House of Commons - International Development

Select Committee on International Development Sixth Report

5 WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT AND CLIMATE CHANGE

113. We consider that the need for Water Resources Management (WRM) goes hand-in-hand with expanding access to sanitation and water, simply because improved provision will lead to increased usage and demand for water.[205] WRM refers to how the quality and quantity of water resources are managed. A useful definition of WRM is, "Decisions about who needs water, how to get water to those who need it, and what happens to water once it has been used".[206] In Africa, only 3% of renewable water resources are "managed"—for instance, stored, treated or used as a source of renewable energy—compared to 80% in the USA and 40% in Asia.[207]

114. Managing water resources efficiently will become increasingly urgent as urbanisation, population expansion, economic growth and climate change constrain the availability of water. That the world's changing climate will constrain water availability is already evident in Africa, where water availability substantially decreased between 1975 and 1995.[208] The recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report projects that, by 2020, between 75 and 250 million people in Africa will be exposed to an increase of water stress due to climate change. In Asia, it predicts that available fresh water will decrease due to climate change which, coupled with increased demand and population growth, could mean more than a billion people will be adversely affected by the 2050s.[209] The impact of climate change on water availability will not only obstruct people's rights to water but could impede economic growth and concomitant poverty reduction: in Ethiopia, a single drought episode can cut growth potential by 10% over an extended period, as the country's economic growth and development are closely tied to rainfall.[210]

115. It is clear to us that, despite its inseparable relationship with increased water supply, WRM has had insufficient attention from donors—including DFID.[211] Mark Lowcock, DFID's Director General for Policy and International, called WRM "a bit of a Cinderella issue" and admitted that "probably we need to increase what we do".[212] Dr David Tickner from WWF-UK told us that even compared to sanitation, WRM gets "scant attention" and that there are few leaders within the donor community in this area.[213] The global target to have Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) Plans and Water Efficiency Plans in place by 2005 was reached by only one-fifth of all countries.[214] In this chapter we explore why donors have neglected WRM and what can be done to bring about far better co-operation and a sense of urgency about the issue.

Integrated Water Resources Management: barriers to progress

116. Recognition of the importance of WRM was enshrined in a new international target set at the first Earth Summit in 1992 and reconfirmed at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002. The target sought to ensure that all countries had national Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) Plans and Water Efficiency Plans in place by 2005. The basis of IWRM is that the different uses of water are interdependent and that management of water should be co-ordinated across different sectors, from agriculture to health.[215] It is worth noting that the very use of the WRM and IWRM acronyms probably acts as a barrier to implementation: both clearly are "good things" but communicating why and how is difficult to pin down and using two pieces of terminology that refer essentially to the same principle can only confuse matters further.[216]

117. A number of barriers have stood in the way of progress on the WRM target. The first is poor co-ordination within national governments. Achieving the transformation from unmanaged to sustainably and equitably managed water resources requires a number of stages, from producing a new water policy, to the reform of water law, to implementing practical solutions such as increasing water storage in reservoirs. Responsibility for the process is likely to be spread across a number of ministries, for instance, water, finance, agriculture and forestry. This institutional fragmentation complicates the process of assessing the different water requirements for each sector and ministry—yet determining these requirements is a crucial component of allocating resources equitably.[217] Water resources management needs more emphasis in Poverty Reduction Strategies so that co-ordinated national planning is prioritised.[218] The BOND UK Water Network of NGOs called for DFID to reaffirm the WRM target and set a series of actions, including the establishment by governments of "appropriate institutional processes […] to ensure cross-sectoral and stakeholder co-ordination." BOND also suggests that monitoring and reporting mechanisms for the achievement of the target are set up.[219] We recommend that DFID encourage the global community to reaffirm the missed 2005 target for all countries to have Integrated Water Resources Management Plans and Water Efficiency Plans in place. As part of this reaffirmation, national-level co-ordination mechanisms, with appropriate monitoring and reporting components, should be established so that countries can put robust water resources management strategies in place within a set time period.

