The environment in the news wenesday, 19 March 2008



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L'Orient-Le Jour: Plus d’un milliard d’hommes privés d’accès à l’eau

L’ONU consacre demain une journée mondiale à l’eau, qui fait défaut à plus d’un milliard d’humains, et manquera plus cruellement encore à l’avenir sous la double pression du réchauffement climatique et d’une demande exponentielle de la population mondiale.

Reconduite d’une année sur l’autre, la célébration – avancée cette fois de deux jours pour cause de week-end pascal – permet de mesurer l’absence de progrès : à ce jour, un tiers de l’humanité (2,4 mds) continue de vivre sans accès à une eau de qualité ni de simples latrines, et chaque jour, 25 000 personnes en meurent, essentiellement des enfants. D’ores et déjà, le 7e objectif de développement pour le millénaire adopté en 2002 au Sommet de Johannesburg, réduire de moitié d’ici à 2015 par rapport à 1990 la part d’humains privés d’eau potable, est pratiquement hors d’atteinte. Il aurait fallu que chaque année jusqu’à l’échéance, 100 millions de personnes supplémentaires soient équipées, ou 274 000 par jour.

Or, l’eau est inégalement distribuée sur la planète, et pour fournir une eau de qualité, il faut en payer le prix. « Globalement, elle est abondante là où il n’y a personne », relève Pierre Chevallier, spécialiste des ressources en eau à l’Institut (français) de recherche pour le développement (IRD) : la partie amazonienne du Pérou ou de l’Équateur, peu peuplée, est abondamment arrosée, alors que toute la côte Pacifique, poumon économique et siège des grandes villes, est asséchée, jusqu’au Chili. « Ça ne va pas s’arranger avec le réchauffement climatique, qui va accélérer les phénomènes d’évaporation et de fonte des glaciers, et réduire encore les quantités d’eau disponibles, explique M. Chevallier. Et encore moins avec la pression démographique : non seulement la population mondiale augmente, mais aussi les exigences de cette population avec l’amélioration de ses conditions de vie dans les grands pays émergents. »

Aujourd’hui, l’eau réservée à un usage domestique – consommation humaine et hygiène du foyer – ne compte que pour 10 % de la consommation planétaire (contre 20 % pour l’industrie, notamment la production d’énergie, et 70 % pour l’agriculture en moyenne). Mais avec de considérables disparités puisqu’en Asie, l’agriculture peut absorber plus de 85 % des ressources. « La consommation d’eau varie surtout selon des critères économiques et culturels, et des pays qui en produisent peu, comme dans le Golfe, peuvent aussi compter parmi les plus gros consommateurs », note le chercheur. En moyenne, un citoyen nord- américain consomme 500 litres d’eau/jour et par personne, et un Européen 200 à 300 l, quand un Africain de la bande sahélienne dispose de 10 à 20 l d’eau/jour à usage domestique. Et ces déséquilibres, quantitatifs et qualitatifs, vont s’exacerber.

Certaines habitudes alimentaires, adoptées avec l’amélioration du niveau de vie, sont particulièrement consommatrices : ainsi, 15 500 litres d’eau sont nécessaires pour produire un kilo de viande de bœuf industrielle, rappelle l’Organisation mondiale de la santé (OMS). Selon le Programme de l’ONU pour l’environnement (PNUE), avec une population de 1,5 à 1,8 milliard d’ici à 2050, l’Inde aura besoin de 30 % d’eau en plus que ce dont elle dispose aujourd’hui, alors que son agriculture, surtout la riziculture, absorbe déjà près de 90 % des ressources disponibles. « Le problème est que stocker ou transporter l’eau nécessite des investissements colossaux, souligne Pierre Chevallier. Ce n’est pas techniquement impossible, mais les pays qui en ont besoin n’en ont le plus souvent pas les moyens. »


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Commentcamarche.net: Voyager vert est à la portée de tous grâce au passeport vert des Nations Unies
Actualité publiée par CommentCaMarche le mardi 18 mars 2008 à 15:40:00

