Europa > European Union in the World > European Union @ United Nations > From Commitments to Actions - European Union Views on CSD13

Site map | A-Z Index | Internships/Jobs | Links | Contact us

English Español Français

 

 

From Commitments to Actions - European Union Views on CSD13

I. EU ambitions and goals

1. From commitments to implementation and delivery
2. The outcome of CSD13

II. Frameworks for the results of CSD 13

1. Principles and cross-cutting issues

1.1. Sustainable consumption and production
1.2. Education for SD
1.3. Gender equality

2. Interlinking the CSD 13 themes
3. Partnerships promoting sustainable development
4. Contributing to the Millennium Review Summit 2005

III. Key policies and actions for water, sanitation and human settlements

A. Costs of inaction v. action
B. Key actions to speed up the implementation

B.1. Water

B.1.1. Governance
B.1.2. Capacity building and transfer of technology
B.1.3. Finance

B.2. Sanitation

B.2.1. Governance
B.2.2. Capacity building
B.2.3. Finance

B.3. Human Settlements

B.3.1. Governance
B.3.2. Capacity building and transfer of technology
B.3.3. Finance

C. Monitoring and follow-up of the Outcome


1. From Commitments to implementation and delivery

The international community faces serious challenges in meeting the Millennium Development Goals and the commitments of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD). In many fields we will have to expedite implementation of our commitments. The European Union believes that CSD12 succeeded in clearly identifying the main constraints and obstacles to be overcome in the areas of water, sanitation and human settlements. The commitment to enhanced action to overcome these obstacles and constraints, based on broad dialogue and a participatory approach, will mark the success of CSD13.

The CSD11 decision on the follow-up to Johannesburg is clear on the aim of the CSD-cycle. "The review sessions and the policy sessions should mobilise further action by all implementation actors to overcome obstacles and constraints in the implementation of Agenda 21, the Programme for the Further Implementation of Agenda 21 and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation, and should address new challenges and opportunities and share lessons learned and best practices" (paragraph 2i, Report of the 11th session of the CSD). The EU thus sees the CSD13 as an opportunity to speed up the implementation of the JPoI and advance and strengthen the interdependent and mutually reinforcing pillars of sustainable development. This importance should be reflected in the participation at the high-level segment of CSD13, to which the EU would welcome the involvement, in addition to ministers of the environment, of ministers with other relevant portfolios, such as water, finance, housing, social affairs and development.

2. The outcome of CSD13

The EU attaches high value to a positive, substantial and concrete outcome of CSD13 in order to foster sustainable development as outlined in the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation (JPoI) and the reaffirmed commitment in the JPoI to achieving the internationally agreed development goals, including those contained in the UN Millennium Declaration and the outcome of the major UN conference and international agreements since 1992. The EU underlines that these targets on water, sanitation and human settlements are achievable in the time frame agreed even if more efforts and support are needed in those countries, which are not on track.

a. A positive outcome is first of all needed to expedite implementation for the CSD13 themes in order to accelerate progress towards achieving the international goals on water, sanitation and human settlements.
b. A positive outcome will demonstrate, also as a model for future CSD sessions, that the new CSD approach provides a useful model in implementing the global commitments.
c. Furthermore a positive outcome of CSD13 can give a substantive input to the Millennium Review Summit.

A well-designed process should enable a positive, balanced and dynamic outcome and encourage different actors to commit to undertake actions in a co-ordinated manner to expedite the implementation of the CSD13 themes in the area of governance, capacity building and technology transfer and finance which were identified at CSD12 as particular obstacles to implementation.

The main focus of the CSD13 process should be on the issues of "how to overcome the identified obstacles" and "how to expedite actions by all actors at all levels" based on the obstacles identified at CSD12 "and how to monitor progress". This clearly implies that the CSD has, starting from the JPoI and MDGs, to deliver on commitments already made and commit on policies and actions that have added value in strengthening the execution of the JPoI and MDGs, and to clarify the action owners and implementation leaders. These commitments can be divided into a) policy commitments and b) commitments for actions to speed up the implementation. The process should spur all actors to overcome obstacles identified, give clear commitments and deliver on those commitments already given.

The focus on implementation does not mean that there is no need for a negotiated outcome. Though implementation is done through concrete actions at local/national level, the EU envisages that there are more generic issues, policy responses and enabling frameworks that can guide the implementation and speed it up. Relevant components of this framework to the current CSD cycle are described in part II of this paper.

To give political guidance to the implementation these issues should be reflected in the negotiated outcome of CSD13. The focus of discussions should not primarily be on the negotiation of a draft text but on a clear prioritisation of key policy areas and actions to speed up the implementation of the JPoI, and the MDGs and identification of actors who are willing and committed to undertake these actions. The provisions for adequate monitoring of the follow-up of CSD13 should also be part of the negotiated outcome. These key policies and actions for water, sanitation and human settlements are described in part III of this paper. Elements contained in part II and III of this paper have been reviewed and commented by stakeholders during a one-day consultation on December 13th, 2004.