118. A second barrier has been insufficient engagement and poor co-ordination on WRM by donors. The wide-ranging and long-term nature of implementing WRM and the institutional fragmentation make the process difficult for one donor to take on single-handedly.[220] Yet attempts at co-ordination have been poor. The Global Water Partnership (GWP), made up of over 1000 organisations, is the only international grouping focused solely on WRM. It was set up by the World Bank, United Nations Development Programme and SIDA, the Swedish government development agency, in 1996 partly as a response to poor national-level co-ordination. The Partnership aims to provide a neutral platform to bring together people from water use sectors.[221] DFID is the largest donor to GWP, providing £1.8 million per year.[222]

119. Dr David Tickner from WWF-UK said that DFID's support to the GWP has been useful and that its toolkits have become "the closest thing that there is to some sort of global standard" for WRM.[223] But the GWP's impact has been patchy, at best, and as John Chilton from the British Geological Survey pointed out, there is no evidence as to how the information disseminated by the Partnership has been used.[224] The GWP was criticised at the recent World Water Summit in Mexico by the World Bank and others for being ineffective to date.[225] Whilst the GWP has gone some way to promoting high level multi-stakeholder dialogue, it does not have the resources to pull together the necessary degree of concerted donor action for water resources management: its annual core funding is relatively small, given the scale of the problem, at around $10 million plus further small amounts raised regionally.[226] DFID and other donors are commissioning an independent evaluation of GWP's operations.[227] As the only international partnership on Water Resources Management (WRM), the Global Water Partnership needs to do more than promote dialogue: it must develop clear strategies for donor co-ordination and support countries' development and implementation of WRM plans. DFID should work with other donors to ensure that this change takes place. If the forthcoming evaluation suggests the Partnership cannot fulfil this role, a new and far better resourced global mechanism needs to be established by donors as a matter of urgency.

120. Multilateral donor efforts on WRM are poor, but bilateral approaches are also lacking. CIDA and DANIDA, the Canadian and Danish government development agencies, were identified as the only agencies that stand out historically for being proactive in supporting initiatives on Integrated Water Resources Management.[228] DFID told us that, "Something like 20% of our programmes are on water resources management-type issues."[229] DFID has worked successfully with some countries on water management, including China where it supported the 2002 Water Law promoting more sustainable use of water.[230] DFID has also supported work on trans-boundary river management (see paragraphs 136-137). However, WRM can only be said to constitute 20% of DFID programmes if other, linked, areas of work are aggregated with specific WRM interventions: DFID's written evidence states that water sector governance reform and institutional strengthening contribute to its work on WRM.[231] The British Geological Survey said that DFID has defended its "own very limited activity in this area" by pointing to their support for the Global Water Partnership.[232] However, with its funding at just £1.8 million per year, DFID cannot pretend this modest support to the GWP is a sufficient contribution to work on WRM.

121. During our visit, we saw a country where the management of water resources is of critical importance. 80% of Ethiopia's water resources are located in the west of the country but only 20% of the population live in this region. The frequency of drought and flooding make water resources management even more important for Ethiopia. Yet DFID admitted that its involvement in WRM in Ethiopia has so far been limited: support to the transboundary Nile Basin Initiative has been the only major area of activity. Ethiopia falls into the 80% of countries that did not have a WRM plan in place for 2005, and has taken only initial steps in this process.[233] Ethiopia and countries in a similar position need bilateral donors to support them in developing WRM and water efficiency plans, embedding them in Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers and setting up monitoring mechanisms.

122. A new DFID-funded research consortium launched in 2006 and focused on Ethiopia and the Nile Basin will help widen DFID's support to water resource management in the region. RiPPLE (Research-inspired Policy and Practice Learning in Ethiopia and the Nile Region) is a £3.82 million five-year research project aimed at advancing evidence-based learning and strengthening capacity on water supply and sanitation. The Programme is one component of the new £18 million DFID Water Research Programme. The consortium is led by the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) and core partners are WaterAid Ethiopia, the International Water Research Centre (IRC-Netherlands) and the University of Addis Ababa.[234] DFID's ability to use and disseminate the lessons learned under RiPPLE will be crucial to maximising its investment in the research consortium.

