Sanitation lagging behind water in development efforts, says the Netherlands

Sanitation is by far the biggest challenge facing the global water and sanitation sector in the coming period, Peter de Vries, a senior official from the Netherlands Directorate General for International Cooperation told the IRC Symposium Sanitation for the Urban Poor: Partnerships and Governance.

The symposium opened in Delft on 19 November 2008 with a range of speakers from the north and south to tackle the most difficult question of all – how to bring sanitation of the urban slums of the world's fastest growing cities and so help people living in the worst conditions to transform their lives.

Peter de Vries, DGIS official for environment and water, said that The Netherlands was committed to improving water and sanitation for 50 million people by 2015. Although the numbers looked good “in the case of drinking water we feel confident, but in the case of sanitation, when we see the results from partners and partner countries, we see that in the execution things are already starting too late. We are behind substantially.” The full text of the speech is available online.

40 years in the forefront of the battle for water and sanitation

Lodewijk de Waal Chairman of the Supervisory Board of IRC, said: There is a reason to celebrate – 40 years of IRC is quite a long time - 40 years in the forefront of the battle for water and sanitation. But, he said, there is still a lot to do. “Today is world toilet day with 2.6 million people without proper sanitation. You can ask us, what did you achieve in 40 years?”

“I hope that this symposium will be another milestone in the history of fighting for sanitation and assisting in bringing clean water and sanitation to most of the world's population. We all realise that this is pivotal to the economic development and health of ordinary people all over the world.“

Ben Lamoree, director of IRC, welcomed partners to the symposium. “I hope you enjoy these three days of learning and sharing together.”