Voyager vert est à la portée de tous grâce au passeport vert des Nations Unies

(Paris - Relax news) - Le Programme des Nations Unies pour l'environnement (PNUE) lance une grande campagne de sensibilisation des touristes pour les inciter à effectuer des séjours respectueux de l'environnement. Intitulée "Passeport Vert", elle s'articule autour d'un site Internet.
Sur le portail, les touristes trouveront une mine d'informations pour préparer des vacances responsables et respectueuses du développement durable. De la préparation du voyage, au voyage lui-même, aux hébergements en passant par l'achat des souvenirs ou encore au retour, le site Internet guide les voyageurs pas à pas sur l'élaboration et le déroulement de vacances "vertes". Le site est accessible en français, anglais et portugais.
Près de 900 millions de personnes ont voyagé dans le monde l'an dernier. D'ici 2010, l'Organisation mondiale du Tourisme s'attend à un milliard de voyageurs internationaux. Ces déplacements auront logiquement des impacts sur l'environnement, d'où le lancement de cette campagne.
La campagne a été lancée par le PNUE, le Ministère français de l'Écologie, du Développement et de l'Aménagement Durables (Medad) et le ministère brésilien du Tourisme, ainsi que le ministère brésilien pour l'Environnement.

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Elcomercio.com: Loja prioriza la política de conservación
El Pnuma declaró a laciudad fronteriza como la primera del país en hacer un diagnóstico ambiental. El estudio se ejecutó en tres años.
Redacción Loja
Loja se convirtió en la primera ciudad de Ecuador, y la 16 en Latinoamérica, en incluir la conservación del medio ambiente como una política prioritaria y urgente. El reconocimiento fue entregado este mes por el Programa de las Naciones Unidas para el Medio Ambiente (Pnuma).
Emilio Guzmán, funcionario de dicha organización internacional, explica que a partir del 2001 se impulsa, con el apoyo del Banco Mundial, un programa para que las ciudades de Sudamérica, especialmente, se interesen en realizar un diagnóstico total y real sobre la calidad del aire, suelo, agua y biodiversidad.
Un gran inventario

La capital lojana cuenta con 120 vehículos por cada 1 000 habitantes. Este número es superior a los indicadores del país que señalan apenas 48 vehículos por cada 1 000 habitantes.

El aumento de automotores hace que el consumo de gasolina y diesel sea alto. La Asociación de Distribuidores de Combustibles de Loja reportó que cada mes se consumen 670 480 galones de gasolina y 688 007 de diesel.

Según el inventario, los parques de Loja tienen 60 especies de plantas, 12 son nativas.


Luego, este estudio permite que los gobiernos locales, entidades privadas y universidades elaboren proyectos y políticas de protección ambiental para mediano y largo plazo. Según Guzmán, “esta iniciativa se llama Geo Ciudades. Las autoridades de Loja se interesaron en el tema porque al norte de la urbe habitan 59 especies de aves y 35 en el sur, y sobre todo, porque esta urbe fronteriza es parte de la Reserva de Biósfera, uno de los pulmones del mundo”.
La ONU asignó USD 28 000 para el diagnóstico. El Municipio de Loja aportó con USD 4 500. La ONG Naturaleza y Cultura Internacional también se incluyó en el proceso e invirtió USD 10 500.
Desde el 2005, las tres entidades organizaron talleres con los integrantes de gremios, instituciones públicas, empresas, colegios y universidades para recolectar cifras y datos que permitan identificar cuántas especies de aves pululan en las zonas periféricas y en el centro de Loja, por ejemplo.
Para Renzo Paladines, director de la fundación Naturaleza y Cultura, la recolección de información fue compleja. “Pero lo que se obtuvo fue un informe de cerca de 200 páginas que permitirá que la gente conozca las fortalezas y debilidades de esta ciudad. El documento, es una herramienta para planificar para el futuro”.
Los resultados se difundieron hace dos semanas. Los datos revelan que el lojano accede a amplios espacios verdes. De acuerdo con el informe, la Organización Panamericana de la Salud establece que cada persona debe acceder entre 10 y 14 metros cuadrados (m2) de área verde. En Loja, esta cifra es de 18 m2 por habitante.
Las zonas recreativas más grandes son el parque Jipiro y el zoológico donde funciona un orquideario y amplios jardines. En total, la urbe tiene 273 hectáreas entre parques y áreas verdes.
Además, las Naciones Unidas consideran el programa de recolección de desechos sólidos y el manejo de la basura de hospitales como un ejemplo para el país. Desde hace más de un lustro que en la capital lojana, sus 150 000 habitantes clasifican la basura.
Actualmente, la ciudad produce 122 toneladas de basura diariamente. Esto es depositado en el relleno sanitario que tiene una extensión de 45 hectáreas. La zona está ubicada en el sector Chontacruz. Allí funciona la planta de reciclaje, una celda especial para desechos biopeligrosos y se procesa abono orgánico.
Al respecto, el alcalde de Loja, Jorge Bailón, indica que el reto es difundir este informe “para que el documento no sea archivado”.
En este año se organizarán talleres en escuelas, colegios y universidades. Y se crearán ordenanzas para proteger el medio ambiente. Desde septiembre del 2007, el Concejo estableció un adicional de USD 0,02 por cada metro cúbico de agua. Dejará USD 200 000 para proyectos ambientales.

