inequality between regions
and countries in terms of the availability of water
resources. Downstream riparian states are suffering increasingly from water shortage and quality
problems because countries upstream are withdrawing larger amounts of water, or are allowing
wastewater or contaminated runoff from agriculture to flow back untreated into the hydrological
cycle. Yet studies also show that water conflicts
are no less likely to occur where there is adequate
access to water. Conflicting territorial, economic
and security interests often play a background
role in inter-state disputes over water. Conversely,
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transboundary water cooperation offers opportunities for coordinated joint water utilisation
in which complementary interests facilitate
mutually beneficial solutions. in many cases, this
can bring about a general improvement in neighbourly relations between riparian states.
Impacts of Climate Change
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3 Principles and Objectives of Development
Cooperation in the Water Sector
3.1
GeneralFrameworkforDevelopment
Cooperation
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to reducing poverty worldwide,
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building peace and achieving democracy,
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achieving justice in globalisation, and
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protecting the environment.
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“We, Ministers of developed and developing countries responsible for promoting development and
Heads of multilateral and bilateral development
institutions, meeting in Paris on 2 March 2005,
resolve to take far-reaching and monitorable
actions to reform the ways we deliver and manage aid (…).We reaffirm the commitments made
at Rome to harmonise and align aid delivery. (…)
We acknowledge that enhancing the effectiveness of aid is feasible and necessary across all aid
modalities. In determining the most effective
modalities of aid delivery, we will be guided by
development strategies and priorities established
by partner countries. (…) Partner countries [will]
exercise effective leadership over their development policies, and strategies and co-ordinate
development actions.”
Source: ParisDeclarationonAidEffectiveness
(Paris Declaration), Paris, 2005.
3.2
Sector-SpecificGoals
“In adopting the Millennium Development Goals,
the nations of the world pledged to halve by 2015
the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation.
Unless the world redeems that pledge, we will be
hard-pressed to meet the MDG targets in other
vital areas such as nutrition, education, poverty
eradication, and environment, for water is life. But
so far progress in meeting the MDG water and
sanitation target has been fitful and slow.
T
MDg 7 (ensure environmental sustainability) is
the key international goal here. it requires states
to commit to the sustainable development of
environmental resources in order to halt and
reverse their loss (target 9). the sustainable management of water resources for food security and
economic development is an important requisite
for achieving MDg 1 (eradicate extreme poverty
and hunger) and contributes to the attainment of
most of the other MDgs. target 10 aims to halve2,
by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation. target 10 is also closely linked with other
MDgs. Because better access to clean drinking
water and basic sanitation has a positive impact
on health, nutrition and education and also on
gender equality, it can make a key contribution
to the attainment of the following MDgs: MDg
1, MDg 2 (achieve universal primary education),
MDg 3 (Promote gender equality and empower
women), MDg 4 (reduce child mortality), MDg 5
(improve maternal health), and MDg 6 (Combat
HiV/aiDS, malaria and other diseases).
T
We need radical change and swift, resolute
action.”
Source: HashimotoActionPlan adopted by the
United Nations Secretary-general‘s advisory Board
on Water and Sanitation (UNSgaB) and presented at
the 4th World Water Forum in Mexico, 2006.
2 as well as aiming to achieve the quantitative goal set out in target 0,
development cooperation in the water sector also focusses on improving the quality and environmental sustainability of supply as well as
safeguarding the economic sustainability of infrastructural investments
on a long-term basis.
at the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in
Johannesburg, the sanitation target was adopted, inter alia at germany‘s
initiative.
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government pledges to make targeted efforts to
promote economic, social and cultural rights.
A
Water must be available, accessible, of acceptable
quality, and affordable. in individual cases, this
may entail an obligation to provide people living
in extreme poverty with the minimum amount
of water necessary for life at no charge if need be.
it is a matter for states to decide whether to fulfil
their obligations relating to the right to water
through private providers or the public sector.
