News

El pasado 23 de Julio el Programa de las Naciones Unidas presentó El Informe regional sobre desarrollo humano para América Latina y el Caribe 2010, que propone una nueva forma de entender y abordar el estado actual de la desigualdad en desarrollo humano en los países de América Latina y el Caribe. El estudio se estructura en seis capítulos que profundizan en los factores que explican la persistencia de la desigualdad.

Según el resumen del informe, 'el 88 por ciento de los hogares más ricos tiene acceso al agua', y 'únicamente el 44 por ciento de los pobres' tiene acceso a ese recurso. El informe sitúa a Perú como el país con la mayor desigualdad en el acceso a este servicio. En Nicaragua, el margen es de 52%, mientras que en Chile, Argentina y Costa Rica es de apenas 5%, 4% y 4%, respectivamente.

Para mas información consultar la Web:

http://www.idhalc-actuarsobreelfuturo.org

IDB press release, http://www.iadb.org

$20 million grant from Spain and $30 million loan from the IDB will benefit up to 300,000 people living in 210 low-income rural communities

Ecuador will increase the coverage of efficient and sustainable water and sanitation services in rural communities of up to 20,000 inhabitants with a combination of $20 million in grants from the Government of Spain and $30 million in loans from the Inter-American Development Bank, through a program approved today by the IDB’s Board.

The grant will be provided by the Spanish Cooperation Fund for Water and Sanitation in Latin America and the Caribbean (Spanish Fund), which has partnered with the IDB to finance several other projects throughout the region.

The AfricaSan Awards, organized by the African Ministers’ Council on water (AMCOW), are dedicated to recognizing outstanding efforts and achievements in sanitation and hygiene in Africa which result in large-scale, sustainable behaviour changes and tangible impacts. They also aim to raise the profile of sanitation and hygiene by drawing attention to successful approaches, promoting excellence in leadership, innovation and sanitation and hygiene improvements in Africa, and providing incentives for action.

There are 3 award categories:

1) Public Service Award

2) Distinguished Woman Leader in Sanitation and Hygiene

3) Grassroots Champion Award.

This dialogue will present the experiences of the Danida supported DWA-COGTA-SALGA Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) programme initiated in 2000 in three water management areas of South Africa.

This conference brings together over 40 ADB partner organisations, 80 panellists and 500 water decision makers to raise awareness of water issues and solutions in the Asia and Pacific region. ADB will present its Water Operational Framework 2011-2020.

At the conference, there will be 60 presentations from international water resources management (IWRM) specialists from a total of 18 different countries, including Australia, Brazil, Chile, China, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, India, Israel, Jordan, Latvia, the Netherlands, Palestine, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom and Viet Nam.

The 10th World Toilet Summit (WTS) will focus on the innovative designs, trends, and sustainable, market-based sanitation solutions and the huge profits businesses can realize while at the same time helping to eradicate the global sanitation crisis.

The conference will deal with critical concerns relating to drinking water sanitation, hygiene and water resources with a strong public health emphasis, relevant to both the developing and developed worlds. Included is a presentation and discussion on the UN-Water Global Annual Assessment of Sanitation and Drinking-Water (GLAAS) .

Source: www.waterworld.com

The development of water and sanitation infrastructure has failed to keep up with the millions of Latin Americans migrating to urban areas over the years. Nuno Oscar Branco looks at some of the projects taking place to bring the region up to speed and meet Millenium Development Goals, including desalination development across Peru and Chile.

Latin America is water rich. With 500 million inhabitants or 8% of the world population distributed in 20 countries, the region possesses 31% of the freshwater resource in the world. In comparison, Asia, where 60% of the world population lives, only 28% of the freshwater resource is available.

By Chris Stein, 30th August 2010

source  Inter Press Service News Agency

Coordinators have presented the  southern and western networks and their  objectives at the 8th ordinary session of the Executive Committee (EXCO) of the African Ministers Council on Water  and European Union water initiative african group meeting. ( 26-30th July 2010)

AMCOW site

16 August 2010 – The United Nations today unveiled a decade-long push to raise awareness and mobilize action to fight desertification, which threatens the livelihoods of more than 1 billion people in 100 countries.