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Glocalist.com: Gletscher mit Rekordverlusten
Zürich/Nairobi (18.3.08): Das Schmelzen der Gletscher erreicht eine beängstigende Beschleunigung, zeigen Zahlen des UN Environment Programme. Ein neues internationales Klimaregime ist unaufschiebbar.
Die neuesten Daten wurden erhoben vom World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS) in Zürich, unterstützt vom Umweltprogramm der Vereinten Nationen (UNEP). Prof. Dr. Wilfried Haeberli, Director of the Service des WGMS spricht von einem sich beschleunigenden Trend, ein Ende sei nicht in Sicht.

Schön wär’s. Wenn es weiter ungebremst so weiter geht mit der Gletscherschmelze, dann ist sehr wohl ein Ende in Sicht. Die Daten von fast 30 Referenzgletschern in neun Gebirgsregionen zeigen, dass sich das Ausmaß von Schmelze und Ausdünnung zwischen den Messzeiträumen 2004-2005 und 2005-2006 sich im Durchschnitt mehr als verdoppelt hat.


Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General und UNEP Executive Director, äußert sich besorgt darüber, dass Milliarden von Menschen direkt oder indirekt von den natürlichen Wasserspeichern abhängig sind, seien es Trinkwasser, landwirtschaftliche und industrielle Nutzung oder Energieerzeugung. Von den vielen „Kanarienvögeln in der Kohlemine des Klimawandels“ seien die Gletscher inzwischen unter den lautesten. Steiner ruft dazu auf, die Signale nicht ungehört verhallen zu lassen.
Der Anfang sei gemacht. Steiner verweist auf die „Green Economy“, mit einem Investitionsvolumen in erneuerbare Energien von mittlerweile mehr als 100 Milliarden US-Dollar. Auch verweist er auf die sogenannten „responsible investment principles“ von 300 Finanzinstitutionen mit einem Anlagevolumen von 13 Billionen US-Dollar.

Der entscheidende Lackmus-Test stehe der Welt aber noch bevor. Die Klimakonferenz am Ende des Jahres 2009 in Kopenhagen muss zeigen, wie ernst es den Regierungen mit dem Klimawandel wirklich ist. Kommt es dort nicht zu einer Einigung auf tatsächlich gravierende Maßnahmen, dann schmelze der Menschheit die Lebensgrundlage hinweg.

Die aktuellen Zahlen zum Gletscherschwund finden sich unter www.geo.unizh.ch/wgms/mbb/mbb9/sum06.html.

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Other Environment News
Reuters: Salt could shake up world energy supply

Wed Mar 19, 2008 7:56am IST

By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent

TOFTE, Norway (Reuters) - Only up to powering light bulbs so far, "salt power" is a tantalising if distant prospect as high oil prices make alternative energy sources look more economical.

Two tiny projects to mix sea and river water -- one by the fjord south of Oslo, the other at a Dutch seaside lake -- are due on stream this year and may point to a new source of clean energy in estuaries from the Mississippi to the Yangtze.

The experiments, which seek to capture the energy released when fresh and salt water are mixed, build on knowledge that has been around for centuries -- in one case imitating the process of osmosis used by trees to suck water from their roots.

Although they are far from being economically viable, if eventually successful they might help a long-term quest to diversify away from fossil fuels such as coal and oil, widely blamed for stoking global warming.

"We might well be able to find new promising solutions such as generating power naturally from osmotic forces occurring when salt and fresh water are mixing," Norwegian deputy Energy Minister Liv Monica Stubholt said in a speech earlier this month.

And rivers flow around the clock, an advantage compared to variable wind or solar power.

Oil, currently trading not far from a record $112 a barrel, is forecast to peak this year as a U.S. slowdown reduces demand, but analysts polled by Reuters in February still saw the average price above $80 in 2010.

The U.N. Climate Panel said in 2007 energy sources such as waves, tidal power or salt are a long way off -- unlikely to make a significant contribution to overall power needs by 2030.