3.3
TheHumanRightsDimension
3.4
in water supply and sanitation, development cooperation also contributes to the realisation of the
human right to access to drinking water and basic
sanitation. this right is an element of the right to an
adequate standard of living enshrined in articles 11
and 12 of the international Covenant on economic,
Social, and Cultural rights (iCeSCr)4. it is closely
linked with other human rights, notably the rights
to food, education and health as well as to political
and economic participation. in its Development
Policy action Plan on Human rights5, the german
4 the International covenant on economic, Social, and cultural rights
was adopted unanimously by the United Nations general assembly
on 6 December 966 and has now been ratified by most UN member
states (5 parties as of 8 May 2006).
5 See “Seventh report of the government of the Federal republic of
germany on its Human rights Policy in the context of Foreign relations and other areas of National Policy”, Section D, Federal Foreign
office, June 2005.
Sector-SpecificPrinciples
3.4.1 IntegratedWaterResources Management(IWRM)
3.4.1.1 CoreElements
“IWRM is a process which promotes the co-ordinated development and management of water,
land and related resources, in order to maximise
the resultant economic and social welfare in an
equitable manner without compromising the
sustainability of vital ecosystems.”
Source: GlobalWaterPartnership: technical Paper
No. 4, Stockholm 2000.
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1)
for the selection of priority subsectors as
fields of action for development engagement, and
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Participation and Transparency
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2)
for the development of assistance strategies within these subsectors.
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Water Resources Management According to
Natural Boundaries
Water does not respect political or administrative
boundaries. Water flow is determined by geological and geomorphological structures and may
also cross national borders. Sustainable water
resources management should therefore be
based on water catchment areas.
For example, in the past, private-sector involvement in drinking water
supply and sanitation was often an area of conflict.
1
process onwards. Furthermore, appropriate
structures are being demanded and supported
so that users and stakeholders are represented in
planning, implementing and supervisory bodies,
if necessary via civil society organisations. appropriate preparatory, monitoring and/or follow-up
management of the social environment can make
a key contribution to project sustainability.
Water Sec tor Strategy
cal access to, water services for the poor and other
marginalised groups. in order to identify the most
discriminated groups and provide appropriate,
problem-oriented support, data on the poverty
situation and, if appropriate, on gender-specific
factors as well as information on discrimination
caused by other factors must be collected on a
differentiated basis and made available to all the
relevant actors.
Subsidiarity
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3.4.1.2 Objectives
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Environmental Sustainability
Knowledge Management
Developing a knowledge base about water
resources and water use is the basis for problemoriented decision-making in the water sector.
Many developing countries lack adequate
basic data about water quality and quantity in
the catchment areas and on sociocultural and
socioeconomic factors. in many cases, data is
only available to administrative bodies whose
geographical range does not match the water
catchment areas in question.
A
Water will continue to be vital for future generations. Water resources management therefore
aims to achieve a balanced water budget, which
means that water withdrawals should not
exceed the amount of available renewable water
resources in order to avoid a drop in groundwater
levels or the drying out of surface watercourses.
if there is a need to draw on fossil water reserves
because there is insufficient renewable water
available for the drinking water supply, new
methods of providing water should be developed
– as long as they are economically and ecologically viable – such as seawater/brackish water
desalination, artificial groundwater recharge, or
the use of treated wastewater, in order to avoid
long-term supply bottlenecks and ecosystem
disruptions.
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and recycling/reuse substantially expanded. in
this context, the avoidance, collection, treatment,
reuse or proper disposal of all types of pollutants
and waste play an important and complementary
role.8
compensation mechanisms, support must also
be provided to build or improve the political
dialogue capacities of poor and disadvantaged
groups (empowerment).
