There is a well-founded concern that a lot of African countries may miss the targets set out in the United Nations 2015 Millennium Development Goals and the targets under the 2025 Vision for Africa due to the delays that have already occurred and all sorts of obstacles that have come in their way.
What is at stake for the human condition is so important that we have to try to do all we can to gather all the possible means to catch up, mobilize new resources in order to satisfy these essential needs in a continent that is achieving progress, and whose population will double by 2050.
Water is a central issue, but it is not always acknowledged as such and it is not often enough included in development strategy. At the beginning of this millennium, we estimated that one in three people worldwide suffer from water-related problems.
But for Africa today, the problem is much worse. Around 40% of the sub-Saharan African population still does not have access to drinkable water and 69% does not have access to modern sanitation facilities. The situation is even worse in rural areas where 53% do not have access to drinkable water and proper sanitation.
Such figures may sound abstract, but they resonate with humanity. It is not possible to think about it without hearing the sound of an immense injustice that is being done to millions of children that die every year from diseases than could be avoided; of young girls who are deprived of education; of women who are exhausted after long working days to get some water home; and so many communities that simply cannot have any chance to be lifted out of absolute poverty.
The failure to achieve progress on water targets accounts for a third of the obstacles that still stand in the way of meeting the millennium goals, including those related to health. In the face of such needs, we have made commitments and we have gone some way towards meeting them, but we are still far from getting there.
The African population will reach some 1.34 billion inhabitants by 2025. But due to unequal water distribution in the continent where certain areas already suffer from lack of water, some forecasts show that more than 25 African countries will experience water shortages – with North Africa suffering the most serious hydro-stress. Under these circumstances, we would have to wait longer to guarantee that the needs 95% of the African population are indeed covered.
Moreover, there have been some aggravating factors, which were largely unexpected. These include the acknowledgement of the actual dimension of the threat caused by climate change and the current financial crisis which obviously affect all the financial projections that were previously made. This is the most severe crisis in 80 years. It has thrown tens of millions of people into poverty, it has destroyed a part of the financial sector and it has affected public finances very seriously and weighed heavily on the debt of those countries that had mainly pledged to mobilize resources for water financing in the world
It may take a decade for the situation to become healthier. We are therefore heading towards a period of shortage of funds. The tendency is that states will abstain from new expenditure as long as other sources of financing will not be fully mobilized. The first decade of this century was not a lost decade - we have worked together but not enough and now we must meet new challenges.
It seems obvious that some adjustment of financing facilities has become necessary. According to estimates from the African Development Bank, some $50 billion per year will be required to invest in water resources to meet its needs over the next 20 years. Here is a field that large international investors cannot ignore, and new sources of financing need to be implemented. Countries’ own estimates of investment needs for water supply and sanitation amount to $21.9 billion dollars a year, which compares with current spending of $7.6 billion. The difference of $14.3 billion is equivalent to 2% of the GDP of sub-Saharan Africa. All forces have to be mobilized, including government funds, fees paid by consumers and official development aid.
The contribution of the private sector could also be increased substantially as long as obviously the recipient countries work towards improving the business environment and the legal framework in which they operate, and are open to public private partnerships that may have a decisive impact in urban areas. My conviction, however, is that we will not be able to meet all these challenges unless new innovative sources of financing are implemented to add to the current efforts, whose fruits must be allocated in priority to water.
Michel Camdessus is President of the Semaines Sociales de France and a member of the Commission for Africa. He was Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund from 1987 to 2000.