123. Given the increasing constraints on water resources, it is imperative that DFID substantially scales up its limited work on Water Resources Management (WRM). DFID's funding of the Research-inspired Policy and Practice Learning in Ethiopia and the Nile Region programme has been a positive step. The Department now needs to ensure that knowledge developed under the programme is used and communicated widely. In conjunction with other bilateral donors under a reformed global partnership for WRM, clear processes of support must be established to help countries develop Water Resources Management Plans and Water Efficiency Plans, which should be embedded within Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers and include monitoring mechanisms.

124. A further barrier to progress on WRM is the dwindling professional capacity in the water sectors of many developing countries, as we have discussed in Chapter 4.[235] Insufficient capacity to collect and analyse data is of particular concern for WRM. The submission by the British Geological Survey (BGS) states: "The availability of basic data on water from hydrological [...] networks has declined dramatically [...] This often makes the marshalling of an effective argument for improved management of water resources very difficult".[236] As John Chilton from the BGS told us, accurate data is needed not just to evaluate progress but to "tell stakeholders the impacts of doing nothing."[237] He was concerned that moves by donors away from project-based approaches towards budget support have reduced the collaborative day-to-day working between donors and professionals in developing countries that can assist capacity building in techniques like data collection.[238]

125. James Dent, an independent consultant, highlighted that hydrological observation networks, meteorological technologies and computer modelling—all crucial for information provision on rainfall, groundwater levels and weather patterns—are subject to capacity and quality deficits in most developing countries.[239] Dr Declan Conway from the University of East Anglia pointed out the importance of data collection for measuring climatic change and said that volume of data was less important than obtaining the right types of data: identifying "a certain minimum baseline of information" that will assist both WRM and scientific research would be sensible.[240] Dr. Conway pointed out that satellite technology can be used to deliver certain data sets, particularly quantitative measurements such as lake level changes, but that these need to complement in situ observations rather than replace them.[241] As part of an increasing package of support to Water Resources Management (WRM), donors should ensure that professional capacity to measure availability of water and collect data on hydrological and meteorological patterns is adequately supported. DFID should look for opportunities with other donors to support research into identifying a minimum set of data that could act as a series of basic indicators on WRM and climate change.

Major infrastructure projects

126. Major infrastructure projects—including dams, hydropower projects, desalination plants and irrigation schemes—are a vital part of managing water efficiently, whether they assist storage, are a source of renewable power or support agricultural output.[242] Climate change will increase the need for water storage and the need to use renewable energies such as hydropower, so the number of large infrastructure projects is likely to increase.[243] Increasing water storage in Africa is a major priority, as Sering Jallow from the African Development Bank highlighted to us: storage in the UK is likely to be over 3,000 cubic metres per person; in the USA it is about 6,000; in Australia it is about 5,000; in Africa it is less than 50 (see Graph 1).[244]

127. The planning of infrastructure projects, which are often large in scale, needs to take account of potential impact—whether social or environmental—on downstream users. WWF-UK's submission notes that, "Dams and hydropower development afford well recorded opportunities for mismanagement and corruption, sometimes with very significant adverse social consequences."[245] The World Commission on Dams, a global, multi-stakeholder process established in 1998, has produced a set of Guidelines for dam-building. Several organisations, including HSBC, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, have implemented projects influenced by the guidelines.[246] WWF-UK felt that DFID, in conjunction with other UK Government departments such as the Department of Trade and Industry and the Export Credits Guarantee Department, could do more to encourage UK stakeholders, including industry, to use the Guidelines—perhaps by organising a multi-stakeholder forum on the Guidelines.[247] We recommend that DFID work with other UK government departments, including the Department of Trade and Industry and the Export Credits Guarantee Department, to increase UK stakeholders' adherence to the World Commission on Dams' Guidelines for Dam-building. Organising a multi-stakeholder forum on the Guidelines would help promote the participation of industry and other relevant actors.

