In South Africa there is a consensus that the Millennium Assembly's goal of halving world poverty by 2015 should guide all environment and development policies, strategies and initiatives. And that this goal should guide the discussions at Johannesburg 2002 and result in a clear global consensus to reinforce global efforts for integrated poverty reduction, environmental protection and sustainable development; and that poverty and unequal development will be recognized as the greatest threats to the environment, the quality of lives of people in the developing world, and the long-term security of the developed world. This seems to be the way most developing countries view the WSSD – that is, not as an Environment Summit, but one which truly synthesizes poverty reduction and sustainable development goals. Which is why it is so important to fully understand the substance of the Millennium Declaration.

Through Resolution 55/2, also called the United Nations Millennium Declaration adopted by the General Assembly on 8 September 2000, the heads of State and Government gathered at the dawn of a new millennium reaffirmed their faith in the United Nations and its Charter as indispensable

foundations for a more peaceful, prosperous and just world. The purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter were reaffirmed as timeless and universal, with increased relevance and capacity to inspire as nations and peoples become increasingly interconnected and interdependent.

The central challenge identified by the Millennium Declaration is to ensure that globalization becomes a positive force for all the world’s people. It was affirmed that while globalization offers great opportunities, at present its benefits are very unevenly shared, while its costs are unevenly distributed. It was recognized that developing countries and countries with economies in transition face special difficulties in responding to this central challenge, and that only through broad and sustained efforts to create a shared future, based upon the world’s common humanity in all its diversity, can globalization be made fully inclusive and equitable. These efforts must include policies and measures, at the global level, which correspond to the needs of developing countries and economies in transition and are formulated and implemented with their effective participation.

The Declaration deems that certain fundamental values as essential for international relations in the twenty-first century, which include freedom, equality, solidarity, tolerance and respect for nature.

In order to translate these shared values into actions, key objectives were identified and assigned special significance. These related to i) Peace, security and disarmament; ii) Development and poverty eradication; iii) Protecting our common environment; iv) Human rights, democracy and good governance; v) Protecting the vulnerable; vi) Meeting the special needs of Africa; and vii) Strengthening the United Nations.

The Heads of State also resolved to work on other important issues, such as freedom from war, strengthen respect for the rule of law, peace and security, arms control and disarmament, humanitarian and human rights laws, international terrorism, control drugs, fight transnational crime, minimize the adverse effects of United Nations economic sanctions on innocent populations, eliminate weapons of mass destruction, end illicit traffic in small arms and light weapons, eliminate anti-personnel mines, and promote peace and human understanding through sport and the Olympic Ideal.

Two of the key components of the Millennium Declaration are of particular interest to this Conference – that is, development and poverty eradication and protecting our common environment.

On development and poverty reduction, the Millennium Declaration resolved to:

• Free men, women and children from the abject and dehumanizing conditions of extreme poverty, to which more than a billion of them are currently subjected, and to make the right to development a reality for everyone
• Create a national and global environment conducive to development and to the elimination of poverty
• Promote good governance not only in each country but also at the international level, including transparency in financial, monetary and trading systems aimed at an open, equitable, rule-based, predictable and non-discriminatory multilateral trading and financial system
• Mobilize resources needed to finance sustained development in developing countries
• Address the special needs of the least developed countries, including duty- and quota-free access for all exports from LDCs, debt relief including cancellation of official bilateral debts in return for countries making demonstrable commitments to poverty reduction, and to grant such countries more generous development assistance
• Address the special needs of small island developing States
• Recognize the special needs and problems of landlocked developing countries

The most important part of the resolution that is expected to guide national and international efforts till the year 2015 is:

• To halve, by the year 2015, the proportion of the world’s people whose income is less than one dollar a day and the proportion of people who suffer from hunger and, by the same date, to halve the proportion of people who are unable to reach or to afford safe drinking water.
• To ensure that, by the same date, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling and that girls and boys will have equal access to all levels of education.
• By the same date, to have reduced maternal mortality by three quarters, and under-five child mortality by two thirds, of their current rates.
• To have, by then, halted, and begun to reverse, the spread of HIV/AIDS, the scourge of malaria and other major diseases that afflict humanity.
• To provide special assistance to children orphaned by HIV/AIDS.
• By 2020, to achieve a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers.

The Millennium Declaration also resolved to:

• To promote gender equality and the empowerment of women as effective ways to combat poverty, hunger and disease and to stimulate development that is truly sustainable.
• To develop and implement strategies that give young people everywhere a real chance to find decent and productive work.
• To encourage the pharmaceutical industry to make essential drugs more widely available and affordable by all who need them in developing countries.
• To develop strong partnerships with the private sector and with civil society organizations in pursuit of development and poverty eradication.
• To ensure that the benefits of new technologies, especially information and communication technologies, are available to all.

In the same Millennium Declaration, to protect the common environment, the heads of State vowed to:

• Spare no effort to free all of humanity, and above all our children and grandchildren, from the threat of living on a planet irredeemably spoilt by human activities, and whose resources would no longer be sufficient for their needs.
• Support for the principles of sustainable development, including those set out in Agenda 21 agreed upon at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development
• Adopt in all environmental actions a new ethic of conservation and stewardship and, as first steps, to make every effort to ensure:

• The entry into force of the Kyoto Protocol and to embark on the required reduction in emissions of greenhouse gases; to intensify collective efforts for the management, conservation and sustainable development of all types of forests.
• To press for the full implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Convention to Combat Desertification in those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, particularly in Africa.
• To stop the unsustainable exploitation of water resources by developing water management strategies at the regional, national and local levels, which promote both equitable access and adequate supplies.
• To intensify cooperation to reduce the number and effects of natural and man-made disasters.
• To ensure free access to information on the human genome sequence.

Today we know that there is a crucial link between poverty and sustainable development, and that the goals of poverty reduction and environment protection need to be woven together to form one agenda for common action that can be presented to and taken forward at WSSD. UNDP sees the major challenge for this Conference is to come up with concrete suggestions for WSSD by providing balanced and informed policy recommendations for sustainable development – the hallmark of GLOBE. Many participants may have a good idea of the progress made by their countries in meeting the goals of the Millennium Declaration, and would thus be in a position to actively contribute to the debate. Others will be inspired to go back to their countries and participate actively in the formulation of national policy positions for WSSD.

Tremendous progress has been made by the world in reducing poverty and improving the lives of poor people in many developing countries. Some countries have started using the human poverty index (or HPI) to monitor progress. The UNDP Poverty Report for 2000 ranks countries according to their HPI – comparatively some of the highest HPIs are for Niger (66), Sierra Leone (58), Mali (53), Chad and Nepal (52), Benin and Guinea-Bissau (51), Yemen (49), Haiti (46), Bangladesh (44), Malawi and Pakistan (42), Uganda (41), and India (36). Countries with lower HPIs are China, South Africa and Thailand (19), Peru and Turkey (17), Brazil (16), and Malaysia (14).

