Thirsty Africa must dig deeper for water
Pastor Dale Morgan
*Thirsty Africa must dig deeper for water*
21 Sep 2006 14:37:55 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Marie-Louise Gumuchian
NAIROBI, Sept 21 (Reuters) - New water sources are desperately needed in
Africa where some 300 million people lack access to safe drinking water,
the head of World Water Council said on Thursday.
Sub-Saharan Africa, with the exception of a few countries, is failing to
meet U.N. targets set at the start of the millennium to halve the number
of people without access to clean water or sanitation by 2015.
Out of an estimated population of more than 700 million, about 313
million Africans lack access to basic sanitation with drought, war,
pollution and fast urban growth hindering access.
"Africa represents about 24 percent of land surface yet has only 9
percent of water resources," said Loic Fauchon, head of the World Water
Council, an international organisation that groups governments, firms
and civil society groups.
"That means we have to better the capacity we have to find other water
sources maybe with new techniques. ... You have to help Africa draw
water deeper just like it is done for petrol and gas," he said without
giving details.
Speaking on the sidelines of an "Africities" summit in Nairobi where
mayors and planners are meeting to seek solutions to the problems caused
by swelling populations in African cities, Fauchon said the 2015 target
was too lofty.
"(You need) a lot more time. ... What was forecast in terms of clean
water and sanitation was too ambitious," he told Reuters.
"We do not even know at what pace we are going at."
He said Africa's obstacles to achieving the U.N. Millenium Development
Goal (MDG) for water and sanitation were financial, institutional and
the "know-how".
"The amounts dedicated to water and sanitation are ridiculously low," he
said, adding that only 5 percent of public aid and 6 percent of
investments were allocated to such projects. "This is charity but it is
also an economic error."
Thousands of delegates are meeting in Nairobi to look at ways of
empowering local governments in Africa to achieve the MDGs, which also
include halving extreme poverty by 2015.
African cities, which are creaking under rapid urbanisation, were urged
on Thursday to seek a slice of a growing number of environmental funds,
which could assist in financing cleaner energy supplies and better
transport systems.
The United Nations said in terms of sustainable transport projects, only
Tanzania's Dar es Salaam had taken advantage of such funding with a
rapid bus transit system.
"The streets and infrastructure of far too many of Africa's cities are
being overwhelmed by traffic, leading to rising levels of hazardous air
pollution and impacts on the economy," said Achim Steiner, U.N.
Environment Programme executive director.
"Africa should consider the mistakes made on continents like Europe
which indicate that trying to build your way out of the problem by
constructing more and more roads can be expensive and deliver only
short-term benefits."