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Tuesday, March 22, 2011

World Water Day: Commission launches €40 million to improve access to water in Africa, Caribbean and Pacific

The theme of World Water Day, which is taking place this March 22 is "Water for Cities – Responding to the Urban Challenge". In this context, the European Development Commissioner, Andris Piebalgs announced the strengthening of the "ACP-EU Water Facility", thanks to a new financial mechanism with 40 million euro.EU Commissioner for Development Andris Piebalgs said that for billions of people worldwide, access to safe drinking water and improved sanitation was still a matter of life and death. He added that the "urban theme" of World Water Day 2011 was particularly accurate, because rapid population growth in cities in the developing world is putting additional pressure on infrastructure and services. In the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the international community pledged to provide safe drinking water and sanitation for billions more. Since then, we have made substantial headway. But there must be absolutely no let-up in our efforts to meet these goals. That is why the EU presented the MDG Initiative last year. It will provide an extra €1 billion for African, Caribbean and Pacific countries and has a focus on those MDGs that are most off-track, including water and sanitation.

The management of water resources affects all sectors that are important for inclusive growth and sustainable development, such as energy generation, agriculture, food security, and the environment. We will therefore prioritise sustainable water management in our future development policy".

The EU Water Initiative and "ACP-EU Water Facility"

To respond to the need for increased focus on water in development policies, the EU launched the EU Water Initiative (EUWI) in 2002. It is a political initiative that seeks to assist partner countries in the development and implementation of policies and strategies for the water and sanitation sector. In that framework, the EU and the ACP countries launched the ACP-EU Water Facility in 2004 with €700 million devoted to projects for the period 2005-2013.

European Commission funding and results

Since 2004, more than 32 million people have gained access to improved water supply and 9.5 million to sanitation facilities thanks to support from the European Commission. Since 2002, EU support to water–related issues amounts to €1.2 billion. The Neighbourhood Investment Facility and the Facility for Euro-Mediterranean Investment and Partnership also contribute to fund water-related programmes.

Background

According to the MDGs, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water should be halved by 2015, starting from a reference point of 23% in 1990. The world is currently on track to achieve and even exceed this, having reached 13% in 2008. But nearly 900 million people still do not have access to safe drinking water. 330 million of these live in sub-Saharan Africa. The MDGs also state that the number of people without access to sanitation should be halved. The world is off track on this.

Source  Press Room - European Parliament

More information  Press Room - European Parliament

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