WARMER ESTUARIES

The science at the heart of the projects is the fact that when salt and fresh water mix at river mouths, they are typically warmed by 0.1 degree Celsius. Dutch scientists say such energy at all the world's estuaries is equivalent to 20 percent of world electricity demand.

The plants may support hopes the technology can overcome hurdles, the most significant of which is poor cost-effectiveness of the membranes used in the process.

In Norway, power group Statkraft, which says it is Europe's top producer of hydro and wind energy alongside Electricite de France, is building a test plant costing $20 million.

"Ours will be the world's first saline power plant based on osmosis," said Stein Erik Skilhagen of the state-owned company.

The plant, at Tofte on the Oslo fjord, will have output of up to about 5 kilowatts -- enough to run household appliances such as washing machines or heaters or a few dozen lightbulbs.

The Dutch Centre for Sustainable Water Technology (Wetsus) will also in three to four months start a pilot "blue power" test at IJsselmeer in the Netherlands, from where water flows into the sea.

"At the start, it will be on the scale of 100 watts...but we aim at this salt factory to obtain 1-5 kilowatts within one year," said Jan Post, a researcher at Wetsus.

LIGHTBULBS TO POWER PLANTS

The Norwegian and Dutch plants use different systems but both depend on membranes placed between the salt and fresh water, which are currently prohibitively expensive and highly energy-intensive to produce.

"The Achilles' heel for this process is that there is no commercial membrane," said Menachim Elimelech, a professor of chemical and environmental engineering at Yale University in the United States. "It's not even close to being economical."

The membranes are similar to, but thinner, than those used at many desalination plants, when sea water is pressed against membranes that allow only fresh water through in a process known as reverse osmosis.

Makers of membranes such as General Electric, Dow Chemical, Hydranautics or Japan's Toray Industries focus most on membrane technology for desalination -- a market growing by about 15 percent a year worldwide.

Ellen Mellody of GE Infrastructure, Water and Process Technology said the company has "an aspirational goal" of producing fresh water from salt through membranes at a cost of 10 cents per cubic metre, down from 70 cents to a dollar.

Asked about prospects for a separate market for power-generating membranes, she saw one "potentially, but not for about 5-10 years".

The Norwegian project will include 2,000 square metres of plastic membranes, through which fresh water will be sucked into salt water by osmosis.

Osmosis' power was shown in 1748 when French physicist Jean-Antoine Nollet put a pig's bladder filled with alcohol in a trough of water. The bladder swelled and burst -- the more concentrated liquid draws pure water into it.

At Tofte, the power exerted by salt water sucking in fresh water is equivalent to water falling 270 metres in a waterfall. The only emissions are brackish water.

Unlike the osmosis of the Norwegian system, the Dutch scheme captures salt particles which give off electrical currents.

Yale's Elimelech said a full scale plant would demand membranes covering perhaps 100 acres, at risk of damage by pollutants dissolved in the river or the sea.

Also, filters have to be in place to avoid sucking in fish and there are environmental concerns about drawing water away from estuaries, perhaps threatening plants and creatures in the area.

"The membrane is the challenge," agreed Skilhagen. "In tests we have come over three watts per square metre (of membrane), but we have to reach five. When we do that it will be industrially interesting."

The Dutch project is close to producing two watts per square metre of membrane. "In theory, both techniques use the same energy source and you could in theory get the same amount of energy out," said Sybrand Metz, project leader at Wetsus.

The Dutch government, utility Eneco and Redstack research group are also making a feasibility study of a plant on the Afsluitdijk dam between the IJsselmeer and the Wadden Sea, with a 10-50 kilowatt installation to be built that could lead to a 200 megawatt capacity if it works.

"Membrane-based technologies are voracious energy consumers," said France's Veolia, which runs huge desalination plants. It wants to cut energy consumption of membrane desalination by 80 percent over 15 years.



