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| Water Apartheid: The 2006 UN Development Report · | |
13 Nov 2006
The UNDP has published the Human Development Report 2006 to bring attention to the growing inequality of the world’s water and sanitation. The Report is entitled Beyond scarcity: Power, poverty and the global water crisis, looks at water and sanitation as an essential human rights, a vast economic cost, and a cause of many social problems. The G8 is expected to spearhead the urgent global action plan and resolve the issue the report called a "water apartheid." Access to clean water and the ability of societies to make water a productive resource is a focus that could profoundly influence human potential and the progress towards the Millennium Development Goals. Water is an essential human right but for the poor in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia it is a scarce resource. There is a cost of not putting in place the basic foundations of clean water, removing wastewater and providing sanitation It poses an immediate threat only to poor people, which explains why "the issue barely registers on the international agenda." This violates the basic principles of social justice, which are equal citizenship, the social minimum, equality of opportunity and fair distribution. The UN Secretary-General addressed this issue, stating "access to safe water is a fundamental human need and, therefore, a basic human right." Economic growth has not only been undermined, but there have been loses of about 5% of GDP for sub-Saharan Africa. This figure exceeds the total aid flows and debt relief to the region in 2003. The poor also have to pay the highest prices, "slum dwellers in places including Nairobi in Kenya already pay for private water supplies, delivered by truck. The amounts they pay are huge and this water is more expensive per liter than in London or New York." This contrast between the rich and the poor is the new apartheid -devastating the economies, as well as the societies in Africa and Asia. Daniel Graham |
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