Speech by H.R.H. the Prince of Orange, Chair of the UNSGAB, at the Opening Plenary of the second Africa Water Week

It is always a great treat to visit South Africa, host of not only this Africa Water Week, but also host of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. As an avid football supporter, I would love to reflect on a potential match between South Africa and the Netherlands. Which team will win and who will score the goals. However today we are here to discuss a different set of goals, the Millennium Development Goals.

Alone among the many hundreds of international agreements, declarations and treaties, the Millennium Development Goals have grabbed the world's attention. After 10 years they are still at the forefront of the development agenda and not in a dusty file cabinet. The MDGs live in newspapers, national policies, town councils, village meetings, and development strategies across the world, and this is especially true in Africa. We have something very precious in our hands. If this effort fails, it will be difficult to recapture the momentum generated by the MDGs. Former Secretary-General Kofi Annan, a distinguished African, was instrumental in the design, negotiations and strategizing that resulted in the MDGs. He also created his Secretary-General's Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation which I chair, and which I speak on behalf of here today. Kofi Annan asked us to not only to advise him, but also to join in galvanizing, inspiring and coordinating action to speed progress toward the MDG targets on water and sanitation.

Any report will tell you that Africa is behind on virtually all of the MDGs, including the targets to halve the percentage of their people who lack safe water and basic sanitation. At the current rates of coverage, it is projected that the MDG water and sanitation targets will be missed by millions of Africans. That is a bleak and discouraging picture. But a deeper look into how the targets are defined and measured is warranted.

Yes, Africa is behind according to the MDG global statistical framework. But we must remember that the MDGs, though invaluable, are standardized, relative indicators. They give a useful view of the global state of development, but do not tell the entire story. The MDGs call for a global halving of the percentage of people who lack clean water and basic sanitation. When this call is applied at the country level, it is a far bigger job for a country that started off with a very high percentage of its people lacking safe water and basic sanitation, and even harder if its population in the meantime is rapidly growing.

Both of those factors describe nearly every sub-Saharan African country. But if we look at other measures, Africa is making impressive progress on water and sanitation. At least 17 African countries, for example, are outperforming the global average rate for expanding access to basic sanitation when one measures their progress according to the percentage of their population to which they are expanding first-time access. And for water supply, 21 African countries performed at or above the global average. Taking expanded water and sanitation coverage together, almost a third of the countries in Africa are performing better than the global average.

These numbers are in the UNICEF/World Health Organization Joint Monitoring Programme coverage data. But this positive performance of many African countries is not always reflected in global publications, meetings or official reports on MDG progress.

Africa ismaking tremendous efforts to improve water and sanitation coverage. These efforts ought to be recognized, supported and replicated. Is there room for complacency? Of course not. Two-thirds of African countries are performing below the global average and much more progress is necessary. Too many girls and women spend hours every day carrying water for their families. Too many people suffer the indignity of using buckets or bags to defecate. Too many children still die from diarrhea complications resulting from poor sanitation. A recent UNICEF/WHO report found that diarrhea each year kills 1.5 million children under the age of 5. Too many other MDG's can never be achieved because of lack of water supply and sanitation, so MDG 7 is key to further MDG success in, among others, healthcare, school attendance and gender equality. MDG 7 is key to health, dignity and development!

That one-third of African countries are outperforming the global average does tell us something important and hopeful: many solutions, effective approaches and good practices for water and sanitation coverage exist on this continent. Africans have a lot to offer to other Africans.

Ladies and Gentlemen:

I make these points to encourage redoubled efforts to meet the MDGs. Yes, meeting the water and sanitation targets is more challenging on this continent, but I believe you can meet the challenge and obviously many countries are well on their way. The regional economic communities have a role to play here and they should be strengthened. They can be conduits-taking up and then transferring the approaches that worked in this continent. What local market conditions allowed expanded water and sanitation coverage? What enabling policies worked? And what types of technologies were most effective? The regional economic communities can determine what worked and then help to scale up successful approaches with their underperforming neighbors. To make this work, trust among countries, solidarity and greater regional cooperation are all essential for the expansion of water and sanitation coverage in Africa.

The members of the African Union made a tremendous stride in the right direction when they articulated their commitment in the Sharm el-Sheikh Declaration for Accelerating the Achievement of Water and Sanitation Goals in Africa. Understandably, Heads of State and Government often are reluctant to admit that their citizens lack basic services. This has always been so and is true the world over. But in July 2008, African Leaders publicly acknowledged that millions of Africans continue to lack clean water and basic sanitation. More important, they made a commitment to act. And now Africans are holding their leaders accountable - I've been extremely impressed by the powerful and consistent pressure to realize the Sharm el-Sheikh commitments in the cities, towns and villages across this continent. This pressure must continue for the rest of this week and beyond until all Africans enjoy the same basic services that others simply take for granted.

I must also mention the eThekwini Declaration's practical, measurable targets for expanding sanitation coverage. This simple yet forceful Declaration makes clear commitments to increase budgets, enhance accountability and to prepare national sanitation action plans. And now, a team of organizations is holding governments accountable through traffic light monitoring reports. We at the UNSGAB are tracking International Year of Sanitation follow-up internationally, and I can tell you that Africa has the most advanced monitoring system in place.

Ladies and Gentlemen:

Climate change is amplifying the challenges we already face. Climate change requires urgent measures in the areas of transboundary management, wastewater treatment and financing strategies for water and sanitation. We all know that water is where climate change makes its first impacts. Combined with rapidly growing demand for water, the increasing impacts of climate change are creating an alarming scenario. Water will increasingly shape international relations and security arrangements in Africa.

Transboundary management based on stronger regional cooperation and intergovernmental trust is urgent. Nearly all of Africa's surface water resources are contained in its 64 international river basins. If these sources are managed effectively and transparently, greater political stability for Africa will follow.

Also urgent is innovative wastewater collection, treatment and reuse. According to UNICEF and WHO only 1% of sewage and wastewater is treated in Africa. With local shortages of clean water multiplying, and our ecosystems under threat, wastewater must be treated to an appropriate level and where possible reused for agriculture or industry.

Increased and more effective financing for water and sanitation is also urgent. Financing, especially in local currency, remains a major challenge to achieving the MDG water and sanitation targets. Countries need to find an appropriate mix of tariffs, taxes and external transfers. This requires a strategic financial planning approach with continuous dialogue between water and finance ministries along with local water utilities. In addition, legal barriers that inhibit access to local currency debt markets must be removed.

Ladies and Gentlemen:

I spoke earlier about the commitments of African Leaders and the efforts to hold them accountable. Today we have representatives from many donor countries before us. I remind countries of the 2005 commitment made in Gleneagles to double financial aid to Africa. Clearly, in light of the global financial crisis, meeting the Gleneagles commitment is even more challenging for G-8 countries, but for the millions of Africans who are the most vulnerable in the face of this crisis, we must act.

Our Board has been privileged to work closely with the African Minister's Council on Water and I would like to thank them for all their work to prepare this week. AMCOW is a unique organization in the world and it effectively focuses and coordinates water and sanitation action for this continent. We have encouraged other regions to create similar bodies since we have found our experience with AMCOW extremely beneficial. I am convinced our collaboration with AMCOW will continue and strengthen under the future South African chair's leadership.

I would also like to thank the South African government for hosting the second Africa Water Week and all water partners for organizing the many sessions that have taken place this week. Our Board members remain committed advocates for Africa and we will continue to work with our African brothers and sisters to meet the MDG targets for water and sanitation.