Climate change and water resources management

128. Helping developing countries to develop robust water management strategies is one of the best ways to help them cope with, and adapt to, climate change.[248] It is often assumed that water scarcity is outside human control. Currently, this is not the case: water scarcity is almost always caused by inequalities in access and bad governance.[249] According to the United Nations Environment Programme, 14 countries in Africa are currently subject to "water stress or water scarcity" and a further 11 countries will join this category in the next 25 years.[250]

129. Estimating the impact of climate change on developing countries—and especially on water availability—is only belatedly receiving attention and hence predictions of specific impacts are uncertain. This uncertainty is compounded by major gaps in hydrometric data collection, as discussed in the previous sub-section and in Chapter 4.[251] Finding new sources of water is becoming increasingly important: improved understanding of techniques for locating and developing groundwater is needed, as well as efforts to control the levels of natural contaminants such as fluoride.[252] The use of appropriate technologies is also essential if constrained water resources are to be maximised. One particular technology highlighted in written evidence is Interlocking Stabilised Soil Block Technology, which compresses subsoil with small amounts of cement into building blocks which are cheaper, stronger and more durable than fired bricks. The blocks can be shaped into interlocking curves that can be used to build tanks to hold ground or roof-harvested rainwater, which can then be safely stored before use.[253]

130. Key water-related 'symptoms' in developing countries that will develop or be exacerbated by climate change include: coastal erosion; flooding; subsidence; disruption to rain-fed agriculture; and prolonged drought. The Working Group on Climate Change and Development believe these effects could conspire to cause a "domino effect" on water availability:

254

131. Dr Declan Conway from the University of East Anglia said that the development community has undergone a "sea change" and is accepting the need to go beyond emergency responses to natural disasters and move towards supporting adaptation to climate change.[255] Climate change adaptation refers to activities aimed at responding to the effects of climate change, as opposed to mitigation which seeks to slow and prevent the process of climate change, for instance, by reducing greenhouse gases. The recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report emphasised the need for adaptation and said that, for developing countries, "availability of resources and building adaptive capacity are particularly important".[256] Elwyn Grainger-Jones, Head of DFID's Sustainable Development Group, told us that DFID wants "a big push" on adaptation to climate change. He said the Department is keen to strengthen the World Bank's and the international system's capacity to work with countries on the increasingly urgent need for water resources management triggered by climate change.[257] DFID leads the adaptation element of the UK Government's Climate Change Strategy and Elwyn Grainger-Jones said that DFID would be looking at the costs of supporting developing country adaptation in the context of the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review.[258]

132. DFID is also supporting research into climate change and WRM and is giving £24 million over the next five years to the Climate Change Adaptation in Africa Programme, administered by the International Development Research Centre in Canada.[259] Elwyn Grainger-Jones told us that WRM in relation to climate change will be a key part of DFID's £18 million research programme on sanitation and water and that internal policy work on this topic would take place during 2007, drawing on country programme work on climate change.[260] DFID is working towards implementing a climate development programme in Ethiopia, together with the African Union, the African Development Bank and the UN Economic Commission for Africa.[261]

133. DFID's work on climate change adaptation in relation to Water Resources Management is relatively new and we received no evidence on the impacts of its work so far. But it is clear that DFID is putting the foundations in place to move forward its own and development partners' work on climate change adaptation. The vital next step must be translating international dialogue and support to research into practical policies within national governments so that developing countries can respond quickly to the impact of climatic variations on water availability and supply. We are greatly encouraged by DFID's leadership on climate change adaptation in relation to water resources management, internationally and across Whitehall, and its support for research on this subject. We expect to see DFID translate this leadership into substantive policies and frameworks for action in the near future. The importance of DFID's work in this area must be recognised and properly funded under the Comprehensive Spending Review process.

Conflict over water resources

134. With many water resources shared between countries, there is increasing concern that, as availability becomes constrained, the spectre of 'water wars' will be raised. 263 river basins are shared by two or more nations and thus collaboration over access and management across state boundaries is of paramount importance. WWF-UK's submission described how a number of WWF-UK programmes have experienced conflict resulting from inequitable access to water resources, with, for instance, conflict between competing water users on the Great Ruaha River in Tanzania turning violent at times.[262] Concern Universal Malawi's submission also observed growing conflict over water resources, influenced in Malawi by continuing population growth and the pressures on land.[263] As Dr David Tickner from WWF-UK pointed out, whilst water probably has been an underlying factor in some inter-state conflicts, at the current time conflict over water is more evident at the sub-state level, in particular between different user groups.[264]

