Source - International News



Monitoring: UK and Netherlands allocate €6 million, UN-Water presents pilot report

02 Oct 08

A new joint initiative from the UK and the Netherlands will allocate €6 million over five years to an annual report and high level meeting focused on reviewing progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on water and sanitation. At the same time, the UN-Water launched the Global Annual Assessment of Sanitation and Drinking-Water (GLAAS).

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G8: disappointment at lack of “a breakthrough in the global sanitation and water crisis”

10 Sep 08

Hopes of a "breakthrough in the global sanitation and water crisis" at the 2008 Hokkaido Toyako G8 summit were "dashed as the G8 delivered a communiqué largely devoid of concrete actions to help the 2.6 billion people lacking access to a safe toilet, and the 1.1 billion people lacking access to clean water", according to End Water Poverty coalition.

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Sanitation: slow progress, action crucial, say 2400 experts in Stockholm

05 Sep 08

Slow progress on sanitation will cause the world to badly fail the Millennium Development Goals while weak policy, poor management, increasing waste and exploding water demands are pushing the planet towards the tipping point of global water crisis. Action is crucial, stakes are high and time is running out were key messages coming from the 2008 World Water Week in Stockholm.

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Corruption in the water sector: overlooked threat for development and sustainability

23 Jul 08

New report shows how corruption undermines the global response to the water crisis, climate change and food shortages.

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Monitoring: staggering number of people without improved sanitation facilities, says new report

18 Jul 08

Every day, over 2.5 billion people suffer from a lack of access to improved sanitation and nearly 1.2 billion practise open defecation, a staggering number, according to a new report by the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation. Worldwide, the number of people without access has fallen below one billion for the first time since data were first compiled in 1990.

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Cost-benefit analysis: comparing network infrastructure services with low-cost alternatives

04 Jun 08

Research carried out for the 2008 Copenhagen Consensus finds that three alternatives to expensive network infrastructure systems - boreholes with hand pumps, bio-sand filters and community-led total sanitation (CLTS) – delivered benefits that were 2-3 times higher than the investments.

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CSD-16: review of progress on water and sanitation

03 Jun 08

One of the items on the agenda of the 16th session of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD-16), was a review of progress in implementing CSD-13 decisions on water and sanitation. In his address to the session, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, said it was “clear that the rate of progress is still too slow to meet the MDG-7 environmental sustainability targets".

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Urban water: world mayors propose measures to adapt to climate change

24 Apr 08

In an effort to be better prepared for future droughts as well as the catastrophic dry spells expected to accompany climate change, Turkey’s leaders and the World Water Council (WWC), are proposing a global declaration on urban water management strategies.

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Right to water: UN Human Rights Council adopts watered-down resolution

24 Apr 08

“Once again, the UN Human Rights Council missed a critical opportunity to recognize the human right to water”, said Wenonah Hauter, Executive Director of the US-based Food & Water Watch, in reaction to the “watered-down” resolution adopted by the Council on 28 March 2008. The Council decided to appoint an Independent Expert who would be given 3 years to prepare a report on the "issue of human rights obligations related to access to safe drinking water and sanitation".

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The Lancet: "Sanitation has languished at the bottom of the international agenda for far too long"

11 Apr 08

Sanitation has languished at the bottom of the international agenda for far too long and the global health community has been complicit in letting it stay there. This unacceptable situation must change now, says The Lancet.

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