The EU favours a result of CSD 13 that is balanced and dynamic to foster sustainable development as outlined in the JPoI:

Balanced:

a. Sectoral balance and interlinkages: the three themes must be treated in a balanced way during CSD13 and in its outcome. Furthermore the interlinkages between the three issues and the crosscutting issues aspects must be particularly underlined as they contribute to the sustainability of the recommendations that will be proposed.
b. Ownership and actors: national policies have to be elaborated in a participatory process, ruled by a legislative and institutional framework and supported by budgetary commitments. All actors and stakeholders (public institutions, civil society, and private sector) bear a shared responsibility. They should be able to contribute to the debate but also to commit to an active role in the implementation of the actions and solutions. Actions should respond to needs at local, national, regional and global level. A strong involvement of stakeholders is an important condition for a successful outcome of CSD13.
c. Co-ordination: actions are needed to strengthen the synergy and added value through better co-ordination and co-operation, between UN-agencies and International Financial Institutes (IFI's), but also between bilateral donors, other stakeholders and beneficiaries. Co-ordination and harmonisation between donors could be strengthened through a lead donor approach where appropriate. This would consist of a donor or a coalition of donors taking the lead in a specific sector, region or country.
d. Actions for developed and developing countries: actions and commitments should be taken at all levels and by all countries and regions i.e. including the delivery of a National Sustainable Development Strategy by 2005.
e. Actions for rural and urban areas: urban and rural communities face different sets of challenges and opportunities. A successful outcome of CSD13 should recognise these disparities and ensure that policies and actions are tailored to the specific needs of these communities.

Dynamic:

a. Commitments on policies and actions to speed up the implementation of the JPoI: CSD13 should enhance delivery on commitments already made and on commitments on the improvement, replication or strengthening of already existing policies and actions, with clarification of action owners and implementation leaders.
b. Dynamic: the outcome of CSD13 should be useful to as many stakeholders as possible, and take into account new policies and actions as they appear.


1. Principles and cross cutting issues

The JPoI sets out clear goals to guide the achievement of sustainable development. Poverty eradication, changing unsustainable patterns of consumption and production and protecting the natural resource base of economic and social development are overarching objectives of, and essential requirements for, sustainable development. The JPoI clearly states that the Rio principles have to be taken into account in taking concrete actions and measures to enhance the international co-operation.

The EU emphasises the importance, for effective implementation, of cross-cutting issues set out in the Annex of CSD11 decision. These cross-cutting issues should be addressed in every CSD-implementation cycle and are dealt with in two ways in this paper. Governance, capacity building and transfer of technology as well as finance (all related to the Means of Implementation and the Institutional Framework for Sustainable Development) are addressed under each thematic issue in part III as key areas of activity to expedite implementation. This description is largely focused on aspects related to poverty eradication and protecting and managing natural resource base of economic and social development. Other important cross-cutting issues more explicitly related to the change needed for adopting sustainable lifestyle patterns in the long term, such as changing unsustainable consumption and production (II.1.1.), education for sustainable development (II.1.2.), gender equality (II.1.3.) also have to be promoted, in their specific relations to the three themes.

At the national level, National Sustainable Development Strategies (NSDS) and/or Poverty Reduction Strategies (that integrate economic, social and environmental aspects of sustainable development) must provide the basis for the implementation of the whole WSSD agenda in accordance with each country's national priorities. Achieving the targets requires country ownership. NSDS are good vehicles to better define and foster each country's ownership of such global targets. For this reason the EU stresses the need for NSDSs to have begun to be implemented in accordance with the timetable by 2005. CSD13 should underline the urgency of meeting this commitment. The EU finds the delivery on the NSDSs by developed countries important to reflect the "major role and responsibility" that developed countries have regarding the impact of their present development inside and outside their territory.

1.1. Sustainable Consumption and Production

Cross-sectoral action should, inter alia, reflect the commitment that developed countries have made to take the lead in changing unsustainable patterns of consumption and production. The EU welcomes global, regional and national initiatives that have been taken in response to the WSSD call for the development of a 10-year framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production.

At the global level, the Marrakech Process on Sustainable consumption and production (SCP) was launched in 2003 in order to accelerate the shift towards SCP. The next international expert meeting on SCP (Marrakech +2) will take place in Costa Rica in September 2005. Responding to this challenge at the European level, a Stakeholder Meeting on SCP was held in Ostend, Belgium, on November 2004, to identify priorities and key challenges as well as policy recommendations and proposals for concrete actions, both within Europe and for global cooperation.

In particular these included calls for more coherent strategic approaches at all levels to policy development and communications, for support frameworks to encourage effective governance structures, the deployment of analytical tools and a flexible mix of policy instruments; improved synergies and better integration between the wider range of polices impacting SCP, frameworks for consumers' and producers' decisions, frameworks for sustainable finance and business SCP strategies as well as supportive policies at the global level.

The EU regards SCP as a priority in the follow up of WSSD and an outcome of CSD 13 should be to further elaborate on the interlinkages between SCP and themes of this CSD cycle. Particularly the dominating role of agricultural food production in water consumption should be regarded.

1.2. Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)

The aim of ESD is to provide all groups of society (children, youngsters and adults) with a better understanding of the linkages between social, economic and environmental aspects of lifestyles and individual behaviour. This is a major task for both formal (schools and universities) and non-formal institutions (NGO's and social and cultural organisations). It is important that ESD is seen as a life long and life-wide process, which encompasses education and training from pre-school to adulthood. The influence of mass media, especially of advertising on people's life styles should also be recognized.

On Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), action at the CSD13 must be interlinked to, and develop synergies with, cross-sectoral efforts made in existing global or regional processes such as:

• The decade on Education for Sustainable Development (UNDESD)
  
• The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Strategy for Education for Sustainable Development.

1.3. Gender Equality

Barriers to achieving gender equality are high and will not be overcome simply by action focused on the themes of each cycle. As such, cross-sectoral action in support of women's full and equal access to economic opportunity, land credit, education and healthcare, as agreed in the JPoI, is required. Constitutional and legal barriers that bar women from access to credit, ownership or inheritance of land should thus be eliminated in order to help them to fulfil their basic needs such as housing and water. Governments should take all appropriate measures to ensure women's equal right to enjoy adequate living conditions, as provided for in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), particularly in relation to housing, sanitation, electricity, water supply, transport and communications.

Private sector involvement on all themes of the CSD should be consistent with and supportive of corporate responsibility and accountability principles, as addressed in the JPoI and should improve gender equality by adherence to International Labour Organisation (ILO) core labour standards.

2. Interlinking the CSD themes

A more effective outcome of CSD13 should be secured by considering the three themes in an integrated manner. To this end, implementation of the Rio principles and cross-sectoral action - as explained in section II.1.3. of this paper - are essential. Furthermore, specific interlinkages between the three themes offer opportunities for developing synergies and undertaking joint management.

An important link between water, sanitation and human settlements is the question of strengthening good local governance as a way to tackle all urban challenges in a coherent and balanced way; this includes achieving access to basic services for all, and especially the poor, whether it is with regards to water, sanitation or human settlements. Local authorities need to be assisted in achieving efficient but participatory decision making and management procedures which involve all stakeholders.

In addition to good governance and local leadership, integrated planning procedures are extremely important if success is to be achieved in service provision. Integrated planning includes, for example, the simultaneous planning of land use, transportation, and the provision of water, sanitation and housing.

3. Partnerships for promoting sustainable development

The involvement of all stakeholders - particularly the private sector and civil society - is key to the implementation of the JPoI and thus the success of CSD. Partnerships are one way to achieve and to ensure that governments and stakeholders work to meet common goals. To demonstrate their value, it is crucial that partnerships make a significant contribution to the implementation of the JPoI. In this regard, one should continue to promote transparency in accordance with the criteria and guidelines set-out in the decision of CSD11 including the Bali Guiding Principles.

Sharing information about lessons learned and best practices as well as demonstrating the achievements of partnerships at Partnership Fairs could contribute to this. To ensure that CSD remains focussed on implementation we need to engage and learn from more partnerships practitioners, particularly those with international development expertise. Partnerships registered with the UNDESA Secretariat should be encouraged to report regularly on their activities and governments should encourage partnerships in their country to register with CSD.

CSD can act as a model for other international processes - encouraging partnership working as a key means of implementation, and acting as a focal point for expertise in the UN. The 2nd International Forum on Partnerships for Sustainable Development, to be hosted by Morocco in March 2005 is a key event in strengthening the partnership approach to delivery of water and sanitation related commitments. The EU will engage constructively to ensure a successful Forum, the outcomes of which will inform the CSD.

4. Contributing to the Millennium Review Summit 2005

The CSD13 contribution to the Millennium Review Summit in September 2005 should be considered as an important opportunity:

a. To contribute to the implementation and follow-up to the JPoI and MDGs related to water, sanitation and human settlements.
b. To link sustainable development and the work of CSD13 to the international development agenda and stimulate the participation of the development co-operation ministers at the CSD.
c. For the CSD to re-affirm its role to reinforce and complement all the MDGs and specifically goal number seven on environmental sustainability.

CSD13 should contribute to the Millennium Review Summit by demonstrating that the new CSD approach actually results in additional efforts to expedite the implementation. In addition, CSD13 should make a specific, substantive contribution to the Millennium Review Summit, stressing the links between the JPoI and the MDGs, especially in the field of water, sanitation and human settlements, and reflecting the WSSD goals that have been formulated in conjunction with MDG 7. Water for instance has a key role to play in the achievement of most goals contained in the MDG's. The contribution should furthermore stress that many environmental goals underpin the other MDGs (e.g. in the field of energy) and should reflect on the implications of the growing recognition of environmental security as an issue.

The contribution of CSD 13 to the Millennium Review Summit should be discussed during CSD13 at ministerial level and should be retained in the conclusions of the Commission (no specific resolution on this topic).

In preparing for CSD13, the EU will of course take full account of the emerging findings of the Millennium Project, relevant reports by the Secretary General and the Report of the High-level Panel (HLP) on Threats, Challenges and Change. The HLP Report recognises that a lack of access to clean water and sanitation is a threat, and that environmental degradation and scarcity of natural resources can contribute to civil violence. In this regard, the Report recommends that the UN work with a broad range of bodies, i.e. national authorities, international financial institutions, civil society and private sector, to develop norms for governing the management of natural resources for countries emerging from or at risk of conflict; and that rules and norms be developed for the use and the management of transboundary resources - including water. CSD13 should take into account the outcomes of the HLP in particular with regards to the achievement of MDG 7.