135. Another major potential source of conflict is industry use of water. The last few years have seen the soft drinks manufacturers Coca Cola and Pepsi under strong pressure to withdraw from local markets in India due to their heavy use of communities' limited groundwater resources to run their manufacturing plants.[265] The process of global economic growth is only going to increase the risk of such conflicts over industrial use of water. Coca Cola and Pepsi could follow the example of other companies who have acted upon the recognition that management of water resources is an important responsibility for the multinational private sector. For instance, Nestlé has recently published a Water Management Report which sets out how it approaches water use internationally.[266]

136. Working out strategies to pre-empt and defuse conflict over water resources must be a major priority for governments and donors.[267] Dr Tickner suggested that one route to initiating collaboration over water resources is hydrometric monitoring. This has worked in the Danube River Basin, where 14 countries, many of whom have recently been in conflict with one another, share access to the Danube River. In 1994, a trans-national monitoring network was set up under the first convention for the protection of the river, which—with EU and UNDP support—has been successful in promoting dialogue, using a relatively uncontroversial issue (compared to more emotive WRM developments such as dam-building) as a lever to begin dialogue between countries.[268] Dr Tickner said the process "is a really good example of how external donor agencies and external governments can really facilitate a very strong and sustainable process which can help to reduce conflicts and prevent them."[269]

137. The Nile Basin Initiative (NBI), supported by DFID and other donors, is another example of trans-boundary management of shared water resources. Formally launched in February 1999, the NBI is a regional partnership between the ten countries of the Nile Basin and seeks the long-term development and management of the Nile waters.[270] The Initiative is a transitional arrangement until a permanent framework is put in place. We were pleased to meet members of the Nile Basin Initiative in Addis Ababa during our visit to Ethiopia. The Secretary of State told us that DFID would like to see a similar process set up in the Congo Basin, which has 30% of Africa's precipitation but no trans-national process in place, partly because of conflict and instability in the region.[271]

138. DFID has also been involved in projects on equitable water sharing between Israel and Palestine. Since 1967, Israel has drawn much of its water from the Occupied Territories whilst restricting Palestinian access. We referred to the negative impact of inequalities in Israeli use of water resources in our recent report, Development Assistance and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.[272] DFID supported a three-year programme in the West Bank and Gaza that aimed to build the technical capacity of the Palestinian Water Authority (PWA) to manage the Western Aquifer, which the Palestinian Territories share with Israel. In its written evidence, DFID told us that although the project is now complete, the PWA "continues in a strengthened role based on a platform of evidence-based policy development and negotiations over this shared resource."[273] John Chilton from the British Geological Survey told us that a process of dialogue between water professionals from the Occupied Territories and Israel was not achieving much in terms of "actual physical agreement" but was at least preventing "things from getting worse [...] it has maintained a constructive dialogue at times when you might have expected that dialogue to fail".[274] As water availability becomes constrained, the risk of conflict over water resources is growing. Donors can help pre-empt such conflicts by supporting joint hydrometric monitoring of shared rivers and trans-boundary river commissions. DFID's funding of the Nile Basin Initiative has been important, and we recommend that the Department continue to support the development of the current transitional arrangement into a permanent framework. DFID should continue to look at the viability of establishing a similar initiative within the Congo Basin.

205 Q 189 [John Chilton] Back

206 Ev 211 [WWF-UK] Back

207 Q 74 [Mark Lowcock] Back

208 Ev 242 [Good Earth Trust] Back

209 Working Group II Contribution to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fourth Assessment Report; Summary for Policymakers, p 10, April 2007 Back

210 'Water Problems, Poverty Linked', World Bank press release, 17 March 2006, World Water Forum. http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTWRM/0,,contentMDK:20856041~menuPK:2643819~pagePK:64020865~piPK:149114~theSitePK:337240,00.html Back

211 Q 186 [John Chilton] Back

212 Q 74 [Mark Lowcock] Back

213 Q 185 [Dr David Tickner] Back

214 Ev 88 [DFID] and Global Water Partnership, Setting the Stage for Change: Informal survey (February 2006). Integrated Water Resources Management seeks to "promote the co-ordinated development and management of water, land and related resources, and so maximise the resulting economic and social welfare in an equitable manner, without compromising the sustainability of ecosystems". Back

215 Ev 88 [DFID] Back

216 Q 190 [Dr David Tickner] Back