Economic Efficiency
Social Justice
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Many of the mistakes made in water resources
management arise from the fact that water
prices, as a key benchmark of scarcity and preferences, and therefore a steering instrument for
efficient, needs-related water allocation, do not
exist, are distorted, or do not have the impact
they should have. this is apparent from the fact
that the value put on water as a resource is often
too low (e.g. omitting environmental services)
or non-existent, does not take full account of the
costs of treating and supplying the water, and
does not aim to cover the costs of water services.
tariff and charging systems play a key role in this
context, but other demand management and
regulatory instruments – such as rationing, quotas
and tradable water rights – all play a part in determining whether water, as a scarce resource, is
managed efficiently and sustainably and can thus
be supplied to everyone on an equitable basis.
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For efficient water resources management, an
operational perspective is also of key importance
alongside macroeconomic considerations. in
line with this approach, the full economic cost
(operating expenditures and capital charge,
including appropriate minimum interest payments) at the level of the public or private utility
company must be covered from revenue. Full cost
recovery is a key prerequisite to ensure the sustainable operation of systems and must include
appropriate funding for investment in renewal
and expansion. Due to the positive externalities of
pro-poor and environmental measures in water
and wastewater management9, full cost recovery
can also be achieved through supplementary
state subsidies. For development cooperation,
this means that in sector dialogue and practical
cooperation, the aim must be to improve the
institutional, financial, legal and organisational
framework for sustainable service delivery.
Compliance with the principle of full cost recovery does not rule out the option of providing
poorer social groups with a basic drinking water
supply to meet their essential daily needs as well
as basic sanitation at lower prices, i.e. prices
which generally do not cover the costs, or even
at no charge in extreme cases. the same applies
to sanitation. a socially compatible system of
charging or, alternatively, direct person-specific
transfer payments enable water and sanitation to
be supplied to low-income or other marginalised
groups in order to meet their basic needs.
3.4.1.3 ConflictsBetweentheVarious
Objectives
When adopting individual measures in the water
sector, it is not always possible to achieve all the
above-mentioned objectives to an equal extent.
For example, in situations of severe seasonal or
regional water scarcity, conflicting priorities can
rapidly arise between the need to expand water
services, on the one hand, and environmental sustainability, on the other. in water catchment areas
with a strained or negative water balance, the
drinking water supply can only be safeguarded –
if no water is to be diverted away from agriculture
– through the temporary or permanent overexploitation of groundwater or from rivers and, in
extreme cases, the utilisation of fossil groundwater.
in such situations, the need to ensure a basic supply
of water services to poor population groups must
be brought into line with the need for environmental sustainability. in the long term, social justice can only be achieved on the basis of ecologically sustainable resource management.
For development cooperation, this means that
promoting measures to supply the population
with water can be considered even in cases of a
negative water balance, if these measures are
likely to result in substantial and positive development impacts. in humanitarian emergencies,
the use of non-renewable fossil groundwater as
a source of drinking water is also tolerable in the
short term. in both cases, however, every opportunity must be utilised to improve the water balance
both beforehand and as a flanking measure. in
particular, the use of fossil water must always be
subject to a comprehensive evaluation of alternative options.
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with development measures linking in with
existing water management plans. However,
development cooperation is particularly engaged
in those sectors where german development
agencies have comparative advantages, where
partners are willing to engage in dialogue and
undertake reforms, where it can have a significant impact, and where appropriate institutional,
legal and political frameworks ensure that development measures have a sustainable effect. this
decision is taken in agreement and – wherever
possible – in cooperation with other donors.
3.4.2 MultilevelApproach
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3.4.1.4 GuidelinesfortheImplementationof IWRMinDevelopmentCooperation
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Wherever possible, development cooperation
is integrated into ongoing iWrM processes,
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T
“Considering the environmental damage, the
health risks, and the worsening water crisis, a
revolutionary rethink of our current sanitation
practices is urgently needed. Ecosan provides a
solution by applying the basic principle of closing
the loop through the application of modern and
safe sanitation and reuse technologies, thereby
continuing the historic tradition of recycling
human wastes once applied in most farmingsocieties.”