A. The cost of inaction versus action

The economic impacts, now and in the long term, of lack of access to clean drinking water, inadequate sanitation and lack of (affordable) human settlements are significant, but are often not properly recognised or internalised. The costs and impacts of inaction are often high in terms of for example loss of lives, health loss, reduced productivity, additional clean up costs for water pollution. The costs of an adequate provision of these basics may be relatively low in comparison to what the poor already pay (directly or indirectly i.e. missed working hours or education opportunities) for water and housing. These economic impacts need to be quantified/highlighted and explicitly expressed in national development policies, in order to ensure sanitation a higher priority in national and local development planning.

B. Key actions to speed up the implementation

The main task of CSD13 is to commit on policies and actions that have added value to the strengthening of the execution of the JPoI and MDGs in the field of water, sanitation and human settlements and give clarity on the action owners and implementation leaders. The result should be more than a listing of "major" ongoing and planned actions. Clarity on the action owners and implementation leaders is fundamental to make the outcome of CSD13 a step forward in comparison to the actions already agreed in the JPoI. As mentioned in the Chair's summary report of CSD12 the main obstacles in the field of water, sanitation and human settlements are related to capacity building and transfer of technology, governance, and finance. The EU presents its view on the priority actions to be taken under these headings.

In relation to the obstacles in the field of finance the EU suggests that the cost of achieving the MDGs and implementing the JPoI agreements in the field of water, sanitation and human settlements should be analyzed on a country basis, thus giving a much more clear and manageable picture of the financial challenges countries face. Such analyses have been done by UNDP for some countries.

In answer to these challenges debt relief could be considered as one of the ways to free up financial resources for water, sanitation and human settlements. Also the use of ODA as leverage for private investment could be considered as well as different forms of risk mitigation (one such form being the use of ODA as a credit guarantee). A crucial part of answering the financial challenges in water, sanitation and human settlements is the realisation that long-term financing is absolutely essential. It can often take up to six or eight years to achieve sustainable results. Short-term project financing alone cannot do the job.

In the field of water and sanitation, the EU's main contribution to meeting the JPoI and MDGs is the EU Water Initiative (EUWI). It was launched at the WSSD in September 2002 as a catalyst and a foundation on which future action can be built to contribute to meeting the MDGs for drinking water and sanitation, within the context of an integrated approach to water resources management. The starting point of the EUWI was that the water-related MDGs and WSSD targets cannot be achieved with conventional means and/or fragmented efforts. Therefore, the principal aim of the EUWI is a new approach: mobilising all partners ranging from governments, International Financial Institutions (IFI's) and other donors, to civil society organisations, water users and water industry, both in Europe and in partner countries. In addition, the EUWI recognises that integrated water resources management is a knowledge intensive approach, thus knowledge management and capacity building at local level is a prerequisite for a sustainable approach towards the MDGs.

Two partnerships were launched as part of the EUWI during WSSD, on Africa and on Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia (EECCA). Subsequent initiatives on the Mediterranean and Latin America were launched in 2003.

In March 2004 the EU set up a special Water Facility to promote access to clean water and sanitation for people in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific. This Facility, which could in the first phase be worth up to €500 million, is a major breakthrough. Designed to have an important catalytic effect in generating additional funds for water and sanitation, it will be innovative and responsive to demands. A first call for proposals has been launched in the fall of 2004. As far as other regions are concerned, significant allocations are also made for future water-related activities. In the EECCA region for instance, €35m have been earmarked as part of the TACIS Regional Programme (2004-2006) to support the objectives of the EU Water Initiative.


B.1. WATER

Freshwater is a finite and precious resource essential for sustaining life, ecosystems, human health and development, for undertaking economically productive activity - agriculture, energy, transport, industry etc, and for the environment. Water is central to sustainable development and solving water problems means progress across all pillars of sustainable development: economic, social and environmental. Also, as a regular supply of clean drinking water is one of the most basic humanitarian needs, it becomes a daily factor for survival during a humanitarian crisis. Inadequate water supplies are both a cause and an effect of poverty.

Invariably those without adequate and affordable water supplies are the poorest in society. The effects of inadequate water supply - loss of lives, disease, time and energy expended in daily collection, gender imbalances - exacerbate the poverty trap. Therefore, no strategy for the reduction of poverty can ignore people's vital requirements for water. Water policy must be gender sensitive, linked to the boarder goals of poverty alleviation, equity and sustainable development addressing the interests of society as a whole. Adverse effects caused by unsustainable water management should be prevented, reduced and rehabilitated. The global water crisis has a substantial impact on economy and social well-being, threatens lives, sustainable development and even peace and security as recognised by the report of the High-level on Threats, Challenges and Change.

Water is an issue for developed as well as developing countries. Increasing water demand is a clear challenge often causing ground water levels to fall with negative impacts on, for instance, agricultural productivity and biodiversity. To overcome this, many developed countries will have to speed up their efforts to have IWRM and water efficiency plans prepared by 2005. Such plans will enable countries to help resolve competing sectoral demands for water in a sustainable way.

In addition, with the recent reform of EU water policy and the new Water Framework Directive the EU has one of the most advanced water policies in the world and can therefore provide significant experience and expertise.

