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Q&A: "Safe Drinking Water for Astronauts, Not Slum Dwellers"
Thalif Deen interviews Anders Berntell, Executive Director of the Stockholm International Water Institute*
STOCKHOLM, Aug 18 (IPS) - "We can provide astronauts with a safe supply of drinking water when they travel to the
moon, but we cannot provide the same service to slum dwellers in Kibera, Nairobi or Dharavi,
Mumbai," Anders Berntell, executive director of the Stockholm International Water Institute
(SIWI), told a gathering of over 2,400 participants at the annual World Water Week concluding
Friday.
Pointing out the inequities and disparities in the supply and distribution of water
worldwide, Berntell said the international community needs to find solutions that give the
poorer segments of societies access to these services, while at the same time ensuring
that the institutions that deliver those services are economically viable.
The annual World Water Week, attended by scientists, government policy makers, private
sector representatives, international organisations, donors and non-governmental
organisations (NGOs), attracts the largest number of water experts to gather under one
roof.
The theme of this year's conference is 'Accessing Water for the Common Good'.
"We are convinced that water is something that strongly contributes to the social and
economic development of people and countries," Berntell said, "And reducing people's
access to water will seriously affect the functions of our society."
Currently, over 880 million people worldwide still lack safe drinking water, and about 2.5
billion people don't have access to basic sanitation, with 1.2 billion having no sanitation at
all, according to the United Nations.
In an interview with U.N. Bureau Chief Thalif Deen in Stockholm, Berntell was confident the
international community would be able to meet the MDGs by halving the number of
people without access to safe drinking water.
But he was sceptical that developing nations will be able to meet the target for sanitation.
"It's horribly off," he said.
Excerpts from the interview follow.
IPS: The MDGs seek to reduce, by at least 50 percent, the number of people with no
access to safe drinking water by 2015. Since the global water crisis continues to grow, do
you think this deadline will be met? If not, how?
ANDERS BERNTELL: Well, I do think we can reach the specific MDG on safe drinking water.
We're certainly doing much better there than we are for the related MDG in sanitation,
where we are horribly off track by large numbers. The question, I think, is how well we
manage water services and how we meet increasing demands from growing populations.
Climate change will also complicate matters, and we will need to think about adaptation
measures. So, yes, we can meet the MDG on drinking water. Whether or not we do so will
depend on how good we are at handling all the variables.
IPS: The United Nations is holding a world summit on climate change in New York on
Sep. 22, to be attended by over 150 world leaders. How severe is the impact of climate
change on global water resources? And should water be at least on the peripheral agenda
of this summit?
AB: Water should be part of every climate discussion. It is the medium through which
climate change manifests its most serious impacts, and it's the logical frontline for
adaptation measures. We have to break through some traditional thinking that has put
water and climate in distinct boxes.
You truly cannot address one without considering the other. Even the U.N.'s own
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has concluded that water resources have not
been adequately considered in climate discussions.
So, should the U.N. put water on its climate agenda? Yes, immediately. Climate change
seems to be happening even faster than expected. The world simply cannot afford any
more time wasted on this obvious question.
IPS: Why have climate change negotiators in general been unwilling so far to include
specific references to the need to address water?
AB: The reason from their side is that water is a sector and we cannot at this stage discuss
sector-specific measures in the negotiations. This is, however, a very serious
misconception. Water is not just another sector. Water is one of the elements of our
planet. Water, the lakes, rivers and the groundwater is the bloodstream of our planet, as
our own Senior Scientific Advisor, Professor Malin Falkenmark, put it back in the 1970s.
All the other sectors of our society depend on water. When we affect the availability of
water, we affect food production, we affect energy production, we affect forestry, we affect
the health status of countries and so on. All functions of our society will be affected when
water is affected.
IPS: Since this year's water conference will also focus specifically on transboundary
waters within and between nations, do you foresee this more as a source of conflict or a
source of collaboration in the future?
AB: We should be realistic and accept that conflict and collaboration are both possible. We
believe, however, there is a very strong case to be made for cooperation and collaboration.
It's our task, I think, to make that case clear to riparian nations in transboundary water
basins where the stakeholders are contending for the water.
We need to realize that we can influence the choice. We can do that by developing and
sharing a body of knowledge about transboundary water management, and helping to
establish a "level playing field" in regions where there is an imbalance of power or
influence.
Ultimately, we need to help transboundary stakeholders focus on developing benefits from
their jointly shared water resources rather than just competing for access and volume.
* Not for publication in Italy.
(END/2009)
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