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in its 1996 report Shaping the 21st Century: The Contribution of Development Cooperation, selected seven goals for development drawn from agreements and resolutions of the conferences organized by the United Nations in the first half of the 1990s. These goals are included in the Millennium Declaration and are more specific in terms of targets:

1. Reduce the proportion of people living in extreme poverty by half between 1990 and 2015.
2. Enroll all children in primary school by 2015.
3. Make progress toward gender equality and the empowerment of women by eliminating gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005.
4. Reduce infant and child mortality rates by two-thirds between 1990 and 2015.
5. Reduce maternal mortality ratios by three-fourths between 1990 and 2015.
6. By 2015, provide access to reproductive health services to all who need them.
7. Implement national strategies for sustainable development by 2005 so as to reverse the loss of environmental resources by 2015.

* Source: Finance and Development, December 2000, International Monetary Fund

Using these international development goals as a proxy for measuring progress against the Millennium Declaration targets, indications are that poverty reduction targets will not be met by 2015 unless countries can sustain higher growth rates, reduce inequality, improve the status of women and more effectively manage integration with the global economy. To meet these challenges, national poverty reduction strategies must give greater voice to and focus more resources on the poor, expand their access to productive assets and economic opportunities, and link poverty programmes with countries' international economic and financial policies. At the same time, current arrangements for trade, debt relief and investment need to be reformed to better support national poverty reduction efforts and to make globalization work for the poor.

The joint United Nations, OECD, IMF, World Bank report – A Better World for All: Progress towards International Development Goals – indicates that the goal of halving the number of people whose incomes are below the poverty line will not be easy to achieve by 2015. Progress has not been the same across and within regions, and most poverty reduction has occurred in East Asia, particularly China. In the rest of the world, although the proportion of people in poverty has declined, the number of poor people has increased due to population growth.

With regard to the goal of children’s education, the same report indicates that school enrollment rates are rising in most regions, but too many children are still not in school, and gender bias in enrolment exists. And although the gender gap in primary and secondary enrolment is narrowing, the gap is not being closed fast enough.

With regard to maternal mortality, skilled care during pregnancy and delivery can do much to avoid many of the half million maternal deaths each year, and but the proportion of births attended by skilled personnel rose slowly in the 1990s. With regard to reduction of under-5 child mortality, these fell by more than half between 1960 and 1990. But progress slowed in the 1990s. In most regions, a massive effort will be needed to attain a two-thirds reduction by 2015. Many factors are contributing Many factors are contributing to high mortality rates: such as unsafe water; inadequate immunization; war and conflict; high levels of poverty and malnutrition; poor access to basic education, particularly for girls; the spread of HIV/AIDS; and the resurgence of malaria and tuberculosis.

On HIV/AIDs and health goals, the spread of HIV/AIDS is impoverishing individuals, families and communities on all continents. Diseases like malaria, cholera and typhoid are rampant.

UNDP’s Poverty Report 2000 indicates that the majority of countries have poverty reduction plans. However, less than one third of them have set targets for eradicating extreme poverty or substantially reducing overall poverty. Many of these plans are based on monetary measures, and do not have explicit human poverty targets such as reducing malnutrition, expanding literacy and increasing life expectancy – nor do they have adequate budgets and effective organizations to implement poverty reduction targets. UNDP’s poverty research shows that most poverty plans are too narrow and confined to a targeted set of interventions because many of them are constructed as a social safety net. Rarely is there an attempt to use macro-economic and governance policies to reduce poverty. Poverty is a multi-dimensional problem and therefore needs to be addressed through a multi-sectoral approach cutting across government ministries and departments, and not just by one department, as is often the case. Most governments also have difficulty in reporting how much funding goes into poverty reduction.

In this new Millennium, there is a need to focus on a new generation of programmes that focus on pro-poor growth, target inequality and empower the poor. The old-school prescriptions of supplementing rapid growth with social spending and safety nets have proved inadequate. It is important to concentrate on building national capacity for pro-poor policy making and institutional reform. The "two track" approach to poverty reduction - growth on one track and human development on the other - does not work, because these tracts rarely intersect. Economic policies are not made pro-poor while social services have the burden of directly addressing poverty. This is a legacy of old-style structural adjustment programmes, which took up poverty as a residual social issue. Although there is now a consensus on the importance of pro-poor growth, there is still a dearth of practical policies and concrete reforms, partly stemming from confusion over about what constitutes pro-poor growth and how to track it. But part of the problem is the failure to address the sources of inequality such as unequal distribution of land – the most important asset of most rural poor – but also the deteriorating natural and physical environment of he poor, on which many depend upon for their livelihoods.

Countries’ poverty programmes also need to be linked to their international economic and financial policies, such as debt and trade. Issues need to be addressed such as access to export markets, protectionism biased against developing countries, uneven playing field with respect to trade negotiations, declining aid budgets, conditionality and unsustainable projects.

An important missing link in poverty reduction is the lack of responsive and accountable national governance institutions. Governance reforms cannot be emphasized enough. Accountability is the bottom line for good governance. But local or national elections are not enough to ensure this. Shifting decision-making power closer to poor communities through decentralization of governance to the local level can help in poverty reduction if local governance capacity is adequate or is strengthened. But most importantly, people need to be organized and well informed. Poor communities need help in organizing so that they are not powerless, and can safeguard their own interests. They need to make public officials accountable for the use of public funds so that the poor cease to pay the high price for corruption. Although civil society organizations or CSOs in many countries play an important role in delivering basic services to the poor, this can result in weakening government capacity and accountability by taking over the legitimate functions of local government. A more appropriate role for CSOs is policy advocacy and influencing national policy on behalf of the poor. Civil society organizations are less successful in representing the poor, unlike community based organizations or CBOs, but the latter have much lesser influence beyond their immediate localities. A new generation of poverty reduction programmes needs to concentrate on building the capacity of CBOs to directly articulate people’s needs and priorities – not just income generating activities. CBOs are generally very successful in mobilizing and organizing poor women and developing their own leaders. A strategic alliance is also needed among the state, CSOs, the private sector and environmentalists for poverty reduction. The most successful community organizations tend to be broad-based and include both the poor and non-poor, and to use participatory methods to encourage involvement. One of their greatest accomplishments is to increase people’s access to knowledge, skills and technology – often the biggest priority cited by community members.