The EU views the following actions as crucial to ensure "water for all":




1. Promote institutional and sector reform by:

a. Developing sector wide approaches and strategies (SWAPs)
b. Developing national action programmes and roadmaps as well as finance strategies for meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Johannesburg Plan of Implementation (JPoI) objectives.
c. Setting in place efficient regulatory environment including separation of policy formulation from service delivery.
d. Promoting stakeholder involvement, public participation and transparency in water management and include participatory approaches in national regulations.
e. Taking into account gender and HIV/Aids and other health concerns in water and sanitation policy formulation.
f. Setting in place sustainable cost recovery mechanisms for water infrastructure to ensure quality, reliability and expansion of services.
g. Encouraging and supporting small and low cost projects based on community involvement. Experience has shown that, especially in informal settlements that are not yet connected to the main pipe network or that are situated in rural areas, community led initiatives can provide a valuable service.
h. Setting in place mechanisms guaranteeing adequate water supply for the poor (e.g. targeted subsidies for the poor).

2. Take further steps to empower local authorities by:

a. Stimulating the decentralisation of decisions on water to the lowest appropriate level. Often local authorities are very well aware of the most appropriate solution for the local needs and are best capable of involving all stakeholders.
b. Stimulating fiscal decentralisation to give local authorities the financial means to back up their decisions.
c. Strengthening the institutions and knowledge base enabling sustainable and integrated management of water resources.

3. Move towards integrated water resources management (IWRM) at basin level and deliver on 2005 target on national IWRM plans and Water Efficiency Plans (WEP) by:

a. Reviewing legislation and institutional framework in support of IWRM - including ecosystem approach in recognition of water as natural resource base of development. Preparing, by 2005, IWRM national plans including, in the first step, a description of how countries envisage changing and improving water management in the IWRM context, towards achieving full scale sustainable water resource management and launch IWRM at basin level. Promoting transboundary basin management by supporting established processes and encouraging new dialogues.
b. Ensuring the articulation of sanitation issues in the preparation of IWRM plans.
c. Mobilising adequate financial and human resources for effective basin management.
d. Establishing/strengthening monitoring of water resources (quality and quantity) and water uses at national, river basin and transboundary levels.
e. Better management of water demand through sustainable consumption and production across all sectors, in particular agriculture, because this sector has a strong impact on the quality and quantity of water.
f. Developing legislation on land tenure, water and soil conservation measures, chemical runoff in agriculture, and industrial discharge to protect water quality.

4. Strengthen policy coherence at all levels by:

a. Establishing national co-ordination mechanisms to address water supply & sanitation and IWRM challenges that include key ministries involved in water management.
b. Further encouraging donor co-ordination and harmonisation through 'lead donor' approach, where appropriate. A country or a coalition of countries could take the lead in the water sector or in a particular country or region to co-ordinate and harmonise donor efforts.
c. Encouraging and supporting country-led coordination efforts
d. Better co-ordination of all international efforts i.a. UN action on water, through a clearer understanding of respective scopes of intervention of a strengthened UN-Water.




1. Increase water resources planning and management capacity with due attention to operational local level by:

a. Establishing a wide range of North-North, North-South and South-South exchanges (best practices, training, twinning, networks, benchmarking etc) for all key actors promoting IWRM based on an ecosystem approach.
b. Increasing capacity building for local level actors responsible for service delivery including for system maintenance.
c. Including water & sanitation and hygiene curriculum at all levels of the education system, to increase understanding of the benefits of clean water and good hygiene and the health risks of bad hygiene.
d. Launching regular awareness campaigns on water & sanitation and hygiene with particular emphasis on gender as girls and women are particularly vulnerable to diseases caused by poor hygiene.
e. Creating awareness of the huge consumption of water needed for food production and the indirect influence of consumption patterns on the use of water resources
f. Strengthening capacities in IWRM.
g. Strengthening disaster prevention and management capacities in water-related crisis and natural disasters.

2. Support to generation and transfer of knowledge and technology by:

a. Prioritising water in research and technology co-operation agreements.
b. Promoting research and technology efforts on water management.
c. Integrating funding for applied water research and technology in water programmes.
d. Tailoring technology to local needs (low cost/no cost technology) and contexts (e.g. adaptation to climate change - particular case of SIDS, eco-sanitation, water saving technologies and production methods) including at household level.
e. Training local policy makers and planners as regulators and as procurement entities and with regard to public-public and public-private partnerships.
f. Promote local private sector involvement in capacity building and technology transfer.
g. Providing capacity building for local actors, responsible for service delivery and maintenance.




Strengthen the case for water funding highlighting economic, social and health benefits and highlighting the cost of non-action.

1. Strengthen sector efficiency by:

a. As part of national action plans, develop Sector Investment Programmes and financing strategies for water with a view to meeting the MDGs and JPoI objectives
b. Reflecting Sector Investment Programmes in PRS's and national budgets.
c. Increasing efficiency of domestic funding and ODA for water.
d. Providing better targeted subsidies.

2. Stimulating domestic funding by:

a. Basing funding upon Sector Investment Programmes and financing strategies for water.
b. Ensuring 'sustainable cost recovery' through e.g. appropriate tariff structures.
c. Fostering the development of local private operators and entrepreneurs.
d. Setting up revolving funds/local capital markets/micro-credit mechanisms for domestic investments.

