Water Week Opens and Highlights Future Food and Urban Water Dilemmas;

Corruption in Water Sector Among Issues Addressed

For more information online, visit "News & Press" or "World Water Week" at www.siwi.org
Stockholm, August 16, 2004:

Leading experts today warned that if more is not done to use less water while concurrently producing more food, it will be impossible to halve the number of undernourished people in the world by 2015; that the water and sanitation plight of the world's burgeoning megacities require immediate action; and that corruption in the water sector is hurting the world's poor the most. The experts also say it is possible to fix the world's water and food woes.

Some 50+ international organisations and 1,200 leading experts from more than 100 countries are assembled in Stockholm to discuss and find solutions leading to future food and urban water security. In the developing world, 19 of the 23 cities expected to reach 10 million plus by 2015 will be located. A critical issue is access to safe water and sanitation, which 1.1 and 2.4 billion people lack, respectively.

"Of all the natural resources available to human beings, water is the most essential for virtually every human activity," says Mrs. Anna Kajumulo Tibaijuka, Executive Director of UN-Habitat. "Yet as the world's urban population reaches the 3 billion mark, it is distressing to note that the world's one billion urban poor, lack adequate access to water." UN-HABITAT is increasing its involvement in water issues for cities and megacities, where sustainability in the new millennium will be largely defined since they are centres of political power, public opinion and the engines of economic growth and technological innovation.

The world's urban population is expected to reach 5 billion by 2030, which is nearly two-thirds more than in 2000, and would mean that 60% of the world's population will live in urban areas. The challenge is to provide water to cities for industry, hospitals and other city components and to integrate the non-regulated and peri-urban parts, where inhabitants often connect illegally to water supply networks. People in cities - and rural areas - will also need food in healthy amounts and of adequate nutritional quality. With 840 million people undernourished across the world, the challenge is to find sustainable solutions towards feeding the world's population, a problem exacerbated by water scarcity.

"Water scarcity is a harsh reality that affects billions of people in many parts of the world," says Ms. Carin Jämtin, Swedish Minister for International Development. "Attitudes to water development and management must be addressed and changed if we are to reduce the number of malnourished people. We need practical solutions that benefit poor farmers as well as global solutions that address trade barriers and agricultural subsidies."

"Unlike the 'Green Revolution' of the 1960s, it is consumers - not producers - who are driving global food production," says Professor Jan Lundqvist of SIWI. "Food preferences are changing, with significant increases in the demand for meat and dairy products." Trends in "food basket" imbalances are seen in developing countries; measures are needed if millions of people should avoid serious health disorders.

"By 2020 world cereal demand will increase by 40%, but the world has a finite supply of water," says Mr. Frank Rijsberman, Director General of the Colombo-based International Water Management Institute (IWMI), which will launch its "Blue Paper" on August 19. "Today's production patterns are unsustainable, involve large scale groundwater overexploitation and widespread river depletion, and pose a major threat to biodiversity and aquatic ecosystems. There are increasing levels of environmental degradation and loss of production potential due to water pollution from agricultural chemicals, water logging and salinisation."

Future challenges include finding ways to produce more food using less water, and ensuring that new technologies and methods are made available to groups that range from farmers to policy makers. Also, identifying and influencing unsustainable food production and consumption patterns that require excessive water usage are keys. Such are the findings in "Water - More Nutrition Per Drop," a report initiated by the Swedish Government and produced by SIWI and IWMI.

Experts also say that corruption in the water sector is a serious problem that reduces economic growth, discourages investments, violates human rights and adversely affects the poor. The World Bank Institute estimates that more than USD 1 trillion - nearly the combined GDP of low income countries - is paid in bribes annually in rich and developing countries. Corruption is a symptom of poor governance and management in the private and public spheres. In developing countries the individual often cannot avoid it since the choice may be between access or no access to drinking water or irrigation water.

"Corruption is a global phenomenon that affects all societies and that threatens economic growth, political stability and sustainable development," says Ms. Martha Karua, Minister of Water Resources and Development, Kenya. "It affects poor people disproportionately and there are imminent risks of a deepening of poverty." Corruption undermines development efforts and makes it harder to reach agreed development targets, like those in the Millennium Development Goals.

"Water has become highly symbolic for civil society and the general public," says Dr. Hansjörg Elshorst, Chair, Transparency International, Germany, "yet detrimental special interests and misguided ideologies must be met with particular attention." These special interests and ideologies lead to "corruption, bribery and unfair anti-competitive actions which distort the markets and hamper economic, social and democratic development," says Mr. Axel Wenblad, Senior Vice President of Sustainability at Skanska.

Mr. Salah Darghouth, the World Bank Senior Water Advisor for Agriculture and Rural Development, says that World Bank studies have clearly shown that corruption is an impediment not only to development but also to poverty reduction as it weakens the institutional foundations on which economic growth and equitable allocation of resources depend. It is particularly harmful in irrigated agriculture which uses 70% of the water and produces 40% of the food in the world. The Bank has since 1996 launched a comprehensive anti-corruption program which in the irrigation sector, provides an expanded framework for enhancing farmer participation and asset management, rural decentralisation, procurement transparency, financial accountability, public disclosure, law enforcement, etc. This is however a complex and time-consuming process that requires courage and perseverance from political leaders, public servants, the media, academics, the private sector and in international organisations.

With global investments in the water sector already lower than the projected needs today, experts say anti-corruption policies and actions are needed so that the limited financing available doesn't go down the drain. A useful recent international response is the United Nations Convention against Corruption.

"Many governments are currently intensifying the battle against corruption and Kenya was leading the way in being one of the first nations to sign and ratify the Convention," said Karua. "The Government has been successful in passing Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Act and a Public Officers Ethics Act." Wenblad says that Skanska is "determined to play a leadership role to fight corruption in the construction sector by setting examples and participating in the international efforts through the business sector and in cooperation with the UN Global Compact," a private-sector oriented initiative.

Elshorst says that corruption may lead to small-scale solutions, which are closer to participation and supervision by stakeholders. "High public awareness to bigger schemes may enforce rigidly transparent and accountable processes and operations," he said. "The high relevance of water may make water schemes attractive for capable local managers and for supportive capacity development."

F or more information online, visit "News & Press" or "World Water Week" at   www.siwi.org SIWI - Independent and Leading-Edge Water Competence for Future-Oriented Action.

The Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) is a policy think tank that contributes to international efforts to find solutions to the world's escalating water crisis. SIWI advocates future-oriented, knowledge-integrated water views in decision making, nationally and internationally, that lead to sustainable use of the world's water resources and sustainable development of societies.

David Trouba
Communications Manager
Stockholm International Water Institute
Hantverkargatan 5
112 21 Stockholm
Sweden