Many of these issues are being addressed by a newer generation of poverty reduction strategies, including by Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers or PRSPs required by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund in heavily indebted poor countries. 33 countries are formulating PRSPs in Sub-Saharan Africa. Many of these countries are in conflict or post-conflict situations.

Although it is early for most countries to prepare progress reports on the Millennium Declaration’s poverty reduction targets – there are some countries which have reported on this in collaboration with the UN System, such as Tanzania and India. Tanzania’s report indicates that there is potential to halve extreme poverty 2015, reverse HIV/AIDs, and reverse the loss of environmental resources. Equal access for boys and girls to primary and secondary schooling is likely to be achieved by 2005. However, it is unlikely that by 2015 the proportion of underweight under-5 children can be halved, universal primary education achieved, and maternal mortality reduced.

The Millennium Summit renewed UNDP's mandate from the 1995 World Summit for Social Development to support national poverty reduction strategies. UNDP is helping to ensure that strategies are nationally-owned and based on countries' own commitments, are developed in a participatory manner, and address the multi-dimensional roots of human poverty and its differential impact on women. Guided by the human development approach, UNDP emphasizes the links between poverty reduction strategies, governance reforms and pro-poor economic, social and environmental policies. At the global level, UNDP promotes a more pro-poor global development architecture and expanded provision of global public goods for poverty reduction.

The Millennium Declaration’s goals on protecting the environment are quite eloquent and state that prudence must be shown in the management of all living species and natural resources, in accordance with the precepts of sustainable development, and only in this way can the immeasurable riches provided by nature be preserved and passed on to future generations. It emphasizes that the current unsustainable patterns of production and consumption must be changed in the interest of future collective welfare, and underlines the principle of shared responsibility for managing worldwide economic and social development, as well as threats to international peace and security, by all nations of the world and should be exercised multilaterally. It also reaffirms that, as the most universal and most representative organization in the world, the United Nations must play the central role.

As the Better World for All report states, national strategies for sustainable development and effective steps to conserve natural resources and protect the environment are needed, but fewer than half the developing countries have strategies and even fewer are implementing them, despite their commitments at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992. Proper environmental management benefits the poor as they – more than any one else - rely on the land, water and forests for their livelihoods and very survival. However, there are many reasons to be optimistic about the future, and recent research conducted by UNDP and the European Union under the Poverty and Environment Initiative indicates that more people are better fed and housed than ever before, global literacy rates are increasing and more people have access to health care. The initiative also shows that poverty does not necessarily lead to environmental degradation, that the linkages between poverty and the environment are complex and require locally-specific analysis to be understood, and that there is no simple causal link. An important finding is that population growth does not necessarily lead to environmental degradation, and while initially degradation can occur as the population increases, it is context specific and can be influenced and reversed through policy shifts.

Some of these policy shifts are:

• empowering the poor as actors in identifying their problems and seeking their own solutions, without assuming that they are the problem
• engaging poor people as partners, not as beneficiaries, and using people-centred frameworks for planning and implementation
• creating incentives for the poor as well as for private sector entrepreneurs so as to mobilize resources for poverty eradication and move away form simply exhorting poor people to mobilize resources or from providing all the resources by the State.
• Seeing the value of giving the poor real rights and ownership of assets, not just a "sense of ownership".

Again, this calls for governance reform, particularly counteracting the influence of power strongholds through improved accountability, transparency, representation and decentralization and more pluralistic approaches to decision making; employing a gender analysis lens to ensure that women are not further marginalized through new policies and programmes; and to not only reflect income in determining poverty, but also vulnerability, access to assets, and basic social indicators.

The Better World for All report shows that empowering poor people is the starting point for poverty reduction and sustainable development by providing them with opportunities, protecting their rights, enabling them to organize, and making governments accountable to them. Poverty reduction also requires economic growth to sustain increases in real per capita incomes and generate income-earning opportunities for the poor, including women, and give the poor greater access to assets. For this to occur, economic policies must be sound, well balanced, and sustainable. It is no secret that many problems of proper poverty targeting are problems of unaccountable and unresponsive governance institutions.

Poverty reduction also requires investment in basic social services, especially for the poor. Countries have to deliver high-quality and cost-effective services to the poor and provide cost-effective social safety nets in times of crisis. And they must increase their domestic saving rates and spend scarce resources wisely on productive programmes.

High-income countries also need to shoulder their responsibilities by reducing tariffs and other barriers to imports from developing countries and provide more aid, especially to those that use it effectively. Most OECD countries have adopted a target to provide 0.7 percent of their GNP as aid, but few have reached it. Debt relief for the most heavily indebted poor countries will free resources that can be used to support national poverty reduction strategies.

The developing countries still face a number of daunting challenges. Globalization offers enormous opportunities for growth and social development, and taking advantage of these opportunities requires change. Opening markets can help poor countries realize the benefits of increased trade and new technology. But structural change can be painful. Privatization, capital mobility, and deregulation of markets have weakened the role of the state, challenged some democracies, and failed to deliver promised benefits to poor countries.

Another, equally important, challenge is to contain the spread of HIV/AIDS, which claimed almost 3 million lives in 1999 and is impoverishing nations, communities, and families. The United Nations Millennium Declaration calls for halting and reversing by 2015 the spread of HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other major diseases. To do so will require additional resources and redoubled efforts. In particular, programmes for the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS and other diseases need to be made more affordable to poor countries.

Improvements in the International Development and Millennium Declaration goals are occurring too slowly, and new challenges will make success even more elusive. The international and national commitment should be to reach the goals in every country, despite the difficulties. Success in only a few countries, no matter how large, is not enough.

In South Africa, the core goal of the Government remains the improvement of the well being of all South Africans, especially the disadvantaged majority, by reducing poverty, creating employment and reducing inequalities while promoting economic growth. In his State of the Nation address in February 2001, President Thabo Mbeki reiterated the call for "a better life for all" and stated that "...we cannot speak of the new South Africa if we fail to deal with the urgent challenge of poverty". He recommitted the government to continue to intensify its work directed at improving the quality of life for all, in particular through the implementation of the rural development and the urban renewal programmes. In the same State of the Nation address, President Mbeki returned to the theme of the country’s transformation challenges, and agreed with some of the concerns raised in the South Africa Human Development 2000 on "Transformation for Human Development" (NHDR 2000). Quoting from NHDR 2000, he said: "The 1995 South African Participatory Poverty Assessment described the reality behind the statistics. It reported that millions of citizens are plagued by continuous ill health, experience extraordinary levels of anxiety and stress (and the accompanying realities of violence and abuse vented mainly on women and children) and perform harsh and dangerous work for low incomes. There is pervasive demoralization and fatalism. A sense of hopelessness and an inability to alter the conditions of life is a defining feature. Yet all this is matched by the courage and perseverance with which South Africa's poor attempt to hold these ravages at bay." He also agreed with the report that poverty is not only expressed in a shortage of food, shelter and clothing, but also through ill health, increased anxiety and stress; a spirit of disempowerment and hopelessness; high crime levels, including violence among the poor themselves, especially against women and children; further entrenchment of discrimination against women; in destructive ignorance and superstition and the destruction and denial of the human dignity of millions of people.