3. Increase and improve efficiency of donor funding by:

a. Implementing Monterrey consensus taking due account of HIPC issue.
b. Improving donor co-ordination e.g. through a lead country approach
c. Increasing catalytic/leverage effect of ODA through existing and innovative funding mechanisms.
d. Simplifying ODA allocation.
e. Focusing aid on poverty reduction and contribution to MDGs with particular emphasis on sub-Saharan Africa.

4. Encourage public and private investments and access to local capital markets by:

a. Developing enabling environment for investments - e.g. transparency, regulatory processes.
b. Developing and making accessible credit guarantees and risk mitigation mechanisms.
c. Developing mechanisms such as blended finance options, investment planning, transparent procurement processes and best practice networks, to encourage private sector engagement and investment.
d. Developing partnerships combining public and private funding with a view to achieving the MDGs and JPoI objectives.


B.2. SANITATION

Adequate sanitation is necessary to protect human health and the environment. Its provision is (or can be) closely linked to the provision of safe drinking water. Many of the policy options outlined in the previous paragraph are relevant for the provision of adequate sanitation as well.
In achieving the commitments on sanitation, three issues are important to highlight for the implementation:

1) Sanitation is closely related to human dignity and security, and understanding of the cultural context (underlying both demand and delivery) is essential for sanitation programmes to be sustainable.

2) Environmental sustainability is essential to sustained success in reaching the MDG target on sanitation. Healthy ecosystems are required to ensure the safe disposal of excreta - by providing the space, the disposal media, and the functions to recycle nutrients. In return, adequate sanitation can help maintain environmental health. Ecological sanitation methods can also be more affordable than regular methods, and thus can achieve sustainable development by also reducing poverty.

3) Lack of sanitation creates a public problem, but much of the responsibility for sustained sanitation is a private one. In other words, the impacts on health and environmental degradation caused by inadequate sanitation affect everyone, but the individual has a responsibility to maintain sanitary conditions. Although local authorities and other private and public bodies may be responsible for the provision of infrastructure and services, the proper use and maintenance of these facilities within the household is primarily a private responsibility. This creates a unique situation, and one that must be reflected in sanitation policies and action programmes. It differs from the provision of water, in that provision and maintenance of water supplies is more of a public responsibility, and this must be recognised by any joint water and sanitation policies or programmes. It also impacts on each of the areas - capacity building, governance and finance - requiring appropriate delivery mechanisms.

The following actions are key to speed up the implementation of the sanitation targets as set out in the JPoI.




1. Promote institutional and sectoral reform by:

a. Reflecting the importance of sanitation in national and local policies, particularly PRSs to adapt national development priorities to local demand.
b. Clarifying the roles and responsibilities of different departments and institutions in delivering sanitation solutions, such as planning and management, as well as awareness raising of the impact of sanitation on health, education and economic outcomes.
c. Ensuring policies on subsidies are transparent, equitable, and targeted through a better understanding by policy makers and implementing agencies of the effectiveness of subsidies in the different sectors (public buildings VS private households).
d. Consideration for the vulnerable (disabled, children, elderly) should be better integrated into planning and service provision.
e. Focusing actions primarily to secondary, peri-urban sanitation schemes and slum areas using innovative approaches that are sustainable, appropriate and affordable

2. Strengthen policy coherence at all levels by:

a. Raising the profile of sanitation goals within government departments, including ministries of Finance to ensure strong political leadership and government accountability.
b. Ensuring national budgets reflect the priority afforded to sanitation in national development strategies, and allocate funds to the various departments responsible for service delivery, operation, maintenance and awareness raising.
c. Identifying and clarifying the roles and responsibilities of, and establish clear framework for key actors outside of national government, taking into account the roles, responsibilities and experience of different actors, including households. The various actors need to be given clear mandates within the governance system, in order to maximise their effectiveness.




1. Increase planning and management capacity with due attention to operation at local level by:

a. Targeting capacity building by identifying a broader range of national and local actors (households, local communities, local contractors and service providers, private sector, civil society, particularly women's groups and government). In particular, the role of women in facilitating sanitation programmes needs to be better understood and women's groups may need particular strengthening in their respective roles.
b. Making hygiene education and promotion central to capacity building efforts. Capacity building activities need to be aligned with cultural contexts, to promote hygiene in a locally acceptable way. It is important to sequencing hygiene promotion activities to ensure they link to service delivery and are not relegated to a minor "add-on" component.

2. Support to generation and transfer of knowledge and technology by:

a. Focusing technical assistance and knowledge transfer on south-south as well as north-south learning by encouraging greater use of local Resource Centres, publicising and scaling successful examples of low-cost (eco-sanitation), appropriate and sustainable technologies.
b. Responding to local capacity building demands. Local communities should decide for themselves what types of sanitation facilities are most appropriate. Local ownership is a key pre-condition to acceptability and use of sanitation facilities.
c. Engaging with existing or planned international initiatives for building capacity in sustainable development (e.g. Bali Strategic Plan on Capacity Building and Technology transfer, Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC) initiatives.)

d. Building capacity in Integrated Planning, regional implementation and implementation, monitoring and evaluation. Sanitation should not be treated in isolation from other service delivery planning and implementation. The most efficient approach is to build capacity (through training, access to tools and guidelines, and sharing of best practices) in integrated planning.
e. Supporting national research and development of appropriate and sustainable sanitation approaches and technologies.




