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Ph:DR:Pathways to universal access to drinking water
Meeting in New York, world leaders agreed that Africa can achieve universal access to clean water by 2030. Three proposed pathways describe how to unlock and scale up diverse water projects that can investments, thanks to a better sharing of risks.
Universal access to safe drinking water and sustainable sanitation in Africa is possible by 2030 and is within reach of African leaders. This is the key message of the High Level International Panel on Water Sector Investments in Africa, which released a report, Africa’s Rising Investment Tide, on the occasion of World Water Day, March 22, 2023, during the United Nations Water Conference 2023, in New York. Sixteen heads of state and senior development officials sit on the panel.
The expert panel report outlines three pathways to securing an additional $30 billion to deliver water security and sustainable sanitation in Africa by 2030 on the continent. The first is to increase the impact of spending and leverage in the water sector. The second is to mobilize domestic resources. And the third proposes to mobilize global and continental investments and financing.
About $50 billion per year, or $40 per African per year, is needed to ensure universal access to safe drinking water and sustainable sanitation in Africa by 2030. Currently, $10 to $19 billion are invested every year.
The expert panel’s report paves the way for a breakthrough investment partnership between African governments and institutional investors in Africa and abroad, says an African Union report. The proposed three pathways outline how to unlock and grow an unprecedented pipeline of investable water projects, through better risk sharing between public and private finance. The result would be an unprecedented acceleration in the pace and scale of financing to respond to the current global water and climate emergency.
Every dollar invested in climate-resilient water and sanitation yields at least $7 in societal and economic gains through improvements in health, education, energy, food security, a healthy environment, gender equality and the Sustainable Development Goals.
Five action points
However, African countries are currently losing up to $200 billion a year due to insufficient investment, combined with the effects of climate change. More than 300 million Africans do not have access to drinking water and more than 700 million do not have access to a good sanitation system. If left unchecked, climate change will exacerbate water shortages and lead to more food insecurity, disease, population displacement and conflict, and hamper economic development on the continent.
The panel proposes a five-point action plan for Heads of State and Government, business and world leaders to support the implementation of the three courses of action.
For this, it is necessary to set up a leadership intersectoral policy at the highest level, with the commitment to substantially increase public budgets and investments for water security and sustainable sanitation.
There is a need to monitor progress and strengthen mutual accountability for results in water sector investment mobilization and peer review mechanisms at all levels of governance. Reaffirm the commitment to allocate at least 5% of national budgets to the water and sanitation sector and 0.5% of GDP per year to sanitation and hygiene programs.
Africa needs to mobilize new sources of finance and innovative financing by supporting matchmaking, emphasizing climate-resilient approaches, public-private blended finance and gender-transformative approaches. men and women.
The continent needs to Strengthen institutional regulations for water investments, create incentives and penalties for better water use across multiple industries to spearhead water management, biodiversity and ecosystem protection. Finally, Official Development Assistance should be used to reduce investments in the water sector and leverage larger sources of funding.