The legacy of apartheid left the majority of South Africans without access to basic services and opportunities, and this constitutes an overwhelming development challenge for the Government of South Africa and its partners. Two worlds exist in one South Africa – the "first world" and the "third world". According to NHDR 2000, South Africa’s poverty rate is 45%. This translates into more than 18 million citizens living below the poverty line (pegged at an income of Rands 353 per month, or approximately US$44 at an exchange rate of US$1=R8). In rural provinces, the poverty level rises above 50%. HDI varies across the nine Provinces, with Gauteng the highest at 0.712 and the Northern Province the lowest at 0.531.

The Government has experienced poor delivery on its multi-billion dollar Poverty Relief Fund, while disparities are on the increase coupled with massive job loses due to the negative impact of globalization and a slowing economy. Some important advances were made by the end of 2000, with over 1 million new houses completed for poor families and 1.3 million subsidies provided for housing, land and infrastructure. 400,000 new electricity grids were installed allowing over 2 million South Africans to access to electricity for the first time in their lives. 127 new clinics were built in 2000 and close to 412,000 new telephone lines were installed. A system of free health care was introduced for pregnant women and children under 6 years old. A national social security system is to be announced soon. While land continues to be a contentious issue for South Africa and the region, some 917,000 hectares of land has been handed over to new black owners through the Government’s redistribution and restitution processes. Despite many advances, the daunting backlog of poverty and maldistribution of income and wealth continue.

The local governance system has been selected as the basis for all development planning, and legislation obliges each local authority to produce integrated development plans (IDPs) for service delivery to communities. Recognizing that the coordination of sectoral activities is a precondition for the efficient allocation of resources and effective delivery, the Government recently launched the Integration Sustainable Rural Development Strategy (ISRDS), considered its key initiative for addressing poverty. The Department of Provincial and Local Government (DPLG) as the governance focal point is responsible for the implementation of ISRDS, enabling local level implementation to be linked to IDPs. The capacity to implement development programmes at the national, provincial and local levels remains a concern. Provinces face specific procedural and systemic breakdowns due to the complexity of inter-Governmental relationships, issues of provincial autonomy, and an often-low base level of skills and capacity, amplified by the ongoing restructuring of local government institutions. ISRDS aims to address these constraints.

Social and economic stress has been compounded by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. An estimated 22.8% of the population is infected, with a skew towards women and the poor. HIV/AIDS is impacting heavily on human development, with the HDI reflecting a decrease in life expectancy from 65 to 40 years and adversely affecting economic productivity. The impact on poor households is devastating, with growing numbers of child-headed households and about 1 million children under 15 years of age orphaned by AIDS. South Africa has adopted a strategy that seeks to tackle HIV/AIDS in a multidisciplinary way and to use community mobilization as a key to prevention and care for those afflicted. All government departments have moved rapidly to mainstream HIV/AIDS within their programmes.

South Africa is the third most biologically diverse country in the world, and the only one to harbour an entire plant kingdom within its boundaries: the Cape Floral Kingdom, one of six world-wide. Because of industrial, forestry, agricultural and urban expansion, between 14% and 37% of the country's fauna and flora are listed as threatened. Air and water pollution is increasing, there are water shortages, and South Africa is among the 20 top pollution-emitting countries, thereby contributing to climate change. South Africa’s environmental regulatory framework is established through the National Environmental Management Act (NEMA) of 1998. South Africa has ratified the Convention on Biological Diversity (2 January 1995), the Framework Convention on Climate Change (29 September 1997), and the Convention to Combat Desertification (30 August 1997) and is moving to ratify the Biosafety Protocol. In addition, South Africa is supporting international efforts to establish a legally binding instrument to control the discharge of certain persistent organic pollutants (POPS). The hosting of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD, or Johannesburg 2002) indicates South Africa’s strong commitment to sustainable development.

For UNDP, sustainable development – incorporating the economic, social and environmental aspects of development – remains a valid focus for the 21st century, particularly with respect to its role as the "UN's anti-poverty agency". UNDP sees sustainable development and poverty reduction as two sides of the same coin, encapsulated well in the concept of "sustainable human development". The Millennium Declaration is the basis for advocating long-term planning, target setting and benchmarking for poverty reduction and sustainable development. UNDP support to South Africa for the WSSD aims to ensure that the linkages between poverty reduction and sustainable development, and in this connection support is being provided for:

• Round table meetings for preparation of National Agenda 21 Report. This is expected to lead to formulation of a National Strategy for Sustainable Development (NSSD) to ensure that poverty reduction is woven into its fabric, and that linkages with other national sustainable development initiatives are taken into account, such as the Integrated Sustainable Rural Development
• "Greening" of WSSD in partnership with the Global Environmental Facility
• Support to the United Nations initiative on "101 ways to promote sustainable development" through partnerships, including with national and local Governments, donor agencies, CSOs, the private sector, towns and communities
• Document success stories and best practices demonstrating the integration of poverty reduction and sustainable development at the policy, programme, project or community levels
• Encouraging town centres and communities to take action to protect and clean up their urban ("brown") environments and promote waste collection and recycling by unemployed people through the Local Initiative Facility for the Urban Environment (LIFE). LIFE has helped many schools and communities to clean up their environments, including in Soweto
• Grants to rural communities to demonstrate that the "green" and "blue" environments (biodiversity and water) can be protected through poverty reduction and sustainable livelihoods activities. These community-based initiatives are to be supported through the GEF Small Grants Facility

• Capturing best practices from community-based conservation and sustainable livelihoods initiatives in South Africa, and show case them at WSSD. These best practices will particularly highlight the role of communities, indigenous people and indigenous knowledge systems in protecting the environment and reducing poverty, and will include initiatives by national and local Governments, donors, CSOs and communities. Summit delegates will be invited to visit some of the best initiatives near Johannesburg
• Human Development Report for 2002 entitled "South Africa: The Challenge of Sustainable Development".

