"Water for Life": European Union launches global initiative to achieve World Summit goals

Johannesburg, 3 September 2002

In Johannesburg the European Union today formally launched a major global Water Initiative aimed at creating strategic partnerships to achieve the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) goals on clean water and sanitation. Within this new framework the EU has already reached "Water for Life" agreements with Africa and with eastern Europe, the Caucasus and central Asia.

Water is essential for human health, eradicating poverty, protecting the environment and economic development. Currently, over one billion people lack access to safe drinking water and over 2.4 billion people do not have adequate sanitation. More than 2.2 million people, mostly children, die each year from water-related diseases.

The EU Water Initiative has been developed in a multi-stakeholder process and is open to all partners and regions. It aims to improve the efficiency of existing financing mechanisms through better coordination. EU funding should attract additional financial resources. A priority is to increase the transfer of knowledge through institutional capacity building, targeted research and scientific cooperation.

Danish Prime Minister and EU President Anders Fogh Rasmussen said: "Water and sanitation are key to sustainable development, health, regional stability and economic stability. I believe we have the moral obligation to do the right thing: to provide clean drinking water and sanitation for every village, town and city on the planet. By doing so, every year we can save many millions of lives and prevent hundreds of millions of people from suffering from serious diseases."

European Commission President Romano Prodi said: "The global water crisis is a major threat for our planet and the future of our children. Together with our partners we are fully committed to achieving the WSSD's now-agreed targets to halve the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water and improved sanitation by 2015. The EU is already investing €1.4 billion a year in water-related development aid and scientific cooperation. We are ready to increase financial resources over the coming years, in response to the priorities developing countries set themselves."

The EU-Africa "Water for Life" agreement was signed yesterday in Johannesburg between Nigerian President Obasanjo and South African Water and Forestry Minister Ronny Kasrils, on behalf of Africa, and Danish Environment Minister Hans Christian Schmidt and President Prodi for the EU. The agreement with eastern Europe, the Caucasus and central Asia will be signed soon. Mediterranean and South American countries have signalled their intention to participate in the near future.

The global initiative promotes cooperation between countries sharing an international river basin in managing their water resources. Europe's experience shows that such cooperation stimulates economic development and regional integration as well as preventing conflict over water. Africa alone has 60 transboundary rivers.

Through the initiative the EU will help its partners to develop integrated water resources management plans by 2005 - another WSSD goal and achieve a sustainable balance between human water needs and those of the environment.

All partners are committed to ensuring that clean water and sanitation are given appropriate priority in future. The creation of the African Ministers Council of Water is a historical step in this respect.

Mr Fogh Rasmussen said: "The water crisis is a crisis of governance. This initiative promotes better water governance arrangements and transparency, building stronger partnerships between governments, civil society and the private sector. Effective public services are a basis for sustainable water governance."

Water is already a focal sector for the EU's assistance programmes in many African countries and an important component of EU cooperation with South Africa and in the SADC region.

President Prodi concluded: "Together with President Mbeki I am proud of what we have already achieved to bring water and sanitation to the people of South Africa. We are committed to giving our full political support to all those who are working hard every day to achieve water security, in quantity and quality, for everyone on Earth, today and for future generations."