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All Africa: Environment - is MDG Target Possible?
Leadership (Abuja)
ANALYSIS

18 March 2008



Posted to the web 18 March 2008
By Nkechi Okonkwo
The federal government's disposition to the provision of hygienic environment and clean water for the populace has not met up with the challenges of the day. Nkechi Okoronkwo examines the issues and asks whether federal government can meet the Millennium Development Goal target on sanitation
Water is life and sanitation is dignity'' is a common phrase. It aptly expresses what life could be like if man were to live in a world without water and toilet. The World Health Organisation (WHO) describes basic sanitation ''as being connected to a public sewer or septic tank system, a pour-flush latrine, a simple pit latrine or ventilated improved pit latrine''. Perhaps, it was because of this definitions that the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002 highlighted the lack of sanitation.
The summit amended the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of reducing by half, the proportion of the world population without access to safe drinking water to include a reduction by half of the population without access to basic sanitation by 2015. In its final statement, the conference noted that ''every hour, a hundred African children die from diarrhoea''. Access to safe water and basic sanitation is critical to all aspects of human life, including food security, health, education, gender equality and economic growth. UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon underscored this fact at the declaration of 2008 as the International Year of Sanitation (IYS).
''Access to sanitation is deeply connected to virtually all the MDGs, in particular, those involving the environment, education, gender equality, the reduction of child mortality and maternal mortality,'' he said. The objective of the IYS is to galvanise the global community to achieve the MDG on sanitation. UN agencies estimate that 1.1 billion people lack access to safe drinking water, while 2.6 billion others lack access to basic sanitation facilities. Of all the regions of the world, Africa is at the rear in the global race toward meeting the MDGs on water and sanitation.
Experts attribute the present global water and sanitation crisis to problems of governance rather than actual physical shortage of water resources. To address the crisis, the African Ministerial Council on Water recently organised the Second African Conference on Sanitation and Hygiene (AfricaSan 2008) in Durban, South Africa. The conference, which was a key activity of the IYS, was co-hosted by South Africa's Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, the World Bank Group, the African Development Bank and UNICEF.
Other partners were the Water and Sanitation Programme, the Water and Sanitation Collaborative Council, the UN Secretary-General's Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation and the WHO. The conference reviewed progress made so far and evolved ''critical political and technical actions needed to accelerate Africa's drive toward improved sanitation and hygiene''. It reviewed the sanitation and hygiene status in 32 African countries, including Nigeria, and pledged ''to raise the profile of sanitation and hygiene at the highest political levels''.
The conference attracted some 600 participants, including professionals from the public and private sectors, as well as key government officials responsible for water and sanitation portfolios. The participants also called for coordination of activities, development of national sanitation and hygiene policy/strategy, funding/investment plan as well as demand-led and supply-fed sanitation and hygiene. Other critical areas identified included capacity building and the measurement of impact, as well as monitoring and evaluation.
The participants agreed that critical actions should be further developed, funded and monitored until 2010 when the council will ''provisionally'' host a follow-up event. According to a declaration adopted by 32 ministers and other participants, some 589 million people, representing more than 60 per cent of Africa's population, currently do not have access to safe sanitation. The document also notes that an estimated one million Africans die yearly from sanitation, hygiene and drinking water-related diseases. Interestingly, countries such as South Africa, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia and Zambia had success stories to tell of their sanitation efforts.
In their 10-point resolution, the participants pledged to ''review, update and adopt national sanitation and hygiene policies within 12 months of AfricaSan 2008''. They agreed to evolve a national plan for accelerating progress to meet national sanitation goals and the MDGs by 2015, and take necessary steps to ensure that national sanitation programmes are on a steady track. The participants decided to increase the profile of sanitation and hygiene in African countries' poverty reduction strategy papers, and to establish a coordinating body.
More importantly, they resolved that a minimum of 0.5 per cent of the GDP should be earmarked for sanitation and hygiene programmes. The conference stressed the need to involve more women in sanitation and hygiene-related issues in order to reflect gender sensitive approaches to the subject. In order to raise the profile of sanitation and hygiene on the continent, the participants agreed to bring the declaration and commitments of the conference to the attention of the African Union leaders at their 2008 summit.
But regrettably, Nigeria was absent at the discussions, compelling Ethiopia to chair the session on ''Sustaining Sanitation Services'' which had been assigned to Nigeria. The impression created by the absence was that sanitation and hygiene were not on the country's priority list. Supporting such views, Dr Oji Ogbureke, the Head of Programme, WaterAid Nigeria, said that ''little or no priority is accorded to sanitation in the NEEDS document, the nation's development framework''. Ironically, Nigeria hosted the first African Ministerial Council on Water conference in Abuja in April 2002 and still hosts its secretariat.