Over the longer term, poverty reduction and sustainable development initiatives include:

• Support for integrated sustainable rural development aimed at developing poverty alleviation models in the poorest Provinces in the country and within them the poorest Districts, and within those Districts the "nodal points" or geographic areas that have been identified as the most disadvantaged. With the Government providing almost all the massive financial resources required for poverty reduction, UNDP’s role is to help build replicable multi-sectoral and multi-stakeholder models that can be applied on a nation-wide basis for poverty reduction. A linked strategy is to support the development, management and monitoring systems, structures and implementation capacity for the multi-million dollar Poverty Relief Fund. UNDP will partner with the Government - primarily with the Provincial Premier’s Offices, Department of Provincial and Local Government (DPLG), Independent Development Trust (IDT), and the Department of Social Development – as well as with civil society, private sector, UN system and bilateral donors in operationalizing the ISRDS. Gender will be mainstreamed into rural poverty reduction efforts.
• Recognizing the mounting evidence of the correlation between poverty and HIV/AIDS in which poverty increases vulnerability to HIV/AIDS and the epidemic worsens poverty and exacerbates inequality, UNDP support is being provided through the UN theme group on HIV/AIDs, to develop holistic Provincial HIV/AIDS and Poverty Reduction Strategies, and to build critical institutional and human capacity to implement the strategy through local development plans in selected municipal demonstration and ISRDS learning nodes in priority provinces.
• Facilitation of national dialogue and policy action on poverty reduction through support for a national poverty monitoring and evaluation system.

Globe Seminar, Cape Town, 23-24 October 2001

It is a gross understatement to say that water is the ‘gold’ of the future. Water is, and will continue to be far more valuable and controversial than gold, because water is fundamental to human existence. Not only is it essential for human life, but it supports the ecosystems and species that we depend on for food, raw materials, and protection from natural disasters. Water also plays a primary role in the production of goods and delivery of services that satisfy lifestyle "needs" and encourage economic development.

Global population growth, and the corresponding agricultural and industrial expansion have and will lead to increased water demand. This rise in demand will be compounded by more water intensive lifestyles resulting from economic development. As a consequence, water scarcity will worsen and less water will be available to meet the above environmental, economic, and social water services. Conflict over remaining resources will arise and an increasing number of people will go without basic human needs. This presents a great challenge to sustainable development and, most notably, the goals of poverty alleviation and peace and security. Both of these objectives were prominent in the 1992 Rio Summit on Environment and Development and the United Nations Millennium Declaration, and will be leading issues in the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD). In order for the WSSD to be successful in meeting these objectives in the face of natural resource depletion, a more holistic approach to water management needs to be one of its major outcomes.

The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) notes that sustainable water and natural resource management is critical to maintaining global food security (Barghouti, 2001). A major component of sustainable water management is increasing the efficiency of irrigation for agriculture, since expansion of irrigated land is the major determinant of water stress. Irrigation constitutes 80 to 90% of water use in developing countries and 70% globally (CSD, 2001; Postel &Wolf, 2001). The World Water Vision estimates that for agriculture to keep pace with food demands, irrigation will have to expand by 20-30% by the year 2025 (Cosgrove & Rijsberman, 2001). This is in response to what IFPRI estimates to be a 55% increase in demand for foodgrains and a 75% increase in demand for livestock products between 1990 and 2020 (Barghouti, 2001). Countries that run out of suitable land and water resources to expand agriculture, will have to rely on grain imports to meet food demand. As countries like China and India begin to depend on grain importation to supplement food supplies, import prices will sore and developing countries with limited foreign exchange, like those in sub-Saharan Africa, will have to go hungry. The trend toward reliance on food imports has already begun, as food production in 50 developing countries did not keep pace with population growth in the 1980s and early 1990s (Barghouti, 2001). In order to ensure food security, governments should give water resources management high priority.

The current trend of privatizing water services presents a threat to the availability of water for poverty alleviation. Privatization is intended to improve water use and delivery efficiency by allowing private companies to manage a previously subsidized, large-scale, and inefficient government service. It is encouraged by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund to reduce the political liabilities of delivering water services and minimize public-sector debt (Postel & Wolf, 2001). If it is not closely regulated, however, it has the potential to raise water prices so much that water becomes like gold, an elite resource. Suspicion of this outcome is enhanced by the fact that multi-national corporations are extremely keen to become involved in water services. Monsanto, one of the biggest multinational corporations involved in agricultural seed production, has earmarked future investments in water as an important and lucrative strategic investment for the future (Shiva, 2001). Many corporations that work in the field of agriculture or water seek vertical integration since it gives them better leverage and control over markets. This control is what human rights activists and environmentalists fear.

Privatization of water services, however, could be very beneficial to those living in poverty. Currently, most poor people pay over 20 to 40 times more for water than those connected to municipal supplies. They generally buy low quality water from small-scale private vendors off the "back of a truck." Government regulated privatization of water services would ensure the receipt of high quality water at a cost that would likely be less than most of the poor already pay. The money saved by governments could be allocated to water regulations that promote efficiency and equity of use, water and wetlands conservation, and poverty alleviation. Successes in the field of poverty alleviation will also help to promote peace and security.

Water and Peace and Security

Water is, and will remain the most contentious natural resource issue of the 21^st century. Sixty percent of the world’s freshwater resources are shared by two or more countries and are inhabited by 40% of the world’s population (Postel & Wolf, 2001). Conflicts over water, like those in the Middle East and Southern Africa, are already sufficient to induce regional hostility or wars between nations. Postel and Wolf site 17 river basins involving some 50 countries on five continents as being ripe for regional conflict. Water conflicts also lead to internal strife and violence that often result in political instability and stifle economic development. Instability then perpetuates conflict by encouraging individuals or countries to secure access to water (ibid.).

The growing move by governments to make water a private good through the privatization of water services has led to elevated water costs and conflict in many developing countries. Last year, a series of riots against high water prices due to privatization took place in Bolivia. Colombia and South Africa have also experienced hostile opposition to water privatization (Postel & Wolf, 2001). However, the privatization trend is unlikely to be reversed in the near future because developing countries need to attract foreign direct investment to reduce state debt. Thus, it poses a threat to future peace and stability.

Managing shared water resources can be a great source of conflict, especially when countries or stakeholders are excluded from the decision-making process. Postel and Wolf state that

..the overarching lesson drawn from the basin of the Jordan, Nile, Tigris and Euphrates rivers and other regions of water dispute is not that worsening scarcity will lead inevitably to water wars. It is rather that unilateral actions to construct a dam or river diversion in the absence of a treaty or institutional mechanism that safeguards the interests of other countries in the basin is highly destabilizing to a region, often spurring decades of hostility before cooperation is pursued.

