World Water day and corruption in the water sector
World Water Day 09 Special: Corruption in transboundary waters.
Every year on the 22nd of March, many individuals and organisations draw attention to a pressing issue in the water sector on World Water Day. The theme of the 2009 World Water Day is on transboundary waters.
Water crosses many borders across the world. Two in every five people in the world today live in international water basins. This creates global interdependencies among nations and people, but also opens opportunities for corruption. The Global Corruption Report 2008 has dedicated an article to the challenges that corruption poses to transboundary water management.
The article by Transparency International states that corruption in transboundary water can cause international conflict, destabilise entire regions and lead to ecological disaster. It can derive from commitments states enter into through multilateral water treaties, 200 of which have been signed in the last fifty years. Or it can be tied to fiduciary duties to govern water responsibly and sustainably, in accordance with established international norms and agreements such as the Dublin Principles or Agenda 21.
Yet, tackling corruption in transboundary water-sharing is difficult for two reasons. It is harder to prevent and punish because of its international context, and it has very grave consequences. TI states that “preserving and sharing the benefits of a common good such as a river basin is vulnerable to a serious free-rider problem: everyone has a strong incentive to take more than their fair share if there is suspicion that others also do so.
Trust in the effective enforcement of commitments on all sides is essential to sustaining such agreements. But water corruption fatally undermines this trust by thwarting enforcement and opening the door to irresponsible water grabs or water pollution.” As a result, shared water ecosystems become more vulnerable to overuse and ecological collapse.
One attempt to tackle these issues is the 1997 UN Convention on the Law of the Non-navigational Uses of International Watercourses. It codifies important principles of prior notification, equitable and reasonable utilisation and no significant harm for the use of transboundary waters. These principles inform many international water-sharing agreements, but only few countries have so far signed up to the convention.
If you would like to comment on this article or voice your opinions on the issue of corruption in transboundary waters, please join the discussion in the WIN forum.
Water and Sanitation conference: call for abstracts
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The World Water Week is calling for the submission of abstracts. Deadline is Feb. 1, 2009 |
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| The First Announcement for the 2009 World Water Week in Stockholm, August 16-22, provides information on the theme, structure, and special focus of the 2009 Week.
It also provides guidelines for convening a seminar or side event or submitting an abstract for presentation during the 8 workshops. The theme for 2009 is Water – Responding to Global Change: Accessing Water for the Common Good with Special Focus on Transboundary Waters. Download the First Announcement and learn more about the 2009 World Water Week at www.worldwaterweek.org.
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EU supports water scheme rehabilitation in Nigeria
COMMISSIONING OF WATER SUPPLY SCHEME IN ANAMBRA STATE
70,000 PEOPLE TO BENEFIT FROM CLEAN WATER SUPPLY
The rehabilitation of the water supply scheme of Amawbia town in Anambra State was commissioned on 24 July 2008. The renovated scheme will provide clean water for approximately 70,000 people at a rate of 50 liters per person per day. The rehabilitation has been undertaken by the Water Supply and Sanitation Sector Reform Project, which is funded by the European Union.
The Commissioning was be done by senior officials of the Anambra State Government and representatives of the Federal Government. The Charge d’affaires a.i. Mr. Daniel Plas, represent the Delegation of the European Commission to Nigeria .
The works were approved in April 2008 under the EU-assisted Water Supply and Sanitation Sector Reform Programme (WSSSRP) for an amount of 93.5 million naira. Construction started on 1 May 2008 and consists of the rehabilitation of three boreholes, and the construction of an overhead tank and of a 13 km distribution network.
The Amawbia Water Consumers’ Association will be responsible for management of the standpipes and household connections, whereas the State Water Corporation will be in charge of operation and maintenance of the scheme.
The Water Supply and Sanitation Sector Reform Programme is a 5-year project (2005-2010) and is funded by the EU for €87 million (Naira 14.2 billion). The goal of WSSSRP is to contribute to the sustainable achievement of the water-related Millennium Development Goals. The programme aims to strengthen institutions in the sector to make water available more widely and more easily. Direct investments in water and sanitation infrastructure will occur in the 6 focal States (Anambra, Cross River , Jigawa, Kano , Osun, Yobe), as a complement to Government resources.
For further Information, please contact: Mr. Kelechi Onyemaobi, Delegation of the European Commission to Nigeria , Abuja , on 09-5244000-7; 0803-311-3017.