Source: Poverty-EnvironmentPartnership:
Linking poverty reduction and water management,
Stockholm environment Institute and United
Nations Development Programme (eds.),
published online in 2006.
the holistic approach to water sector development, taking account of all types of use and
incorporating socially compatible and economically efficient allocation mechanisms, is still in
its infancy in many countries, however. there are
many reasons for this:
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iWrM principles are not yet adequately
embedded in many partner countries‘
strategies. in most cases, the requisite
reform processes have been initiated by
donors. Some partner countries have only
internalised the principles underlying the
reforms to a limited extent. in some countries and regions that are particularly hard
hit by water scarcity, sector reforms have
only been implemented in areas where little
political resistance has been encountered,
notably the adoption of legislation: the
legislative framework for the water sector,
and indeed environmental legislation in
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general, are generally fairly well developed.
Many countries already have quite a few
elements of legislation governing the water
sector which take account of sustainability
aspects and make drinking water a priority.
the problem, however, is often the implementation and enforcement of new regulations vis-à-vis influential elites. these elites
profit especially from the cheap water available in irrigated agriculture, but also from
subsidies – supposedly granted in response
to social factors – in urban water supply and
wastewater management systems.
l
the sectoral structure of the administration in many partner countries often still
conflicts with the adoption of integrated
approaches. the geographical range of
water catchment areas generally does not
conform with the existing administrative
units. the administrations often show little
willingness to cooperate. institutions –
such as water catchment authorities – that
are newly established as part of reform
processes are often not properly integrated
into existing institutional structures and
socioeconomic frameworks. in most cases,
they have been created on top. they also
have insufficient powers; in particular, they
lack clear rules for interfacing with other
institutions. the legally established water
catchment authorities are often underfunded, with the result that they cannot fulfil their mandate properly. Other agencies
refuse to cede formal and policy-making
powers to the water catchment authorities.
these authorities should therefore not
be regarded as the only viable approach
to solving problems in water resources
management. instead, a careful appraisal
should be undertaken on a country-specific
basis to identify the institutional form that
is most appropriate for efficient iWrM
implementation.
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implementing comprehensive multisectoral water programmes based on iWrM is
often very complex. it is often more effective to implement clearly focussed sectoral
projects that aim to facilitate local capacitybuilding and reforms and achieve social,
environmental and economic objectives.
in these cases, it is nonetheless essential
to integrate the projects consistently into
the overall water sector context and thus
to make a progressive contribution to the
establishment of a wider process which conforms with iWrM principles. in other cases,
an overly restrictive subsectoral approach
may not be appropriate to achieve the
desired structural impacts. in such cases,
broad-based sectoral engagement is
essential to achieve the necessary structural
outcomes in line with iWrM principles.
the majority of developing countries still
have a long way to go to achieve full cost
recovery in all areas of water use. Often,
only the operating and maintenance costs
are – barely – covered, while the necessary
cross-subsidy potential is not achieved.
improving the institutional, legal and
organisational framework is essential for
efficient, user-oriented service delivery.
However, as improving the framework
conditions is a protracted process, which
must form part of a wider good governance
policy, the aim of cost recovery can generally only be achieved in most developing
countries on a progressive basis over a
period of several years.
in german development cooperation, the
practical approach to prioritisation and
the selection of fields for development
intervention make it more difficult to
implement a holistic approach in the water
sector. For example, a distinction is made
between the following priorities: drinking
water supply and sanitation; (irrigated)
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Water Sec tor Strategy
agriculture; and environmental and
resource protection. in most cases, german
development cooperation does not operate
in all of these sectors in every partner country, so it may not be in a position to finance
certain priority measures in the water
sector. to implement the iWrM approach,
it would therefore seem appropriate to
interpret the definitions and limits of the
priorities flexibly, or to agree on “water” as
a general priority.
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Lack of information impedes the planning
and management process. admittedly,
water master plans have been developed
occasionally, often with donor financing,
but they are not integrated into systematic
data collection and evaluation. the monitoring of water quantity and quality often
only takes place within individual projects,
and the same applies to the collection of
information about access to water in the
settlement areas of the poor. as a result,
measures are often being developed and
adapted on the basis of inadequate data.