An analysis of 1 831 international water related events in the last 50 years, shows that two thirds of them were cooperative and only one forth were hostile (Postel & Wolf, 2001). Whether or not an international water issue results in conflict or peace is primarily dependent on the political willingness to resolve tensions when they arise and, most importantly, to identify potential conflict ‘hotspots’ so that proactive measures can be taken. The Okavango, for example, is Southern Africa’s 4^th largest river and has a watershed that is shared by Angola, Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe. Namibia’s plans to divert water from the Okavango to its capital city Windhoek in 1996, led to tensions with neighboring countries. Conflicts were averted by the creation of the Okavango Commission, which mediates conflict and ensures that regional agreement on how water from the Okavango should be extracted is reached (ibid.). It provides a forum for countries to air concerns and agree on equitable management solutions before conflict escalates to levels that threaten peace and security.

There are 4 major factors that have influenced water use and management in the past and will continue to drive future use. These are population growth, agricultural production, economic development, and changing lifestyles. Between 1900 and 2000 the world’s population increased from 1.6 to 6 billion people (Fry, 1999). In that time, land under irrigation expanded from 50 to 267 million hectares (Gleick, 2000). Globally, freshwater withdrawals increased from an estimated 580km³/yr in 1900 to about 3 700km³/yr in 2000 and about a third of the water extracted is groundwater (Gleick, 2000). Over the past 50 years, renewable water supply per person has decreased by 58% (Postel & Wolf, 2000). Today, nearly 450 million people in 29 countries face water shortage problems and 1.4 billion people lack access to safe drinking water. Present trends of water consumption are wholly unsustainable (GWP, 2001).

The United Nations forecasts that by 2050, there will be an additional 2.5 to 3 billion individuals in the world and that 3.5 billion people will be living in water stressed countries by 2025 (CSD, 2001). The production of food for the growing population will require 17% more water and a 20-30% increase in the area used for irrigated agriculture by the same year; however, some predict that water supply constraints will limit expansion to 5-10%. Global water withdrawals will likely increase to between 4 300 and 5 200km³/yr by 2025 (Cosgrove & Rijsberman, 2001). By 2015, 2.7 billion people will lack access to safe drinking water and 4.7 billion people will lack adequate sanitation. Meeting these needs would require 400 000 new service connections every day for the next 25 years (CSD, 2001).

The 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), commonly called the Rio Earth Summit, and the 1992 Dublin Conference on Water and the Environment officially recognized that a more comprehensive approach to water resources management was necessary for sustainable development. Objectives for this approach are outlined in Agenda 21, the blueprint for sustainable development that was adopted at UNCED. Agenda 21’s Chapter 18 on integrated approaches to development, management, and use of freshwater resources has the following general goals: (i) to satisfy the basic food and water needs for all humans; (ii) to ensure adequate freshwater supplies for sustainable development in all nations; (iii) to preserve ecosystem integrity; and (iv) to reduce water related diseases. To facilitate achievement of these goals at the national level, seven program areas are defined. These include:

• Integrated water resources development and management;
• Water resources assessment;
• Protection of water resources, water quality, and aquatic ecosystems;
• Drinking water supply and sanitation;
• Water and sustainable urban development;
• Water for sustainable food production and rural development; and,
• Impacts of climate change on water resources.

In 1995 and 1996, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) convened a series of regional meetings of government officials and experts to assess the implementation of Chapter 18 objectives at the national level. The UNEP review concludes that most countries have freshwater policies that reflect the general objectives of Chapter 18, some of which were in place prior to UNCED. However, it identifies a great disconnect between policy formation and implementation. The review highlights the lack of financial, management, and human resources, institutional coordination, multi-sectoral involvement, and public awareness as a major barrier to implementation of water resources policy in developing countries (Rast, 2001). It alludes to the need for appropriate mechanisms to implement and achieve the objectives of Chapter 18; however, it does not address the issue of supply- versus demand-side mechanisms.

Also in 1996, the Global Water Partnership (GWP) was created by the World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA). The main objective of the GWP is to bring together all those involved with water resources to coordinate and support sustainable water management at the global, regional, and national levels. The GWP uses its international network to identify knowledge gaps, design programs of support, facilitate information exchange, and build alliances in order to promote integrated water resources management (GWP, 2001).

Following the establishment of the World Water Council in 1996, the first World Water Forum was held in Marrakech, Morocco in 1997. It led to the formulation of the World Water Vision to increase awareness and devise methods of sustainable water management based on consultation with international experts, decision-makers and stakeholders. A key part of the exercise included developing scenarios of future water use upon which management targets and strategies could be defined. The World Water Vision process ended with the Second World Water Forum at the Hague in 2000. It suggests five main actions for sustainable water management:

• Stakeholder involvement;
• Full cost pricing of water;
• Public funding for research and innovation;
• Cooperation in international basins; and,
• Increased investments in water (Cosgrove & Rijsberman, 2001).

The third World Water Forum will take place in Japan in 2003 and the Bonn International Conference on Freshwater will be held in December 2001.

In response to the increase in globalization since UNCED, the United Nations Millenium Declaration was created in 2000. It redefines Agenda 21 development objectives in the context of globalization and sets forth sustainable development targets for the beginning of the 21^st century. It contains two water specific goals: (i) halving the number of people who are unable to reach, or to afford, safe drinking water by 2015; and (ii) stopping the unsustainable exploitation of water resources, by developing water management strategies at the regional, national and local levels, which promote both equitable access and adequate supplies. The first of these goals will require meeting the water needs of an additional 1.6 billion people. Several other Millennium Declaration targets relate to water management, including halving the number of people who suffer from hunger by 2015 and reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other major diseases that afflict humanity by the same year.

The United Nations Convention on Law of the Non-navigational Uses of International Watercourses came in to force in 1997. It states that water of international watercourses should be used in an "equitable and reasonable manner" that avoids "significant harm" to the other states sharing the watercourse (Research Analyst, 2000).

In 2000, the United States State Department, United Nations agencies, and other donor nations established an Alliance for Global Water Security to assist in the facilitation of conflict resolution for water issues. It is intended to join government, civil society, and private sector groups from all levels in order to mitigate and manage conflict over water.

The transition from uniform, large-scale, supply-side water management to integrated supply- and demand-side management is really a move toward efficiency. It aims to introduce efficiency at several levels and in different sectors by increasing the productivity of water through economics, technology, efficient water use and allocation, recycling, public awareness, monitoring, and institutional change. It also seeks to limit the negative ecological and social effects of water storage and extraction in order to secure future water resources. To achieve this transition to sustainable and efficient water resource management, a combination of non-structural mechanisms have to be employed at various levels (Gleick, 2000).