1. Strengthen sector efficiency by:

a. Aligning national financial planning with national poverty reduction plans in accordance with the priority allocated to water, sanitation and human settlements. Financing policies and programmes should take account of the need for affordable technologies and exploit the "sanitation ladder". Greater sustainability of sanitation systems can be achieved if individuals and communities are able to take a step-wise approach, starting off with basic, low cost sanitation, and moving on to higher-cost, more technological sanitation options as their incomes grow.
b. Giving particular attention to allocating budgets for sanitation in schools and clinics. Schools and clinics often have inadequate financing for sanitation, which creates additional health problems. This may be an area where interdepartmental co-operation is needed. Governments could consider subsidising sanitation in schools and clinics, both in terms of initial investment, and operation and maintenance costs.
c. Raising greater awareness to the costs of inaction. The total costs and benefits of sanitation should be calculated and included in sanitation action plans.

2. Stimulating domestic funding by:

a. Identifying and promoting innovative and sustainable means of financing to reduce dependence on international aid and public funds. Using wastewater for irrigation or household excreta for fertiliser or fuel should be considered. Cross-subsidies between water and sanitation systems and financing operations and maintenance of urban sewerage are priority areas.
b. Highlighting revenue generation and cost-saving aspects of solutions (not only investment costs), promoting the wider adoption of joint management (and cost recovery) of services with water to achieve greater cost recovery.

3. Increase and improve efficiency of donor funding by:
a. Exploring and promoting of business models for pro-poor service delivery.
b. Increasing the coordination and harmonisation of donor activities, using the EU Water Initiative country dialogue process as an example.

4. Encourage public and private investments and access to local capital markets by:

a. Improve access to credit and micro-finance through better planning and targeting of assistance towards the poor.


B.3. HUMAN SETTLEMENTS

The main challenge facing the world when it comes to human settlements is the management of rapid and uncontrolled urbanisation in order to achieve liveable, equitable and sustainable cities. In relation to this there is the challenge of MDG 7, target 11: i.e. to significantly improve the lives of 100 million slum dwellers by the year 2020. Addressing this challenge requires to strengthen and coordinate global, national, regional and local policies and to ensure that current efforts deliver more concrete results and impacts.

The link between urban and rural development also merits close attention, as rural development can often be a way of decreasing the stress of migration to large urban settlements. The management of rapid and uncontrolled urbanisation therefore requires attention to rural development and in particular to agriculture. There is also the challenge of striving for more sustainable consumption patterns in human settlements as human settlements account for a significant share of total energy consumption. These consumption patterns have to do, for example, with energy consumption related to buildings and combinations of modes of transport, and their impacts on health caused by environmental degradation and pollution.

Sustainable development of human settlements includes not only environmental but also social, health, economic, and political-institutional sustainability and it brings together urban and rural, encompassing the full range of human settlements from village to town to city to metropolis. A major concept is that of sustainable urbanisation which does not merely concern cities alone since it links cities and their environment, at local, regional, national and global levels and stresses the importance of good governance and an integrated multi-sectoral approach to planning and management. Sustainable urbanisation accepts the reality of urban growth and migration among human settlements and it concentrates on effective management of the process. Effective management of the process of urban growth also takes into account the equitable distribution of different income groups in human settlements, especially in large urban areas. A strong geographical concentration of urban poor often leads to marginalisation of this group. These geographical concentration processes often lead to self-strengthening vicious circles which can cause serious social and economic problems for cities unless dealt with at an early stage.

The following actions are key to speed up the implementation of the human settlements targets as set out in the JPoI.




1. Promote institutional and sectoral reform by:

a. Improving the capacity of both national and local governments to integrate cost effective urban planning and management activities by implementing integrated research, pilot projects, transfer and training programmes and adequate monitoring systems, through south-south and north-south co-operation at the local level.

b. Exploring the opportunities for improving access to basic services, i.a., through the development of principles and through guidance for the interaction of stakeholders.

c. Encouraging inclusion of human settlements issues and participatory processes in NSDSs and PRS's and strengthen nationally and locally driven participatory processes.

d. Prioritising the development and implementation of sound policies on secure tenure, and stable and transparent land markets. Pro-poor land management is needed to make the poor visible as legal citizens, to include their settlements in city planning and to develop standards and procedures for securing tenure and affordable housing and services for the poor. Specific economic measures are fundamental for secure tenure and legal rules and principles need to be established to protect slum dwellers from eviction and to grant the right of inheritance to women. The EU supports UN-HABITAT Global Campaign for Secure Tenure as a shelter strategy that promotes the rights and interests of the poor, in particular the rights and the role of women, as essential to successful shelter policy.

2. Take further steps to empower local authorities by:

a. Promoting the role of local authorities as co-ordination bodies responsible locally for the planning and management of human settlements. Reinforcing the role of local authorities implies both the decentralisation of responsibilities, and the corresponding transfer of resources.

b. Creating new or strengthen existing partnerships to emphasize the role, priorities and capacities of civil society and local communities, encourage slum dwellers to have their own organisations to address their problems, and promote the implementation of Local Agenda 21 processes.

3. Strengthen policy coherence by:

a. Promoting an effective interaction of public and private sector actors and community based organizations active in meeting the needs of slum dwellers.