For that reason, greater priority must be
given to the systematic development of a
data and information management system.
l
even if good governance, participation,
institutions and capacities are in place,
implementing comprehensive reform
processes may take many years. interestrelated patterns of use by various consumer
groups can generally only be broken after
years of awareness-raising. Success factors
include a viable and robust basis for cooperation with decision-makers and staff in
key sectoral institutions, appropriate
involvement of representatives of interest
groups, especially extremely poor and
disadvantaged groups, and sufficient willingness on the part of partners to undertake reform. Development measures in this
area must therefore be geared towards
long-term engagement.
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Water Sec tor Strategy
5 target groups, Partners, instruments and
Fields of action
5.1
TargetGroups
the key target group for german development
cooperation in the water sector is the poor and
extremely poor population, which currently has
little or no access to safe and/or adequate drinking water, sanitation and/or water for farming.
the urban slums and rural regions are especially
important in this context.
as a rule, it is also the poor groups who suffer
most from contamination of watercourses, as
they are often reliant on these sources of water for
drinking, irrigation and washing. Due to a lack of
alternatives, the poor often settle in areas which
are especially prone to flooding and mudslides.
they are also particularly hard hit by the decrease
in groundwater resources as they rarely have
access to the technologies or resources required
to draw water from ever-greater depths. german
development cooperation is also addressing these
problems as a priority.
Furthermore, development cooperation in the
water sector also benefits other demographic
groups by contributing to environmental protection and sustainable development in agriculture,
commerce and industry, thus promoting social
and economic development as a whole.
5.2
Partners
the challenges arising in the water sector can
only be solved through cooperation on the basis
of partnerships. Local partners for german
development cooperation generally include
government institutions and administrative
bodies, public corporations, non-governmental
organisations, joint agencies, water catchment
authorities, and user groups. in order to comply
with the iWrM approach, institutions operating
in associated sectors, such as ministries of agriculture, health authorities and bodies charged with
implementing the closed-loop economy, should
also be included.
as experience has shown, women play a central
part in the provision, management and safeguarding of water and should be included
intensively in projects at target-group level.
their expertise and specific interests can also be
utilised at higher levels of planning and administration, with intermediary organisations playing
a facilitating role here.
Partners in germany and europe include water
and wastewater management companies, associations, plant construction companies, NgOs,
consulting firms, universities and other public
and private organisations operating in the water
sector. the mobilisation of private capital and
technical and commercial know-how can also
make major contributions to development cooperation in the water sector. the BMZ is working
with other relevant federal ministries to devise
coherent policy solutions aimed at global sustainable development in the water sector.
as part of the improved donor coordination
to which the international community is committed, german development has stepped up
its cooperation with other bi- and multilateral
donors. this cooperation primarily aims to
increase the effectiveness and efficiency of development measures through better coordination
and synergies.
5.3
Water Sec tor Strategy
Instruments
5.3.1 MultilateralandEuropeanDevelopment
Cooperation
T
ties of organisations and individuals working in
the water sector. in this role, it gears its efforts
towards long-term support for the partner countries in all phases of the reform and restructuring
process. Particular importance is attached to
building national advisory capacities and facilitating south-south dialogue.
I
5.3.3 SupportforNon-Governmental
Organisations/Actors
Various civil society groups and organisations
are engaged in development cooperation at the
non-governmental level and implement projects
under their own responsibility.
Furthermore, the german government is engaged
in the international water sector dialogue and
development-relevant international water
research. this is intended to promote mutual
exchange and learning from experience.
5.3.2 BilateralDevelopmentCooperation
G
Non-governmental initiatives play a particularly
important role in promoting broad public awareness of the importance of water as a resource.
indeed, for many NgOs, the water sector has been
the key focus of their development policy work for
many years. the german government supports
this commitment in accordance with the criteria
governing cooperation with non-governmental
organisations.