Governments frequently subsidize water services by offering below cost water and wastewater treatment for domestic and industrial users. They heavily subsidize agricultural water use by providing below cost water or the electricity and diesel oil needed to pump water (Gleick, 2000). Currently, only 35% of the cost of water services is recovered (Barghouti, 2001). As a result, water users have no incentive to conserve water or devise innovative conservation technologies. Such perverse subsidies contribute to unnecessary water withdrawals, particularly in the case of irrigation. Irrigation accounts for 70% of annual water withdrawals and only about 30% of the water withdrawn is actually used by crops (CSD, 2001). Perverse water subsidies have also led to the cultivation of low value and highly water intensive crops on marginal, arid land.

Charging users prices that reflect the full cost of water lowers the demand for water, encourages conservation and innovation, and makes water managers more accountable to users. This results in better management and fewer water withdrawals. Even a slight decline in the agricultural demand for water would make water services available for meeting basic human needs.

Introducing the appropriate pricing for water is a contentious issue in countries that have great economic disparities; however, one of the principles adopted at the Dublin Conference on Water and the Environment, was to treat water as an economic good (Gleick, 2000). In so doing, its true cost, or a reflection of it, should be paid for by the user. In Bogor, Indonesia, for example, a system in which block rates increase with water use reduced average monthly water use by 30% (ibid.). The transition to full cost water pricing should be gradual to avoid conflict. When the transition is complete, government water subsidies should only be used to make water services available to those that would not otherwise have access to them.

Investment in water demand management and innovative methods of managing watersheds for pollution, degradation, and erosion are the primary determinants of water security. However, the use of alternative water storage schemes and less intrusive water supplies will also help to secure future water resources. In many parts of Africa, Asia, and Latin America, low cost water storage with limited evaporation can be achieved through artificial recharge of groundwater, which is successful in Namibia, and storing water in wetlands (Gleick, 2000). Micro-dams, fog collection, rainwater harvesting, and shallow wells are other small-scale, flexible solutions that minimize negative social and environmental impacts (Cosgrove & Rijsberman, 2001). Seawater desalination and water importation are also viable water sources; however, they are expensive and do not necessarily contribute to water and wetlands conservation.

Water recapture, recycling, and reuse provide an important water source that is not fully exploited. In urban areas, for example, most water is disposed of after a single use. Reuse of this water could greatly reduce the need for new water withdrawals. Further savings can be achieved by appropriately matching water of varying quality with water demand (Gleick, 2000). This will help to encourage water reuse, eliminate unnecessary water treatment, and help reduce costly waste disposal. In South Africa, for example, mine wastewater has been reclaimed, and is used for consumption or industrial use depending on its quality. In Israel, partially reclaimed wastewater from cities is used for the irrigation of crops, resulting in large agricultural savings and fewer water withdrawals (Gleick, 2000). Water requirements for different uses need to be assessed and water allocation reevaluated so that high value uses are given priority over low value uses in terms of quality and quantity of water.

Technological innovations, ranging from more efficient methods of irrigation or manufacturing to water economical household appliances to technologies that enhance the recharge of groundwater aquifers, can play a large role in reducing consumer demand. It is estimated that the use of old, unkept delivery technologies in Mexico City results in water losses sufficient to supply the city of Rome. This is not only a developing world trend. In California, 10% of the water in urban systems goes unaccounted for. Implementation of new technologies has led to decreases in water use (Gleick, 2000). In the United States, the introduction of water efficient technologies in industry has contributed to a 40% decline in water use since 1970. Similarly, the replacement of 350 000 toilets with minimum-flow toilets in Mexico City has saved enough water to service 250 000 additional residents (Gleick, 2000). Public and private investment into these technologies is a crucial part of securing water resources for the future. In urban areas in the United States and China, public investment into water conservation strategies on nearby farms is being exchanged for the saved water.

Employment of conservation technologies and more efficient use of water resources in irrigation in particular, would greatly reduce water demand. Timing irrigation appropriately such that water is supplied to crops only when necessary, for example during critical growth periods, would reduce water waste. Similarly, employing irrigation techniques that increase the precision of irrigation and reduce non-beneficial evaporation would improve the productivity per unit of water used. Examples include using new sprinkler designs or drip irrigation, which delivers water directly to the roots of the crop. These technologies can increase water use efficiency by 60-95% (Gleick, 2000). Effectiveness of these methods can be enhanced by thoughtful agronomic practices, such as choosing crops appropriate for natural climatic conditions, using less water demanding crop varieties, and practicing crop rotation (Barghouti, 2001).

Current water cleaning technologies allow for the recycling and reuse of wastewater, which is in practice in several municipalities globally. Small-scale technologies for water recycling and reuse can be effective methods of meeting local or domestic needs, particularly in rural areas that large-scale recycling services might not reach. Recent focus has been on technologies that have lower chemical requirements, so that they have a "small footprint" or limited side effects. Due to their small-scale, technologies such as sand filters and membrane based filtration systems are costly; however, as new technologies are developed and demand increases, prices will fall (Jeffrey & Clive, 2001). Research into cheaper and more effective large and small-scale technologies should be combined with water allocation strategies to find solutions that minimize the effort needed to recycle water and the environmental and social consequences of recycling methods.

Large-scale desalination of contaminated aquifers and seawater is technically feasible; however, desalination is energy intensive and, therefore, costly. New dual-purpose power and desalination plants are succeeding in decreasing the cost of the energy needed in desalination by harnessing thermal energy from power plants for use in desalination (Awerbuch, 2001). As the cost of water increases and cheaper technologies emerge, more nations will be able to rely on the world’s vast oceans for supplies of potable freshwater. Kuwait and several other countries are already supplementing natural freshwater supplies with desalinated water. Desalination, however, may not be a viable solution for poor or land locked countries (Gleick, 2000).

The effectiveness of new water management techniques is not solely dependent on the strength of the technology. It also relies on a public willingness to employ alternative methods of water management and to consciously minimize water use. The public needs to have a clear understanding of the impending water scarcity and pollution problems to encourage them to use water conservation technologies and techniques within their homes and offices. Awareness of the benefits of water recycling is also crucial to gaining public acceptance of reusing wastewater for drinking, irrigation, or other purposes. Public awareness of these issues can be promoted through including communities in water management, convening public focus groups, and initiating awareness campaigns. Educating the media on water issues can also play an important role in influencing public opinion (Van Den Heuvel &Willemse, 2001). Without the support of the public, alternative management techniques, no matter how innovative or efficient they are, have no future.