1. Increase planning and management capacity with due attention to operational local level by:

a. Promoting sustainable consumption patterns in water and sanitation systems, human settlements and transportation, and support technology and knowledge transfer in this area, for example, through the formation of partnerships. Unless action is taken, rapid and uncontrolled urbanisation will increase unsustainable consumption patterns. Energy used in human settlements and transport is one of the fastest growing forms of consumption. Through the implementation of appropriate city structures and the development of non-motorised and public transport, one can slow down the increase in energy consumption, decrease negative impacts on health, and improve the functioning of human settlements. Public-private partnerships represent a major tool for meeting the needs of the urban and rural poor for housing, education, construction, transportation and services.

b. Supporting programmes focusing on capacity building in decentralisation through knowledge and technology transfer, and by promoting mechanisms for improving the access of local government to finance. The promotion of balanced centralisation and decentralisation has to be supported by the application of the subsidiary principle, referred to in UN Habitat's input to the CSD-process, and the sufficient decentralisation of finance.

c. Promoting pro-poor policies that increase social inclusion, especially of slum dwellers. Efficient social inclusion policies include both actions that promote individuals opportunities to develop housing conditions, and also actions that develop water and sanitation systems and require inputs from the public sector.

d. Promoting the development and implementation of regional policies to manage the growth and distribution of human settlements in countries through linkages to PRSP's and NSDS's.

e. Promoting capacity building in financial management and the management of funds at the level of local authorities in order to strengthen economic opportunities at the local level.

2. Support to generation and transfer of knowledge and technology by:

a. Promoting the use of peer education as a successful form of capacity building to enable young people, women and local communities and authorities to share lessons learned.

b. Training and guidelines on participation using relevant existing knowledge such as that provided by the UN Habitat Campaign on Urban Governance. This action is needed to support local governments and slum dwellers in developing their capacity in participatory processes.

c. Promoting capacity building of Small and Medium Size Enterprises (SME's) to absorb new technologies, increasing SME efficiency and productivity, as well as improving employment opportunities and labour conditions at the local and national level.

d. Increasing the availability of existing disaggregated data on human settlements. This action aims at strengthening the monitoring of issues related to human settlements.




1. Strengthen sector efficiency by:

a. Creating a gender balanced enabling legislative framework in order to support economic opportunities in the informal sector to improve employment and other economic opportunities at the local level.

2. Stimulating domestic funding by :

a. Providing more resources to human settlements development projects to act as a lever for attracting local and national investment from a variety of sources, such as the municipal budget, the domestic private sector, and slum dwellers themselves. The private sector should be able to be more involved as a risk-sharing partner rather than as a contractor for the government.
b. Promoting local approaches to financing human settlements to reproduce precedence successful experiences of community-based organisations in the development of housing and services at the community level.

3. Increase and improve efficiency of donor funding by:

a. Promoting the use of a larger share of increased official development aid (ODA) in human settlements-related programmes and projects on order to achieve target 11 of MDG 7.

4. Encourage public and private investments and access to local capital by:

a. Supporting the dissemination of the micro-finance guidelines of UN Habitat and the World Bank. Promote opportunities for financing of the informal sector through micro-financing, such as credit and savings-related methods.

***

C. Monitoring and follow up of the outcome

A proper monitoring and follow up mechanism should ensure implementation of the CSD13 themes of water, sanitation and human settlements between CSD13 and the overall review in 2016. For that reason it is crucial that monitoring enables the keeping track of progress in meeting the targets and the delivery on commitments.

The monitoring and follow-up modalities should be based, as far as possible, on existing processes and initiatives.

The CSD secretariat will have to continue its role in providing a comprehensive overview of implementation of all the CSD13 issues and their interlinkages as part of the Secretary General's report to the review year of respective implementation cycles and could profit from the monitoring of the MDGs.

At a global level, the following mechanisms could provide a basis for monitoring and follow-up of water, sanitation and human settlements: the Istanbul Conference on Human Settlements by UN/Habitat, UN-Water, the UNICEF/WHO Joint Monitoring program, the UN World Water Assessment program (WWAP), the Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation, the International Decade for water and sanitation, the forthcoming World Water Forum (Mexico in 2006) and the World Urban Forum (Canada 2006), the Global Water Partnership, the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSC). The World Water Development Report (WWDR) is developed in direct response to the call at CSD 6 for the UN-system to take the lead in regular monitoring of the state of the world's water and its development and should be specifically considered in the follow-up process. Also, a better understanding of the respective scopes of intervention of each of these water fora is needed at the occasion of CSD 13.

At the national and regional levels, countries should be supported to develop their monitoring capacity and reporting processes in order to improve reliable data collection.

| Top |

Advanced search

• EU Presidency Statement - Ministerial discussion with UN agencies and International Financial Institutions at CSD-13 (21/4/2005)
• EU Presidency Statement - Ministerial discussion with Major Groups at CSD-13 (21/4/2005)
• Intervention by Commissioner Dimas at CSD-13 High Level Panel discussion - Meeting MDGs (20/4/2005)
• Intervention by Commissioner Dimas at CSD-13 High Level Panel discussion - Impact of natural disasters  (20/4/2005)
• EU Presidency Statement - Intergovernmental Preparatory Meeting of the13th Session of the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD-13) (28/2/2005)
• The EU and Financing for Development (16/9/2002)