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Water Sec tor Strategy
5.4
FieldsofAction
G
prehensive, iWrM-oriented analysis of the problems facing the partner country. achievable development policy impacts, the significance and comparative strengths and weaknesses of german development cooperation, possibly divergent views
on the part of the partner institutions, and the activities of other donors all play an important role
when devising strategies and projects.
1. The first key is to meet the water security
needs of the poor.
2. Decentralisation is key. The local level is
where national policy meets community
needs.
5.4.1 ReformingtheFrameworkConditionsin
theWaterSectorandWaterResources
Management
3. The key to better water outreach is new
partnerships.
4. The key to long-term harmony with nature
and neighbour is cooperative arrangements
at the water basin level, including across
waters that touch many shores.
5. The essential key is stronger, better performing governance arrangements.
Source: InternationalConferenceonFreshwater
001, Bonn, 2002.
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Furthermore, ministries
and subordinate authorities of relevance to the
water sector often require support, while regulatory and water catchment authorities must be
developed and consolidated. Mediation bodies,
water committees and water parliaments can
contribute to conflict prevention and resolution.
Other bases for sustainable water resources management include the collection and evaluation of
hydrological and socioeconomic data, and here
too, development cooperation can play a role.
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clear allocation of responsibilities among the
various institutions working in this sector and
by decentralisation of decision-making, powers
and finances in a manner appropriate to the
context and local capacities. effective regulation
of service delivery must be guaranteed, especially
in situations where natural monopolies exist. Professional associations and similar participatory
institutions can make valuable contributions to
the further development of the water management framework, e.g. in standard- and normsetting or in benchmarking processes.
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Water Sec tor Strategy
private utilities to operate economically. at the
same time, appropriate supervisory and control
mechanisms are required to guarantee adequate
transparency and accountability vis-à-vis users
and the state‘s supervisory bodies. establishing
better corporate governance structures is proving
to be a protracted process within a wider good
governance policy. thus the aim of cost recovery
in relation to water services can also only be
achieved progressively and over a number of
years in most developing countries.
Operator structures and qualifications have
emerged as a key issue. in combination with overall
improvements in corporate governance structures,
the provision of training and further education –
often in business management – for professionals
and managers is frequently needed. Private sector
involvement to support these processes may be
helpful if based on careful preparation, monitoring and adequate diversification of risks.
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5.4.2 WaterforPeople:WaterSupplyand
Sanitation
A
A
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Water Sec tor Strategy
I
R
T
livestock farming and forestry through better
water resources management. in this context,
improving rainwater harvesting takes priority
over the expansion of irrigated agriculture. in
irrigated agriculture, opportunities to improve
the efficiency of existing systems should be utilised
before new schemes are developed. Small and
medium-sized farms take priority over large-scale
irrigated agriculture when it comes to the allocation of funding. Safeguarding legal certainty in
relation to the cultivated areas is particularly
important when investing in irrigation systems.
Other key starting points for better water resources
management in arable and livestock farming and
forestry include access to resources and a balance
of uses/interests. Local self-help or communitybased programmes are promising approaches,
provided that appropriate framework conditions
are in place. traditional or socially adapted forms of
land-use and spatial planning offer an important
entry point for the development of rules, futureoriented scenarios and paradigms and in setting
priorities for policy-makers, research, advisory
services and funding agencies.
T
Particular account must be taken of the water
access needs of small family farms. Water law
issues should therefore be given appropriate consideration in the context of agricultural reforms
and land allocation/redistribution.
5.4.3 WaterforFood
5.4.4 WaterforEcosystems
“Water for food” comprises all types of land use
which consume water for food production and
income generation. On average, around two -thirds
of precipitation evaporates or is held in soil and
used in situ by plants (i.e. green water), while just
one-third flows into blue water (rivers, lakes and
groundwater). increasing productivity in the use of
both these water resources is therefore important.
Key activities in this context are promoting greater
efficiency, productivity and output in arable and
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6
the natural geographic region offers viable solutions, e.g. for water retention and filtration, within
the framework of a holistic water sector policy.
