Africa: ministers agree key steps forward from Johannesburg

Updated - Wednesday 20 January 2010

African Ministers of Water will in the first quarter of 2010 meet with their colleague Ministers of Finance to review achievements of the 2nd Africa Water Week [1] and to mobilise resources for the second and third phase of implementation of the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Initiative (RWSSI) [2]. It will be jointly convened by the African Ministers’ Council on Water (AMCOW) and the African Development Bank (AfDB). The council also agreed to establish a short-term African Water Finance Task Force to make the case for increased finance and to monitor impacts of the current financial crisis on investments in water in Africa.

The seventh AMCOW meeting took place from 12-13 November 2009 in Johannesburg, South Africa. The session was preceded by the second Africa Water Week and the second Pan-African Implementation and Partnership Conference on Water. The council also asks attention and action to accelerate progress on implementing the 2008 eThekwini Declaration [3], especially through the development of national sanitation and hygiene policies. The South African minister for water and environmental affairs, Buyelwa Sonjica, who takes over as chair of AMCOW for the next two years, observed that cooperation on these matters will serve as a principal building block towards breaking the cycle of poverty in Africa. Other elements of concern raised by many at the 2nd Africa Water Week include: the lack of proper governance and corruption in some African countries and also the negative role sometimes played by big international mining companies and similar organisations that are polluting water resources.

[1] DWAF - 2nd Africa Water Week. Read also the Ministerial statement

[2] AfDB - Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Initiative

[3] The eThekwini Declaration and AfricaSan Action Plan

Related news: Africa: G8 water and sanitation initiative lacks concrete action, Source Weekly, 07 Aug 2009

Related web site: African Ministers' Council on Water (AMCOW)

Source: Nasseem Ackbarally, IPS, 13 Nov 2009 ; AMCOW Bulletin, IISD, 16 Nov 2009