The leader of UNICEF Nigeria delegation to the Durban conference, Mr Mohammed El-Fatiih Yousif, said: ''I do not feel good that Nigeria is not here.'' Yousif, who is the UN agency's Chief Water and Sanitation Officer in Nigeria, said: ''We are talking about very important services which every Nigerian and everyone in the world needs. AfricaSan is a very important conference; it is a global conference. Asia did a similar conference two years ago and is on the verge of doing another one. Latin America did it and now Africa is doing the second of its kind. Everyone came with a strong, ministerial kind of delegation.
Some countries sent more than a minister, and heads of agencies from all over the world — UNICEF, World Bank and WHO — are all here. We are talking about the failure of Africa to meet the MDG on sanitation and how to try to support communities and the people to improve their livelihood. So it is very important and topics and issues on sanitation were raised and discussed,'' he said. ''West Africa is the geopolitical area dragging the whole world back in terms of access to sanitation services,'' he lamented.
Citing Nigeria, Yousif said that only about 36 per cent of the population have access to improved sanitation as against the 76 per cent required to meet the MDG on sanitation by 2015. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) puts water coverage in Nigeria at 47 per cent, while sanitation is about 43 per cent. The UNICEF official described the gap as large, and stressed the urgent need for strong commitment from the political leadership to put resources and structures in place to achieve the target. "There are needs to be a lot of commitment from the political leadership. A lot of resources should be put in place.
It does not necessarily mean building latrines for households and individuals, but putting structures and capacities in place to say we can do it and we should it,'' he said. According to him, Nigeria cannot afford to be left behind in the current world momentum on meeting the MDGs. Taking a critical look at the country's water and sanitation programmes, Ogbureke identifies some constraints. According to him, they include a poor understanding by stakeholders of the significance of sanitation and hygiene to public health, the economy and environmental protection.
Other constraints are the lack of political will, inadequate financial allocation, weak advocacy at all levels, poor information management as well as inadequate monitoring and research. Studies by WaterAid, an international NGO, show that some 50 per cent of the country's urban population reside in overcrowded settlements that lack basic facilities. The studies further indicate that Nigeria is witnessing rapid urbanisation with the growth rate put at 3.7 per cent. Without commensurate investment in infrastructure, the situation has ''disastrous public health implications''.
According to the studies, Nigeria is not striving to achieve the sanitation MDG target. The country needs to increase its performance by about 160 per cent to achieve the target, the NGO says. In most Nigerian urban settlements, as in other African countries, the inhabitants defecate in the open due to the lack of toilet facilities. The Ugandan Health Minister, Dr Richard Nduhura, acknowledged this fact in Durban, describing the inability of AU leaders to tackle the problem as ''shameful''.
Nduhura said open defecation was one of the causes of increasing number of deaths arising from inadequate sanitary and hygienic conditions in Africa. ''It is shameful because people are dying from diseases that are easily preventable. It is a shame that in Africa many people are practising open defecation. We can overcome this shameful situation in Africa only when good and effective sanitary facilities are provided,'' he said. In its bulletin, Water and Sanitation Programme, an international partnership, says that ''when care is not taken to properly dispose of human excreta, the result is that people are indirectly consuming it, washing their clothes in it and rubbing it into their skin''.
The bulletin, however, says it is not the lack of toilets that keeps people away from proper sanitation practices but the lack of awareness of proper hygiene behaviour and socio-cultural factors. ''Sanitation is a habit and not a mere infrastructure or facility. Communities must internalise the need to adopt improved hygiene behaviour,'' advocated by the partnership states. But what is the way out of the poor water and hygiene situation in the country? Mr Leo Atakpu, the National Coordinator, Civil Society Network on Water and Sanitation, wants the federal government to provide adequate budgetary allocation to the sector to ensure the attainment of the MDG target. ''Until government allocates resources, we will not go half way. I expect the president to come up with a supplementary budget to provide money for water supply,'' he says.
Atakpu advocates a change of orientation on the part of the three tiers of government and other stakeholders in the water and sanitation sector. ''Government should take the lead. Every other stakeholder, the civil society, media, private sector and development partners should play their individual roles. I expect the local governments to take the lead in providing water and sanitation to people since they are closer to the people,'' he says. The NGO coordinator calls for a review of the national water policy to involve states and local governments.
Similarly, he stresses the need for a strong political will on the part of the government by evolving policies designed to enhance the wellbeing of the poor. As the most populous country in sub-Saharan Africa and richly endowed with human and material resources, can Nigeria afford to fail where less endowed countries are striving to attain the MDG sanitation target?
Okoronkwo is a staff of the News Agency of Nigeria

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