The General Assembly designated 2010-2020 as the Decade in 2007 to heighten public awareness of the threat posed by desertification, land degradation and drought to sustainable development.

Full article

Darou Ngaraf - 26 July 2010 available on Allafrica.com

Kalla Niang, 12, is highly self assured and energetic. She is busily preparing herself for high school, an opportunity that, until recently, would not have been available to her. She lives in the village of Darou Ngaraf in northern Senegal.

Like many girls in rural Senegal, Kalla and her sisters are responsible for many daily chores, including drawing water from a communal well that is located far from their village.

"My sisters and I had to rise before dawn to fetch water, and we were very often late for school," she said. "We always arrived very tired because drawing and carrying water is not easy."

Lack of energy and time for an education was not the only danger that Kalla and the other villagers faced by not having access to a reliable source of water. Drawing water from unregulated sources of water put them at risk of diarrhoea and malaria.

 By Grace Azubuike- 30 July 2010

Cape Town — The African Ministers' Council on Water (AMCOW), has said that its Vision 2025 targets the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), relating to water and sanitation.

Article available on AllAfrica.com

This opinion piece is adapted from a response published in The Guardian on 6 May 2010.

About Jon Lane

Jon Lane, OBE, is a Civil Engineer by profession. He is the Executive Director of the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC). Mr. Lane was previously Director of RedR (Registered Engineers for Disaster Relief) and of WaterAid. Before joining the WSSCC in 2007, he worked as a senior-level consultant in water and sanitation. His special passion is to give sanitation and hygiene much greater global prominence and recognition.

By humanitarian news and analysis, 21 June 2010

Maiduguri — Lack of access to clean toilets or an adequate water supply, living in close proximity to animals, and poor public health awareness have helped put 2.3 million people in northern Nigeria's Borno State at risk of contracting trachoma, a bacterial infection causing blindness.

But practising simple good hygiene and stopping open defecation can significantly reduce the chances of contracting the disease, says NGO Helen Keller International (HKI).

Full article

By Brigitte Weidlich, 14 June 2010

NAMIBIA - A GROUP of experts has presented findings on possible future subsidisation of water tariffs for poor households, a plan that was mulled some three years ago.

full article

On the Saniblog.org The Peepoo bag system – top or flop?

Written by jke on April 30, 2010 – 4:37 pm

This blog post presents advantages and disadavantages of such a technic for urban poor population.

Most of the points where taken from the EcoSanRes Yahoo! group where the subject has been discussed for quite some time now. There also is an interesting short report with results of a medium-scale trial of these bags in Bangladesh (PDF; 1.7 MB) which was published in GTZ ecosan newsletter no. 34 in September 2009.

The June 2010 issue of the SDI-Africa newsletter (Vol. 9, No. 6) is available online at http://portal.gsdi.org/files/?artifact_id=715

Spatial Data Infrastructure — Africa (SDI-Africa), published by the Global Spatial Data Infrastructure (GSDI) Association, is a free, electronic newsletter for people interested in GIS, remote sensing, and data management issues in Africa. The newsletter has been published monthly since May 2002 and has wide circulation across Africa. Each issue highlights recent activities, provides details about available data and tools, and includes notices about upcoming training, employment and funding opportunities, and events. The aim is to strengthen national SDI initiatives and support synchronization of regional geospatial activities.

Newsletter May 2010

Website of the EIS - Africa : http://www.eis-africa.org

In this issue:

• Putting the environment at the centre of water management
• Strategic Financial Planning for Water Supply and Sanitation
• Planning for water management by River Basin Organisations
• News from MyCBNet Annual General Meeting
• WaterNet Course on Water Resources Assessment, South Africa
• Upcoming activities

Putting the environment at the centre of water management

In the history of water management, the environment has barely been considered when management choices had to be made –with negative consequences for both the quality and quantity of available water. The Ecosystem Management perspective, has for long argued that managing water is about managing ecosystems.