Water-related development cooperation can promote the protection and development of these
ecosystems through a variety of measures, e.g.
through regulation, the designation and establishment of protected areas, conditions of use,
mediation schemes and conflict resolution mechanisms, financing of incentive schemes and compensation measures, development of monitoring
procedures, combating erosion, afforestation,
and catchment management. Mechanisms for
transfers from the beneficiaries of water-related
environmental services (e.g. erosion protection)
to the providers (payment for environmental
services, PeS) can contribute to the sustainable
protection of ecosystems in some cases.
“The concept of payments for environmental services (PES) has received substantial interest in recent
years as a way of creating incentive measures for
managing natural resources, addressing livelihood
issues for the rural poor, and providing sustainable
financing for protected areas. The basic idea is
that those who “provide” environmental services
by conserving natural ecosystems should be compensated by beneficiaries of the service.”
Source: PaymentsforEnvironmentalServices,
World Wide Fund for Nature, gland (Switzerland),
2006.
For our partners, the right to water also creates an
obligation to conserve scarce water resources for
future generations. its implementation requires
close interaction with the local population, along
with information, awareness-raising and participation on the basis of ownership. as water resources
are in some cases exported by partner countries
to industrialised countries as virtual water, these
latter countries also – ideally – have an interest in
supporting sustainable water resources management in the relevant products‘ countries of origin.
Water Sec tor Strategy
5.4.5 WaterforOtherPurposes
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Development cooperation can also provide funding for systems that promote the environmentally
and socially compatible use of hydropower, taking account of the criteria for dams mentioned
below. in this context, priority is given to run-ofriver power stations and small-scale dams for the
local energy supply.
5.4.6 SpecialAreas:
FloodManagementandDams
Flood management is becoming increasingly
important in many countries. in the wider context of disaster reduction, the negative impacts
of flood events can be mitigated or averted by
means of afforestation and erosion protection
measures, improvements in rainwater drainage,
reactivation or creation of floodplains, and riparian and coastal protection. regulatory measures
in the field of spatial and regional planning,
along with technical flood protection measures,
make a contribution here. the establishment of
early warning systems – especially for poor population groups who are at greatest risk – makes an
important contribution to reducing vulnerability
and minimising flood damage.
Water Sec tor Strategy
The WCD report is a milestone in the evolution
of dams as a development option. The debate
about dams is a debate about the very meaning,
purpose and pathways for achieving development.
Through its Global Review of the performance of
dams, the Commission presented an integrated
assessment of when, how and why dams succeed
or fail in meeting development objectives. This
provides the rationale for a fundamental shift
in options assessment and in the planning and
project cycles for water and energy resources
development.
The Commission‘s framework for decision-making
was based on five core values-equity, sustainability, efficiency, participatory decision-making and
accountability. It proposed:
l
a rights-and-risks approach as a practical and
principled basis for identifying all legitimate
stakeholders in negotiating development
choices and agreements;
l
seven strategic priorities and corresponding
policy principles for water and energy resources development-gaining public acceptance, comprehensive options assessment,
addressing existing dams, sustaining rivers
and livelihoods, recognising entitlements
and sharing benefits, ensuring compliance,
and sharing rivers for peace, development
and security; and
l
criteria and guidelines for good practice
related to the strategic priorities, ranging
from life-cycle and environmental flow assessments to impoverishment risk analysis
and integrity pacts.
Source: DamsandDevelopment:ANewFrameworkforDecision-Making. overview, World commission on Dams, London, 2000.
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Published by the
Federal Ministry for Economic
Cooperation and Development
Bonn Office
Postfach 12 03 22
53045 Bonn
germany
Phone: + 49 (0) 228 99 535 - 0
Fax:
+ 49 (0) 228 99 535 - 35 00
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germany
Phone: + 49 (0) 30 18 535 - 0
Fax:
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www.bmz.de
Editor-in-chief
Final editing
Officials responsible
As at
Martin Kipping, Kirsten Doelle, anja Bentlage
Jutta Wagner
Dr. Manfred Konukiewitz
September 2 006