Water management suffers from a "lack of consensus on a guiding ethic for water policy (Gleick, 2000)." This is in part due to varying capacities for resource management, as well as differing perceptions of the resource. For some countries, water is a basic need, and for others, it is a strategic resource. Countries such as Canada that are well endowed with freshwater view it as a future commodity for trading and not as a global common good. While management of freshwater as a global common may not be an option, adoption of key water management principles is a conceivable outcome of the Bonn International Convention on Freshwater and the WSSD

Lack of coordination and cooperation among governing bodies at regional, national, and local levels is a major water management challenge. Regional collaboration in the form of information sharing and joint management, however, is crucial to sustainable water management and to maintaining peace and security. Regional cooperation can be facilitated through the institutionalization of regional management systems, such as the creation of the Okavango Commission in South Africa or the Indus Treaty. Strong institutions and treaties that effectively monitor and enforce their application can play an important role in minimizing conflict over water resources, even in the face of other hostilities (Postel & Wolf). Fear of conflict and other nations’ rent-seeking behavior will encourage cooperation and participation in these proactive regional management institutions. This approach to regional water resources management contributes to its sustainability by mitigating conflict and providing a forum for joint management.

At the national level, water issues, such as irrigation, municipal water supply, power, and environmental concerns, tend to be managed by their appropriate government departments with no collaboration or communication. Similarly, different types of water (oceans, groundwater, surface water) are often managed by separate agencies (Barghouti, 2000). This leads to poor information sharing, piecemeal management approaches, and sector specific management of a cross-cutting issue. Fragmented management often results in the inability to identify cumulative or large-scale problems, such as environmental and social degradation (CSD, 2001). It can also result in conflict, as different agencies or levels of government attempt to manage the same water source or issue. National governments have to create appropriate institutional structures and legal instruments to facilitate the implementation of integrated water resources management, so that it incorporates the concerns and needs of all people and departments at all levels through vertical and horizontal integration. A water council consisting of members from applicable government departments and other sectors of society would help accomplish this. It could act as a facilitator of partnerships among all departments and levels of government involved in water management, private service providers, civil society groups, and community user associations to promote integrated water resources management and ensure the inclusion environmental and social considerations in decision-making. It could also coordinate monitoring of water usage and management systems to ensure sustainability.

National policies that promote accountability of water managers and service providers to users will also improve efficiency. This could be accomplished by implementing policies that generate competition among public and private suppliers, remove public water subsidies, promote the use of service agreements, or encourage public-private partnerships (Gleick, 2000). Governments can also enhance accountability and efficiency by transferring water service responsibilities to user associations or the private sector. A 1994 World Bank study indicated that irrigating a hectare of land in publicly developed systems was three times as expensive as irrigating a hectare of land in privately developed systems (Bourghati, 2001). This is because the operation, maintenance, and efficiency of water services are more likely to be improved if service providers are dependent on fee payments, not government budgets, to continue business.

Current investment in water services is approximately $70 to 80 billion dollars annually, of which $50 billion comes from the public sector. In order to sustainably meet the water needs of our growing population, it is estimated that annual investments in water will have to increase to $180 billion. Public budgets are already overstretched and cannot be depended upon for this increase (Fry, 1999). Reliance will be on domestic and international private firms. Thus, national governments should create macro-economic policies that encourage partnerships between multinational corporations that have the money and the technical skills to provide water services, and domestic businesses that have an understanding of local water needs and opportunities, as well as insight into the local culture and political climate. By doing this, governments will be able to focus their own resources on regulation, innovation, watershed management, and poverty alleviation.

Decentralization, such that management is delegated to the lowest appropriate level, can lead to more efficient, integrated water management in many circumstances. Community management is small-scale and, therefore, more adaptable to local concerns and rapid change. It also ensures that managers are accountable to users because community managers are the users. This avoids the creation of frequently unreliable public projects that fail to meet people’s needs and increases the likelihood that management will be sustainable. Local involvement in management decisions also encourages efficient use of water resources by increasing public awareness of water scarcity and pollution.

Experience with community management, however, has been variable. This is primarily because of government’s failure to render full decision-making power to communities, inadequate technical and managerial training, and lack of involvement of all stakeholders. An analysis of 88 community water management projects indicates that sustained water supplies are positively correlated to good governance at the community level (Bolt & Khadka, 2001). Thus, governments need to relinquish their roles as water suppliers and play central and ongoing roles as facilitators of community management. By developing management capacity and providing technical and managerial support, governments will be encouraging the sustainable management of water resources, while enhancing community cohesion and empowerment.

Water resource issues are cross-cutting and affect a broad variety of people in different ways. In order for water management to be effective and sustainable all stakeholders must be included in the decision-making process. Public and consumer involvement is essential to determining all levels of consumer need and to communicating the issues of water scarcity and pollution to consumers. Civil society groups are excellent sources of information on social and environmental conditions and can play a role in institutional capacity building at local, national, regional, or global scales through training and facilitation (Fry, 1999). Private sector groups should be included to represent consumers, investors, and water service providers. If all stakeholders are involved in the formation of regulations and water management policies, they will be more likely to implement and follow them, therefore, increasing the sustainability of water management.

Population growth and economic expansion will pose great challenges to water demand management in the 21^st century. These are challenges that cannot be ignored, as rising demand will lead to further depletion of water resources that are critical to life, poverty alleviation, and sustainable development. Increasing water scarcity will spur individual and national attempts to secure water resources and result in conflicts that threaten peace and security, and consequently, sustainable development. In order to prevent this outcome and sustain water supplies, innovative non-structural approaches to water management will have to replace the large-scale supply-side approaches of the past. Non-structural management techniques integrate supply- and demand-side water management through improvements in storage, use, technological, and institutional efficiency. They focus on reducing water demand, while minimizing the negative social and environmental impacts of water extraction and use. They are adaptable and rely on effective monitoring systems, as well as their collaborative and integrated application for success. Innovative non-structural management approaches should be the focus of water resources management at the WSSD and for the 21^st century.

Water is a keystone species. It is the basis for life, the food web, and chemical cycles. Without water, there will be no ecosystems to manage, no social conditions to improve, and no economies to strengthen. There will be no sustainable development. Thus, water management is a key means of meeting the greater goals of sustainable development and should be a central focus of the World Summit on Sustainable Development. Major water related outcomes of the Summit should include:

• Recognition of the impending water crisis and the need for integrated water resources management;
• Guidelines for the application of adaptable non-structural management approaches as a means of IWRM implementation;
• Targets for local, national, and regional implementation of IWRM; and,
• Agreement to work collaboratively at the international scale to implement IWRM and mitigate water conflicts through partnerships such as the Global Water Partnership and the Alliance for Global Water Security.

These outcomes will contribute to sustaining global water supplies and creating an enabling environment for peace and prosperity.

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